Custom Grille Project

[Monter02]

I have been searching everywhere for a new grille, and the only options I found were the billet grille, and the vertical chrome grilles that you can find on ebay. I really wanted to find a mesh grille, but it seems that no one makes one for the Montero Sport.

I decided to make one, and like my other projects, I took photos along the way in hopes that someone can benefit from this process.

Here's how it looked (just like everyone else's):

[Monter02]

First step was removing the grille. This is pretty easy. There are 4 tabs at the top of the grille where it meets the body. Just press these in with a flat head screw driver.

Grab the grille and pull outward and it will release from the 3 clips behind the grille.

[Monter02]

Next separate the grille from the chrome bezel. There are 6 screws on the back holding it in place:

[Monter02]

After removing the screws, the grille will come apart:

[Monter02]

Fitting the mesh to the grille and cutting it to size:

[Monter02]

I really like the clean lines of the black mesh with the chrome bezel.

My plan was to cut out of the center of the old grill and just leave the black surround so I could sandwich the mesh between the surround of the old grille and the chrome bezel...

[Monter02]

Test fitting the new mesh grille. Unfortunately the grille just looked too open to me. The only thing I could see when I looked at my Montero Sport was the fan. If I had known this ahead of time, I probably would have gone with a flat diamond shape mesh rather than the 3D mesh.

Good thing I hadn't hacked the old grille yet.

[Monter02]

I decided to keep the old grille intact and wrap the new mesh around it.

Here's where I trimmed the mesh and secured it between the existing grille.

[Monter02]

The top kept wanting to pop up in the middle. I could have tied it down with some wire, but decided to screw it in place instead. These screws won't show once the hood is down.

[Monter02]

Here's the finished grille. I popped the chrome Mitusbishi symbol off the old grille and will attach it to the mesh grille:

[Monter02]

It fits! Here's the finished project. This took about 3 hours. There was a lot of test fitting, trimming, more test fitting, etc.

The shape of the mesh made it much harder to work with. If I were to do this again, I would definitely use a flat diamond mesh, because it is much easier to work with and takes the shape of the curves with a lot less trimming.



And from an angle...

[Monter02]

Of course this made me realize just how bad my headlights look. I thought about replacing the lenses, but at something like $150 each I decided to buy a package of headlight lens rejuvinator for less than $10.

Masking off the headlights so I don't scratch the chrome.

[Monter02]

This was a 2 step process. The first step is a polisher, which you rub on with one side of the provided sponge, and rub in circles for 30 seconds. Step 2 is a protector, which you rub on with the other side (which is a terry cloth). Then you buff it with a clean cloth.

I ended up doing the process 2 more times until I reached the point of "good enough". Not perfect, but an improvement over the original condition.

Here's the newly cleaned headlights along with my one of a kind mesh grille.

[Monter02]

I have just enough mesh left over to fill in the openings on either side of the license plate and will probably do that at a later time.

I only bought a single sheet of 12"x48" mesh grille. I bought the good stuff, already powder coated, and it was around $50 for the sheet.

I could have bought an 18"x48" flat mesh grille for the same price, and had enough left over to do the driving light openings as well.

I think you could do this much cheaper if you wanted to. There are plenty of people selling sheets of mesh for around $20, and just get a $5 can of spray paint and your all set.

I just wanted to go with the powder coat because I knew the finish would last as long as I own the MS.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

[monty98]

that looks pretty sweet, although like you said I think I would go with the diamond shape mesh. it does look very clean and neat. good job, making me think of doing it myself