Joined
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335 Posts
This will be my first and likely last post in the MKV section. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t own one.
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I figure that in the end there are only a few kinds of people who will end up reading this, so please reference the handy dandy chart below to see where you fit in before you bother reading any further.
Person 1.) You’re happy someone finally took the time to write this DIY, you appreciate the amount of time that went into this project and maybe one day you’ll take it upon yourself to give it a try.
Well good for you! And when your own please don’t hesitate to pm with questions if you need to, I’m always happy to help a fellow DIY’er.
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![]()
Person 2.) You’re a multi-brazillion dollar company CEO and your’re looking for a sharp go-getter to handle your affairs in Europe, someone who can use a dremel and whittle away endless hours of company time thinking of big plastic things.
PM me day or night, and I’ll gladly meet your private jet at the airport of your choice. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
Person 3.) Oh my God that’s the grille I’ve been looking for!! I’m going to PM this guy and I’m sure he’ll make me one of my own for like 10 dollars!
![]()
Please, don’t bother. I’m not trying to be a dick here but I took on this project as a favor to a friend of mine, and I easily have al least forty hours of labor into it, not to mention materials. So before you PM to make your dream grille make sure you have the following. 1. Two stocks grilles for the cutting. 2. A large sack of fifty dollar bills. If you don’t meet these two very specific criteria please just wait until someone decides to mass produce them, because I’m not your guy.
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On with the photos!!!
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The stock grille in question:
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First thing I did was remove the emblem and this red stripe thingy.
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Then I taped up the lower section of the grille to protect it from nicks, scratches and meteor strikes.
![]()
I think that the reason this isn’t a common DIY is because it’s frickin’ impossible. There are just SO MANY hurdles to jump that it’s just not worth it.
One of the big issues is the fact that the grille honeycomb is VERY side specific. Notice that the hex’s and angled inward towards the grille that needs to be removed.
Left side:
![]()
Right side:
![]()
So this means that there is no “center section” you can remove from your donor grille, you must fashion your own.
![]()
The next really big problem is the pact that the entire piece is curved. A lot.
![]()
![]()
So what happens is that you end up trying to work straight lined pieces of your donor grille into a curved, directional area.
![]()
Because I don’t actually own a MKV I had no vehicle to mock pieces up to, and so I tried to remain within the spaces previously defined by the factory piece. And so I would work very hard to retain this upper section where (I thought) the latch butted up against the grille.
![]()
Begin the cutting!!
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
And then mucho trimming with a razor blade. Seriously, I used razors extensively with this project, and I can’t believe that I didn’t end up driving myself to the hospital for stitches at least once or twice.
![]()
Here’s the mostly trimmed area that would now need to be filled.
![]()
My jigsaw made quick work of the donor grille.
![]()
Although it bent my Turbo!!
![]()
![]()
The back of the donor pieces had this pain in the arse bulkhead thing that needed to be dremeled straight back to hell from whence they came!
![]()
I used this little hunk of paper to keep my hex pieces the same length, although only at first.
![]()
Happy little donor pieces assemble joyously….
![]()
I then marked my grille for center so I could keep everything aligned.
![]()
Although I ended up using a long strip of straight paper so I could better visualize how things were progressing.
![]()
![]()
Getting one line to line up with another is difficult. Trying to get 400 lines to fall into place seamlessly kept me up at night rocking myself to sleep, and is way more difficult than these pictures make it out to be.
Now there were two!
![]()
Holding all this stuff together turned out to be a real pain. Here’s a small pic of just a few of the glues I tried.
![]()
And now the two were one!!
![]()
Bit of filler.
![]()
This big gaping half-circular wound at the bottom of the grille is left when the factory emblem is removed. The problem was that if I left it like that when you looked through the grille the back edge would be uneven.
![]()
So I cut a piece of ABS to fit, filled and sanded.
![]()
Fitting
![]()
Sanding
![]()
Even without filling, the fit was really nice. This was only because of the MASSIVE amounts of time that went into getting it just right.
![]()
Removing this thing.
![]()
Going…
![]()
Gone!
![]()
Paint
![]()
Painting
![]()
![]()
My hoopty! http://****************.com/smile/emlove.gif
![]()
The money shot. Check it out, you can make out my crotch in the reflection. Thank God I was wearing pants for a change!
![]()
![]()
And a few detail shots.
![]()
![]()
I’ll try to answer questions as best I can, but remember, before you post or PM me please check the chart at the top of the page.
![]()
Moderator Edit: Unfortunately, I was unable to add the PDF to this post as promissed below. It's too large to be uploaded to these servers. As time passes, links are broken and images lost. However, you can send me a PM and I'll be glad to send you a copy of the PDF personally if this is the case.
Modified by svander at 4:07 PM 3-6-2007
Thanks to everyone for the kind words, I've posted a more involved thread on my own home site, so if you have any questions you may want to check there before you attempt this yourself.
The site itself is mostly a private by invite only affair, but the DIY section is left public for viewing. You can check it out, along with some other wacky DIY's here.
http://www.eurosportundergroun...18257
Modified by steffenme1 at 6:15 PM 3-6-2007
I figure that in the end there are only a few kinds of people who will end up reading this, so please reference the handy dandy chart below to see where you fit in before you bother reading any further.
Person 1.) You’re happy someone finally took the time to write this DIY, you appreciate the amount of time that went into this project and maybe one day you’ll take it upon yourself to give it a try.
Well good for you! And when your own please don’t hesitate to pm with questions if you need to, I’m always happy to help a fellow DIY’er.
Person 2.) You’re a multi-brazillion dollar company CEO and your’re looking for a sharp go-getter to handle your affairs in Europe, someone who can use a dremel and whittle away endless hours of company time thinking of big plastic things.
PM me day or night, and I’ll gladly meet your private jet at the airport of your choice. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
Person 3.) Oh my God that’s the grille I’ve been looking for!! I’m going to PM this guy and I’m sure he’ll make me one of my own for like 10 dollars!
Please, don’t bother. I’m not trying to be a dick here but I took on this project as a favor to a friend of mine, and I easily have al least forty hours of labor into it, not to mention materials. So before you PM to make your dream grille make sure you have the following. 1. Two stocks grilles for the cutting. 2. A large sack of fifty dollar bills. If you don’t meet these two very specific criteria please just wait until someone decides to mass produce them, because I’m not your guy.
On with the photos!!!
The stock grille in question:
First thing I did was remove the emblem and this red stripe thingy.
Then I taped up the lower section of the grille to protect it from nicks, scratches and meteor strikes.
I think that the reason this isn’t a common DIY is because it’s frickin’ impossible. There are just SO MANY hurdles to jump that it’s just not worth it.
One of the big issues is the fact that the grille honeycomb is VERY side specific. Notice that the hex’s and angled inward towards the grille that needs to be removed.
Left side:
Right side:
So this means that there is no “center section” you can remove from your donor grille, you must fashion your own.
The next really big problem is the pact that the entire piece is curved. A lot.
So what happens is that you end up trying to work straight lined pieces of your donor grille into a curved, directional area.
Because I don’t actually own a MKV I had no vehicle to mock pieces up to, and so I tried to remain within the spaces previously defined by the factory piece. And so I would work very hard to retain this upper section where (I thought) the latch butted up against the grille.
Begin the cutting!!
And then mucho trimming with a razor blade. Seriously, I used razors extensively with this project, and I can’t believe that I didn’t end up driving myself to the hospital for stitches at least once or twice.
Here’s the mostly trimmed area that would now need to be filled.
My jigsaw made quick work of the donor grille.
Although it bent my Turbo!!
The back of the donor pieces had this pain in the arse bulkhead thing that needed to be dremeled straight back to hell from whence they came!
I used this little hunk of paper to keep my hex pieces the same length, although only at first.
Happy little donor pieces assemble joyously….
I then marked my grille for center so I could keep everything aligned.
Although I ended up using a long strip of straight paper so I could better visualize how things were progressing.
Getting one line to line up with another is difficult. Trying to get 400 lines to fall into place seamlessly kept me up at night rocking myself to sleep, and is way more difficult than these pictures make it out to be.
Now there were two!
Holding all this stuff together turned out to be a real pain. Here’s a small pic of just a few of the glues I tried.
And now the two were one!!
Bit of filler.
This big gaping half-circular wound at the bottom of the grille is left when the factory emblem is removed. The problem was that if I left it like that when you looked through the grille the back edge would be uneven.
So I cut a piece of ABS to fit, filled and sanded.
Fitting
Sanding
Even without filling, the fit was really nice. This was only because of the MASSIVE amounts of time that went into getting it just right.
Removing this thing.
Going…
Gone!
Paint
Painting
My hoopty! http://****************.com/smile/emlove.gif
The money shot. Check it out, you can make out my crotch in the reflection. Thank God I was wearing pants for a change!
And a few detail shots.
I’ll try to answer questions as best I can, but remember, before you post or PM me please check the chart at the top of the page.
Moderator Edit: Unfortunately, I was unable to add the PDF to this post as promissed below. It's too large to be uploaded to these servers. As time passes, links are broken and images lost. However, you can send me a PM and I'll be glad to send you a copy of the PDF personally if this is the case.
Modified by svander at 4:07 PM 3-6-2007
Thanks to everyone for the kind words, I've posted a more involved thread on my own home site, so if you have any questions you may want to check there before you attempt this yourself.
The site itself is mostly a private by invite only affair, but the DIY section is left public for viewing. You can check it out, along with some other wacky DIY's here.
http://www.eurosportundergroun...18257
Modified by steffenme1 at 6:15 PM 3-6-2007
