ridemx129
08-18-2013, 12:43 PM
So after wheeling my niner for awhile the grill became cracked and shitty looking. I picked one up at the yard but when i got to the window the guys said it was going to be like 50 bucks! Frigg that, I decided to build one:
I had a sheet of aluminum diamond plate i think is about 1/8" thick. I then cut a square out of the sheet using a grinder, I forget the exact measurements. I measured the old grill including the bends. Then I cut 3" squares out of each corner. I don't have a bender really so I had to use some hillbilly ingenuity. So I scored the diamond plate where I wanted it to make its bend. Then I put it in the bench vise with two 2x4's to kind of extend the length of my vise, and heated where I scored the dp. then with a hammer and just by grabbing the metal and bending it I got it into a box form:
http://i.imgur.com/JzSjYLi.jpg
Then I marked out 7 boxes to cut out for air flow:
http://i.imgur.com/wjMpCkd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BXBB6pk.jpg
Then I cut out each square with my grinder and smoothing off every edge.
http://i.imgur.com/lT0FgVQ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/F7ZkmBf.jpg
Then I went to Home Depot and bought some gutter guard to protect the holes in my grill. I stared by cutting them into the desired lengths, Then I sprayed a few coats of paint onto them. to install onto the grill I just used self tapping sheet metal screws threw the inside of the grill and pointing outward towards the bumper. the screws I used were just a little to long and pointed through the grill. so I just used the grinder to get rid of the excess and smooth down.
there was a lot of going back and forth from the garage to the jeep to make some cuts in order to make it fit but I'm really happy with the end result since I'm building an off road rig and not a show car.
Now I have an all metal grill that I don't have to worry about sticks or whatever else could find its way through a plastic grill
http://i.imgur.com/PhTinYo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6Ptl5IP.jpg
I had a sheet of aluminum diamond plate i think is about 1/8" thick. I then cut a square out of the sheet using a grinder, I forget the exact measurements. I measured the old grill including the bends. Then I cut 3" squares out of each corner. I don't have a bender really so I had to use some hillbilly ingenuity. So I scored the diamond plate where I wanted it to make its bend. Then I put it in the bench vise with two 2x4's to kind of extend the length of my vise, and heated where I scored the dp. then with a hammer and just by grabbing the metal and bending it I got it into a box form:
http://i.imgur.com/JzSjYLi.jpg
Then I marked out 7 boxes to cut out for air flow:
http://i.imgur.com/wjMpCkd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BXBB6pk.jpg
Then I cut out each square with my grinder and smoothing off every edge.
http://i.imgur.com/lT0FgVQ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/F7ZkmBf.jpg
Then I went to Home Depot and bought some gutter guard to protect the holes in my grill. I stared by cutting them into the desired lengths, Then I sprayed a few coats of paint onto them. to install onto the grill I just used self tapping sheet metal screws threw the inside of the grill and pointing outward towards the bumper. the screws I used were just a little to long and pointed through the grill. so I just used the grinder to get rid of the excess and smooth down.
there was a lot of going back and forth from the garage to the jeep to make some cuts in order to make it fit but I'm really happy with the end result since I'm building an off road rig and not a show car.
Now I have an all metal grill that I don't have to worry about sticks or whatever else could find its way through a plastic grill
http://i.imgur.com/PhTinYo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6Ptl5IP.jpg