Grille Inserts Custom Made

That is exactly how I did my Cobalt SS. Its slow. It took me several hours for a tiny little grill. It did turn out nice tho. This is now on my list of things to do next month lol.

Customcargrills.com is where I got the wire mesh and it very high grade, doesn't come apart when you cut it.

Tray Burge said:

Customcargrills.com is where I got the wire mesh and it very high grade, doesn't come apart when you cut it.

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Awesome Thank you! I am saving that in my to do notes!

Tray Burge said:

I didn't wanna drift 2012RAM1500RT's thread, so I started my own, but he had the same epiphany I had on mounting.
I started my grille inserts last night, and I've always wanted the woven wire mesh in black powder coat, but I didn't like how you're advised to bend the edges over and glue it with Goop. It looks like **** and what if you need to take the inserts out for whatever reason? No Bueno!
So, I took my original louvered inserts, cut out the louvers and used the surrounding trim to sandwich the grill in place. The last photo shows how well the sandwich technique works.
I may come back with black Goop and just very neatly go around the outside edges so when I unbolt it the screens will be attached and come out with the frame trim all together?
Nice and neat edges (as pictured in 1st photo) will be the finishing touch and It'll be removable for any reason, not to mention, it'll have a nice finished appearance on the inside too.
Some "in process" shots, but you get the idea. I'll a get shot over the weekend of the finished product and post it later.
Cost $160~ so far. $150 for two grille panels and ~$10 for the bolts and screws.
View attachment 242513 View attachment 242514 View attachment 242515 View attachment 242516​

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That looks great! If mine didn't have honeycomb already I'd have done mine that way.

2012RAM1500RT said:

That looks great! If mine didn't have honeycomb already I'd have done mine that way.

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Mine had the honeycomb grill in it. Long story short. It was a chromed out Lonestar edition. I spent a few years converting it over to look like a sport/R/T. Anyways my dad needed a good truck. I wasn't really using it all that much. I just paid it off and sold it to him. Over the 3 years he owned it, he slowly ditched all the black and body matched stuff. That included the grill.... I got it back in January and went full force into trying to get it back. It is next to impossible to find the honeycomb grill...

Treburkulosis said:

Mine had the honeycomb grill in it. Long story short. It was a chromed out Lonestar edition. I spent a few years converting it over to look like a sport/R/T. Anyways my dad needed a good truck. I wasn't really using it all that much. I just paid it off and sold it to him. Over the 3 years he owned it, he slowly ditched all the black and body matched stuff. That included the grill.... I got it back in January and went full force into trying to get it back. It is next to impossible to find the honeycomb grill...

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customcargrills has it, aluminum, stainless or powder coated.

Tray Burge said:

customcargrills has it, aluminum, stainless or powder coated.

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I will be placing and order at the end of the month!

As promised, finished this up Friday.
Sandwiching it really made it super strong too.
Considering doing the lower section too, but there's nothing back there?
This will be the "Summer of Love" for my truck as my Jeep got all the love last summer. lol
Before:

After:

That looks great. You done a nice clean looking job!

2012RAM1500RT said:

That looks great. You done a nice clean looking job!

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Thanks, I've been wanting to do this for a while now and finally just said "**** it" I'm gonna just pay up and order the screen.
So glad I did, it looks so much better in person now and all my stuff shows through the screen too.

Tray Burge said:

As promised, finished this up Friday.
Sandwiching it really made it super strong too.
Considering doing the lower section too, but there's nothing back there?
This will be the "Summer of Love" for my truck as my Jeep got all the love last summer. lol
Before:
View attachment 242796
After:
View attachment 242797

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I really like the way it looks! Great job!

Summer of Love continues...
Ordered some Gibson ceramic headers from Nick yesterday.
Ordered some 10.44 Taylor Shortys in red just now, I know they're the same size inside as the 8.?, but I like the thicker looking ones is all.

That ought to keep the birds out of the fins on your Condenser or Radiator

This is not a grille Mod, it is more of behind grille Mod

Back in 2009, after one trip out across the desert to Yuma & back
I looked at the condenser fins & saw enough cricket & bee parts, that i made a bug screen
out of expanded metal




I then took another trip or 2 to Yuma


I still use that screen, it is now in my 2016 Ram

GTyankee said:

That ought to keep the birds out of the fins on your Condenser or Radiator

This is not a grille Mod, it is more of behind grille Mod

Back in 2009, after one trip out across the desert to Yuma & back
I looked at the condenser fins & saw enough cricket & bee parts, that i made a bug screen
out of expanded metal




I then took another trip or 2 to Yuma


I still use that screen, it is now in my 2016 Ram

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Great idea!
Fortunately, we don't have the issues with that many bugs here in GA, at least I don't notice it?
It could also be I don't drive my truck every day, I get bugs, but nothing to that extent, the one's I get are easily combed out with a soft bristle brass brush.
Dude, that's like living in Louisiana bug level. The "love" bugs are terrible and burn into your paint now matter how soon you clean them off. Now they got bugs!

Tray
I guess that you have not been reading about what is about to occur down your way within a month.

You are going to get swarmed by bugs
They have been hiding in the ground for 17 years

How big is a cicada?
The adult insect, known as an imago, is 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) in total length in most species,

The swarming will last from 6 to 10 weeks

Cicada Brood 10 will cover almost every State including New York west to Illinois and south into northern Georgia, including hot spots in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

https://earthsky.org/earth/17-year-cicadas-broodx-2021

GTyankee said:

Tray
I guess that you have not been reading about what is about to occur down your way within a month.

You are going to get swarmed by bugs
They have been hiding in the ground for 17 years

How big is a cicada?
The adult insect, known as an imago, is 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) in total length in most species,

The swarming will last from 6 to 10 weeks

Cicada Brood 10 will cover almost every State including New York west to Illinois and south into northern Georgia, including hot spots in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

https://earthsky.org/earth/17-year-cicadas-broodx-2021

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lol, Cicadas are nothing new here, I've heard that too though?
The "Hemi" will be tucked away comfortably in the garage if it's as bad as they say it's gonna be?
But then, we were all supposed to be dying form the "killer hornets" headed our way last year too! lol
I'll believe it if I see it.

Is there a way to get rid of cicadas?

Garden Hose - Knocking cicadas off plants by spraying water with a garden hose. Foil & Barrier Tape - Wrapping tree trunks and large bushes with foil or sticky bands (barrier tape) to catch cicadas trying to move up plants to feed or lay eggs. Netting - Protecting young or valuable plants by covering them with netting.

After they morph to have wings, they start making a lot of noise, it is their mating call

Summer of Love conts...
Have my appointment for Monday to get my headers installed, yay!
Also ordered some Anzo LED/Projector headlights and a new set of LED driving lights and are on the way, it's way past time. lol
I like the idea the Anzos are made here in the US down in Florida and get good reviews. We'll see?
Any feedback on them here, speak up, we had a CARid rep here pushing them once!
The driving lights are Z-Offroad off Amazon and I'm sure a ChiComm product, but get overwhelming great reviews.
I guess the MSD coil packs next to go with my red Taylor Shorties.

Got the headlights and driving lights installed, very happy with the results. Love the quality and look of these lights, however I will be upgrading the halogens to LED's like the rest of the lights. I just love the color of the LED output and illumination is the best.
One thing I've read about after market headlights is how they tend to stick out at the top of the housing about a half inch, in fact my previous after markets did too, just wrote it up as poor fit.
I discovered and suspect many people are unintentionally doing this also resulting in a poor fit. When you remove the stock headlights, there's a "snap socket" at the top corner that will leave the female part of the receptacle snapped when you un-snap the headlights.
Mine, as I suspect others too, still had the old female part in place and then another one that came with the headlights on top of that, making the headlight protrude about a half inch.
If your headlights stick out at the top back corner, you may be experiencing the same issue. Now my headlights fit perfect all the way around the body panel.
Notice how the top edges protrude on the top corners;

obligatory picture:
before and after are needed.