1996-2000 Honda Civic: Aluminum Mesh Grille ("Type-R Grille")
05-15-2003 | 05:18 PM
#11
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,979
Likes: 0
From: New Jersey
DIY Type R Grill for 96 Civic
This DIY is really close to another Type R Grill posting, but the other was for a 97 Civic and I have a 96. The major difference is the way the grill comes from the factory.
For some reason on my 96, the painted part and the plastic cross bar pieces are all one molded ABS piece. On the 97, it looks like the painted bezel can be seperated from the black cross piece. Unfortunatly, mine isn't like that. So here is what I did. PS. Like for the 97 DIY, try this at your own risk. It took me a little while to figure it out with some trial and error.
Tools:
*Dremel tool with a cutting disk and grinder(this is way easier then a hack saw)
*black trim paint
*wire gutter mesh
*metal snips (I found them easy to use, especially when you need to fine tune the mesh)
*epoxy
1: Take off the bumper with the 6 plastic screws on the top of the bumper, one phillips head on each wheel well. (don't forget to turn your tires to one side to make this easier) Now take off the two lug nuts underneath the bumper in the middle area.
2: With the bumper removed, there are 4 phillips head screws underneath the grill holding it onto the bumper and two clips, one on either end of the grill. Be careful prying them out.
3: With the cutting disc, start cutting off the cross bars and the Honda insignia. Be careful not to run the Dremel too fast. Stay on the 4 setting for the variable drill. Then cut off the two lower tabs that seem to me don't do much. I just cut them off. Now take the grinder and grind down the burrs and smooth it out.
4: Next I taped off the black area and gave it a shot of black trim paint to hide some scratches. It gives it more depth that way and my grill is pretty old. It looked a little faded to me.
5: Take the wire mesh and outline the shape of the hole with a marker. Choose which side of the mesh you want facing out first. Start snipping away and get a rough estimate leaving at least 1" to 1 1/2" all the way around. Make cut outs to accomodate the screw holes and begin molding and bending the mesh to the opening. I just used my hands. The gutter mesh is fairly soft. Once you are satisfyed with the grill, I painted mine black or you could leave it silver.
6: I tried crazy glue to hold the mesh to the backside of the grill, but using an epoxy would be better.
7: Reinstall in reverse order.
Ps. this version leaves the mesh set back a little in the opening unlike the usual mesh grills you see that come up right to the paint. My version gives it a lot of depth. If you have any questions, email me.
Like everyone says, DIY if you can't afford it! I think mine looks awesome. I'll set up some pictures when I get my new rims and paint the side skirts.
:thumbup:
For some reason on my 96, the painted part and the plastic cross bar pieces are all one molded ABS piece. On the 97, it looks like the painted bezel can be seperated from the black cross piece. Unfortunatly, mine isn't like that. So here is what I did. PS. Like for the 97 DIY, try this at your own risk. It took me a little while to figure it out with some trial and error.
Tools:
*Dremel tool with a cutting disk and grinder(this is way easier then a hack saw)
*black trim paint
*wire gutter mesh
*metal snips (I found them easy to use, especially when you need to fine tune the mesh)
*epoxy
1: Take off the bumper with the 6 plastic screws on the top of the bumper, one phillips head on each wheel well. (don't forget to turn your tires to one side to make this easier) Now take off the two lug nuts underneath the bumper in the middle area.
2: With the bumper removed, there are 4 phillips head screws underneath the grill holding it onto the bumper and two clips, one on either end of the grill. Be careful prying them out.
3: With the cutting disc, start cutting off the cross bars and the Honda insignia. Be careful not to run the Dremel too fast. Stay on the 4 setting for the variable drill. Then cut off the two lower tabs that seem to me don't do much. I just cut them off. Now take the grinder and grind down the burrs and smooth it out.
4: Next I taped off the black area and gave it a shot of black trim paint to hide some scratches. It gives it more depth that way and my grill is pretty old. It looked a little faded to me.
5: Take the wire mesh and outline the shape of the hole with a marker. Choose which side of the mesh you want facing out first. Start snipping away and get a rough estimate leaving at least 1" to 1 1/2" all the way around. Make cut outs to accomodate the screw holes and begin molding and bending the mesh to the opening. I just used my hands. The gutter mesh is fairly soft. Once you are satisfyed with the grill, I painted mine black or you could leave it silver.
6: I tried crazy glue to hold the mesh to the backside of the grill, but using an epoxy would be better.
7: Reinstall in reverse order.
Ps. this version leaves the mesh set back a little in the opening unlike the usual mesh grills you see that come up right to the paint. My version gives it a lot of depth. If you have any questions, email me.
Like everyone says, DIY if you can't afford it! I think mine looks awesome. I'll set up some pictures when I get my new rims and paint the side skirts.
:thumbup:
10-12-2003 | 07:44 AM
#17
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 481
Likes: 0
From: Northern Virginia
I tried to do my 2000 ex last night........... Was incredibly hard to attach the gutter guard to fiberglass outer ring since the fiberglass is so thin.........and on my car the ring only attached to the stock grille which then attached to the bumper.......I gave up...it was way too frustrating. I could have gotten it to work, but it woulda been out of alignment and would have scratched the paint like whoa........Anyone done one for this particular car?
12-23-2003 | 02:52 PM
#18
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Is there anyway to DIY the lower grill? (I've already done the upper one) I read that the hinged gutterguard is wide/tall enough. I thought it would be easy, or like the upper. But, I took off the bumper to double check and I realized there wasn't anything to attach the mesh to, and if I did want to do something like the first one, I'd have to do a lot of sawing.
I know that you can buy grill inserts from grilltech. Could someone tell me how to DIY one of those and then install it?
I know that you can buy grill inserts from grilltech. Could someone tell me how to DIY one of those and then install it?
