While waiting for my grill to get a carbon fiber treatment, I have been riding around without one. Being black the no grill look proved to be interesting. Several friends and associates commented that it made the car look lower and wider.

Seeing what progress has been made on an alternative grill (or is that lack of progress?) I started tinkering.

I laid out some requirements.

Needs to be reasonably priced ($200 - $300)
Has to look good
Needs to be reasonably priced ($200 - $300)
Has to look good to great
Needs to be reasonably priced ($200 - $300)
Should be easy to install
Needs to be reasonably priced ($200 - $300)
etc...

I myself had tried to get some interest from a grill specialist company. Lots of promises but little to no action.

I set out to see what I could do just for fun. I went and bought various pieces to see if one could be made. After a few hours cutting and trimming, painting and clipping. I came up with a prototype. It has a vertical bar running across to give it strength and the pattern lends itself to using chrome strips to make it more MBZ looking. The pics show a chrome trim around the edge but think black will actually look better. I might look at making the center brace a solid chrome bar but ??? I did put one of my SRT Supercharged badges on the bar and it looks pretty good...

The more I am playing with it, the more convinced I am that one can be offered. Maybe even offered with options on its appearance, hmmm!



Sorry they are a little dark. The blacked out grill rather than all chrome looks pretty good on a black Xfire, what do you think?

A good friend of mine told me over lunch on Friday that his brother imports car parts including custom grills. No, he isn't interested in making one for us (costs associated are too high) however, he may be able to supply a grill that could be modified to fit! Anyway, I am toying with several options with the grill I slapped together and will be trying them out over the next month or so (guaranteed if I can make one, it isn't going to take me a year or more to have it ready for sale). One of the key elements will be low cost but good quality.

I will keep you all posted as to the progress. One thing is sure, The CF coating on the stock grill is a reality and you will see pictures of it this coming week. That price looks to be less than $200 (using your grill of course).

It's 4:30 AM and I haven't been to sleep yet...just might try to catchdk; aajk; ;alkll zzz

 

looks good. keep trying.

 

Looks pretty good.
Keep us up to date with progress.
(I agree about the chrome trim - black would look better imo).

 

Looks good, keep up the nice work A+++.

 

it needs a vertical crease down the middle to continue the main body spine.

could do without the horizontal stripe as well if possible... that doesn't really match with any body lines.

 

SRT SIX -
I just removed my grill to see what fasteners, etc. were used.
Wow - only 4 screws on top and 4 tabs on the bottom.
Shouldn't be too difficult to make one.

 

Finished my first mockup. Not a lot different than the previous post mainly the black trim around the edges and lots of little fine tuning to the grill itself. I will use the template to see if I can get someone to make one (based on my dimensions and mockup) or adapt a current design.

 

I may have found the reason some of the companies gave up on our grills. I decided to pull the grill forward to get an idea of how it would look versus the recessed look I had tried. When pulled forward you cannot put your hand under the hood edge to release the latch mechanism. Most on the forum have said they want grill forward and not recessed. There would have to be a cutout on the grill to allow your hand to press the release. That cutout would be visible just as the edges show on the picture below that they are not tall enough.

 

All I have to say is...NO SPINE. The one's on the 300C's look like crap and the one's CTD did too, but that's my opinion. That grille really does look good with it being black on black.

 

Maybe somewhere in the middle. Not too far out, and not too far in.

 

I had an ex' that once said that to me...

 

LOL, good one.

 

Here is the CF grill I have been talking about.



I think it came out awesome...I have pix with the chrome strips on and off. There is another option. Leave the silver strips on when the CF finish is applied and it will have a very nice all CF finish.

More pics in next post.

 

Here are a couple more pics of the CF finish grill.



This finish is in the black (to match all the other pieces. Cost to apply this to your grill is $175 plus S&H for a limited time (eventually I may want to make a profit LOL ). I am still trying to find a grill (cheap) so I can have one ready to ship for a core exchange. CF finish colors available are black, silver, red and blue.

Cyril Baldwin has sent me Xfire rear diffusers to be done in the Black CF as well. Will post pics of them when they are done.

Will have a full range of 8 finishes to show you all by next week.

CF finish
black
silver
red
blue

Wood finish
dark burl
blackwood
Zebrano wood (yes the same as the Cadillac)
light ash

 

Love the CF Black grill with the chrome strips. Definitely something to think about. Where can I go to see the blackwood pattern? That may be what I'm looking for to cover the OEM Auto stick ****. Price for that? Beautiful work.

 

Just the CF grill would be awesome, esp. if the chrome emblem above it was also CF...

Tazz

 

Will have all 8 colors posted shortly. The blackwood is just as described. If you remember the limited version of the Lincoln Blackwood pick up, it is very close to that.

getting only the **** done would fall into the minimum price category and that is $50.

Karl

 

Can be done...

 

Where can I send the **** if I decide to do it? I'll decide over the weekend. Thanks Karl.

Marc.

 

Hope to have the color samples today. Will post when they arrive. Let me know if you want it and I will PM the address.