Big Turbo Sonic
Member
I got in an fender bender a while back and there was damage to the lower grill and upper grille, as well as a cracked head light and damage at the section between the two grilles. I was about to order the upper and lower grille when I thought I could probably make something as opposed to spending 100+ dollars on an oem grille... 20+ hours later I finished a copper mesh grille.
What you need:
-Copper wire
-Wire cutters
-Razor blade
-Scrap wood
-Solder
-Soldering pen
-Flux
-Drill & bit
-Pneumatic stapler (Preferred)
-Liquid nail
-Music, beer, and a heck of a lot of free time
1. First take off your front bumper and remove both grilles from the inside.
2. Build a jig of some sort to tension the vertical wires. You can see in the picture I am able to apply tension by driving shims down into the slots. You do not need to worry about tensioning the horizontal strands and this is because the grille has a lot of curve. You do not want to flatten the grille.
3. Strip a ton of wire. The wire I stripped had 17 strands. I spilt the wire into 8 & 9 bundles and pulled one strand out of the 9 bundle. Thus all bundles are 8 wires. Cut your wires to length. Be sure to give yourself 3 or more inches on either side of the grille. Giving yourself extra just makes it easy.
4. This step is pretty important if you want consistency. Take your strands, put them into a drill like you would a drill bit, hold the opposite end, and re-spin your bundles. This will really help keep things nice and neat.
5. Layout your grille (flatside). Determine how much space you want between your strands and begin laying out from center working out (I did 3/4" O.C. spacing). Use a square to mark the other side of the grille.
6. Begin drilling all the holes. Be sure to be consistent with the holes. It is easy to be off an 1/8th of an inch and it will show.
7. Now that you have done all the prep-work, you can finally begin doing some real work. Strand all the horizontal bundles and then stand four of your vertical stands (starting at the center). Make sure you weave all your strands.
8. Staple down one side of your horizontal strands. Go to the opposite side your of your jig, pull the horizontal strands (hand tight), and staple those down. Next staple down the "fixed side" of the vertical strands. Go to the opposite side of the jig, make sure the member which will be apply tension is set all the way back to stops, pull each strand hand tight, and staple down. Drive the shims down into the slots to apply tension to the vertical strands. Kinda help the straighten out as you apply tension. Adjust your strands to your aesthetic pleasing and begin soldering. Once you have complete all of the solders joints, cut the strands leaving 1" excess on either side, and repeat. POINTERS: Be sure the staples are set really good. Be sure you do not do to many vertical strands at once (I did 4 at a time). Be sure to get good solder joints.
9. Once you have finished all your solder joints cut all the strand flush with the outside edge of the grille. Bend two strands in towards each other, push down into crevice, and either solder or glues the ends together.
10. And finally a finished product!
I will be washing it tomorrow in some heavy duty parts cleaner to get off all the flux and then I am painting it black.
What you need:
-Copper wire
-Wire cutters
-Razor blade
-Scrap wood
-Solder
-Soldering pen
-Flux
-Drill & bit
-Pneumatic stapler (Preferred)
-Liquid nail
-Music, beer, and a heck of a lot of free time
1. First take off your front bumper and remove both grilles from the inside.
2. Build a jig of some sort to tension the vertical wires. You can see in the picture I am able to apply tension by driving shims down into the slots. You do not need to worry about tensioning the horizontal strands and this is because the grille has a lot of curve. You do not want to flatten the grille.
3. Strip a ton of wire. The wire I stripped had 17 strands. I spilt the wire into 8 & 9 bundles and pulled one strand out of the 9 bundle. Thus all bundles are 8 wires. Cut your wires to length. Be sure to give yourself 3 or more inches on either side of the grille. Giving yourself extra just makes it easy.
4. This step is pretty important if you want consistency. Take your strands, put them into a drill like you would a drill bit, hold the opposite end, and re-spin your bundles. This will really help keep things nice and neat.
5. Layout your grille (flatside). Determine how much space you want between your strands and begin laying out from center working out (I did 3/4" O.C. spacing). Use a square to mark the other side of the grille.
6. Begin drilling all the holes. Be sure to be consistent with the holes. It is easy to be off an 1/8th of an inch and it will show.
7. Now that you have done all the prep-work, you can finally begin doing some real work. Strand all the horizontal bundles and then stand four of your vertical stands (starting at the center). Make sure you weave all your strands.
8. Staple down one side of your horizontal strands. Go to the opposite side your of your jig, pull the horizontal strands (hand tight), and staple those down. Next staple down the "fixed side" of the vertical strands. Go to the opposite side of the jig, make sure the member which will be apply tension is set all the way back to stops, pull each strand hand tight, and staple down. Drive the shims down into the slots to apply tension to the vertical strands. Kinda help the straighten out as you apply tension. Adjust your strands to your aesthetic pleasing and begin soldering. Once you have complete all of the solders joints, cut the strands leaving 1" excess on either side, and repeat. POINTERS: Be sure the staples are set really good. Be sure you do not do to many vertical strands at once (I did 4 at a time). Be sure to get good solder joints.
9. Once you have finished all your solder joints cut all the strand flush with the outside edge of the grille. Bend two strands in towards each other, push down into crevice, and either solder or glues the ends together.
10. And finally a finished product!
I will be washing it tomorrow in some heavy duty parts cleaner to get off all the flux and then I am painting it black.
but with car season coming up I had to be ready to show off the car so I came up with this idea. Got pics of your grille?