This project started last friday night at Lowe's. $35 and 22 hours of work and cussing later I had a custom grill. I know people on here love to crack on people with homemade gutter-guard grills, but most of the time they look like crap because of poor workmanship regaurdless of materials used. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, but of course I am biased. I also smoked my rear scion and tC logos. So....tell me what you think. I know you guys can be brutal, be gentle :nails: It was getting dark when I took these pics so they aren't super clear, I will take some in the daylight tomorrow and repost them.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/mycar1.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/mycar2.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/mycar4.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/mycar3.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/DSCN0415.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/tClogo.jpg

Looks sharp. Did you do the bottom too?

That came out pretty good. 22 Hours :relief:

Looks good.
Btw, exterior mods like this belong in the "tC Aero & Exterior" forum, which can be found by clicking the grey "forums" button up there^.

looks good from what i can see, lol your pics arent so great

not bad, but if you painted it black, expect to have to take it out and repaint it in a couple of months.

I had to do the same thing with mine.

Looks good. Im jelious...but loose the TRD emblem. Its obviously just my opinion but I think it would look better without.

wow 22hrs, i dont think i have the patient for that lol

but the grill looks nice as you know what hahaha, not allowed to cuss on here hahah :D

it looks nice, i can't wait to see what the daylight pics look like.

Great job, I got a question. Was it difficult to put the TRD emblem on, cause, its funny I was doing the same thing just with a GrillCraft!

This just shows you that hard work does pay off. It looks just as good as a grillecraft, IMO.

here is a tip for painting that should last you forever... since the grill material is metal... buy yourself some engine enamel.. the low temp stuff should be fine (500 deg)... spray it.. let it set.. while it is setting turn the oven on to 300 deg and cook the parts for i think is about 10 minutes.. the can should say how long.. this should give you a nice durable coat....

well... that is assuming you can get the parts to fit inside the oven.. :P

nice job though..

scikokid, do you mind writing up a DIY on how you made the grills?

Thank guys! I was expecting to get roasted on here for using gutter guard! As far as painting it black...I am sure I will be doing alot of touch ups from bugs and rocks, but I think it looks better than silver. The TRD emblem is just stuck on with 3M tape. I found some at Lowe's that will stick a small child to a wall, and it is fairly thin so it doesn't make the badge stick out too far. I will do my best on trying to put a DIY post on here but, wow that would be alot of typing and pics!! Thanks again for the compliments and I hope to have some better pics up later today.

looks very nice. well, except for the TURD badge.

Good work.

Looks great Angelo! Nice job. I like the logos.

Here are some new pics in daylight that I promised. It shows a little more detail.......
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/newgrill1.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/newgrill2.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/newgrill4.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/newgrill3.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/newfrontend.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/scionlogo.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/TClogo.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f69/jdmcivic6969/tcass.jpg

ah man, they look soo good. DIY Please! What did you use to cut the gutter guard? And what did you use to paint it?

The Scion emblem in the back looks good, nice detail.

Did you place the grill over the OEM grill? and yeah... we need a DIY on this. Nice grill.

how'd you paint the red on the emlem? i never got around to doing that so its just all black right now. lol. i was thinking if using a paint pen..

Again thanks for the compliments! I used a dremel tool to cut the stock honeycomb out. As for the gutterguard, I just used metal snips. It is important to make a "ring" out of your stock grill, because the chrome ring attaches to it and also it makes it possible to pop it back in like a stock grill. I can pop mine off and unscrew the chrome ring just like when it was stock in case I ever need to replace or repair any part of it.
As far as the scion logo, I painted it a metallic gunmetal made by rustoleum, eventhough it looks black in the pic, it is really metallic when the sun hits it. Then I used a really fine tip brush and some testor's model paint to fill in the letters red. You pretty much just load the paint in you really don't paint it, it kinda pools up and fills in the letter, kinda cool.
I am working on a DIY page for this project, it may take me a little while to get it done because it is pretty involved with a lot of steps to explain. With my work schedule it may take a few weeks, but I will do my best. I didn't even think to take pics as I went along because I didn't know people where gonna react this positively to it. I figured that I would get laughed out of the forum! So again thanks for the compliments and hang in there for the DIY page! I will make a post in the tC owners lounge letting you guys know when and where it is.

hey all4degame, are those silverstars? That is what I am running. I love 'em, all I'll ever run again.

Good eye man! They are silverstars. I've had them over and they've been running strong. They have gotten whiter and bluer over the past year. I'll continue running them until Umnitza makes HID projectors(if they look nice).

Your grills are sweet man, I think i'm going to try to attempt it sometime soon. I'll be waiting for the DIY!

I hope to have DIY done soon for ya. But in the mean time, just take your time, and be prepared to make a lot of cuts!

can the stock honeycomb be reused if the new grill doesn't look right?

not on mine it can't, because you cut it out.

use a smaller trd emblem.

Well, it is hard to find nice looking trd emblems. These ones actually look like one that would be the ones used on a "special edition" car that is why I got them. It probably would look a little better if it was smaller, but I was looking more at the quality of the badge rather than size. The badge doesn't look as big in person when you are looking at the car as a whole.

i like it.good job!

Nice work! Good attention to detail! That's how I wanted mine to turn out but I ended up just going with a silver billet grill. Also, where did you get the TRD emblem. It's alot nice than mine!

I got the TRD emblem off of ebay. Kinda hit and miss finding one on there but.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/TRD-Front-Grille-Emblem-SUPRA-CELICA-STARLET-COROLLA_W0QQitemZ300016904283QQihZ020QQcategoryZ10428QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

can you buy the chrome trim part seperately, or is it part of the stock grill? I need a new grill and i'm wondering if i can do the gutterguard without that chrome trim.

HOLY 1@#$!@ That's a very nice grill!! Can you make me one and ship to my address? Ill give you $50.

HOLY 1@#$!@ That's a very nice grill!! Can you make me one and ship to my address? Ill give you $50.

LMAO, he spent $35 in parts, and spent 22 hours making it. That means you want him to spend 22 hrs @ $15 dollars which works out to around 68 cents/hr. I might be crazy, but I'm sure his time is worth more than what you're offering. :wink:

haha.. yeah.. Maybe a diy?

did u tie the grill to the chrome frame?
and was the bottom grill tied to the bumper?

yes the top grill is attached to the chrome frame the same way it is stock. I can still unscrew it from the black frame (what is left of my stock honeycomb) and the bottom grills are attached to the bumper with the epoxy I used.

SHARP!!! nice TRD logo! :bow:

Galvanized steel mesh. Also known as drywall mesh. :P

I use the stuff a lot at work.

Looks really, really good! Did you clearcoat everything? I used the same mesh on my last car, and had problems with the paint chipping.

The emblems look awesome too. I have to get around to doing 'blackout' emblems.

Looks great i really like it

Nope this isn't the drywall mesh. I actually used gutter-guard. I like it better because it seems to be a little stiffer and this mesh is a flat surface, not jagged like the drywall mesh. I scotchbrited the surface to help the paint stick as best as I could. Haven't had a problem with chipping yet (knock on wood!!) but I am catching alot of huge a$$ bugs!

what kind of epoxy did you use?

it is an epoxy that is used like a contact adhesive. It is called "Welder". I bought it at Lowe's. It worked awesome and it dries clear, so any oops' don't show that much, and it can be cleaned up with paint thinner.

i did this
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a220/burninskulls0911/PICT5077.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a220/burninskulls0911/PICT5080.jpg

this only took me about an hour

Looks pretty good man. What did you use?

very nice, looks like the same material as mine, although I thought the 5 hours i spent on mine was alot!

Took me about 5 hours for mine also. But I did mine with little space. I was expecting mine to be easier but after they were sitting on my floor ...i had to put them on. ha.

Looks pretty good man. What did you use?
i used gutter gaurd from home depot for $7

Looks pretty good man. What did you use?
how did you do the lower grille?

Yeah that is what I used. You really can't beat it for a DIY mesh grill. Just takes some patience.

im all for it, but i got foglights...so bottom grill would look ___.

^ not if the fog lights go behind the bottom/side covers. I would have done that if i didnt do it w/o them the first time.

looks nice. i like it, trd is a nice touch

Well, I will be remaking my grill. My car met and oak tree a couple of weeks ago. :doh:
So when I get it back, maybe this time I will do a DIY on how to make a grill like this. It isn't really that hard, just takes time and patience.

Looks great...Did you do the bottom side inserts to? cant really tell from the pics