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so ive been doing alot of thinking and looking at different grills.
i decided i realy don't like the fitment of most aftermarket grills.

first i was just get a BSP stock grill and then get a set of eyelids (from EZ-Backed) to mach.
but ive come to except that the BSP grill is a bit hard to find and goes for a bit more because alot of people want it.

so what i found was i bit easier to come up with was just any color grill i coud find and paint everything a real nice high gloss black so it all matched.

then i decided that if im going to do some quality paint work i might as well do some good custom work wile i had it all sanded down.

what im going to do is remove the emblem and fill in the center 3 channels all the way across. thease channels are 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep, thats the type of space you wouldn't want to use just anything tofill it in with, so im using a high end fiberglass putty that also has Kevlar fibers in it. its a tad expencive ($20 for a small can), but can be "sure" that im not going to have any problems with it, so in my book................. its worth it.

what ive done so far is sanded the whole grill down with 120 grit and the 3 channels that im filling in with 80 grit. also just to shure id have a nice grill thats still going to look good a few years down the road i cut several deep grooves in the 3 channels to give the fiberglass more to hold on to, + i used some small 1/2" screws from the back into the 3 channels to further give the fiberglass even more to grab on to. all of this might seem a bit overkill, but i want it to look its best and stay that way for meny years to come, so a few minets of extra work that doesn't reqire more $ is an exceptable trade off for me.

ive already put 3 coats of fiberglass, sanded it all smoth, and aplied some spot putty to fill any little pin holes.

that were im at right now.
im off to wally world to get some paint and a few other supplies.
when i get back ill take a good amount of pics of where im at now and give you a little better of a walk threw.

sound interesting keep us posted.

So your going with the same set up i got, but going a extra band in eact direction, sounds sweet. Wish i could sell ya mine, but itll be a while till i build a new grill.

what deos yours look like?

mine will look real close to this

but this guy looks like the center of his is flat.
my whole grill will be gloss black with no center emblem, and a nice chrome VVT-I badge off to one side.
i haven't quite desided where im going to put the VVT-I emblem yet, but ive still got a few days of work to do, so no hurry.

i will tell you this, its been alot harder then i thaught, but its working out real nice so far.

Not overkill at all...as a matter of fact I'd suggest drilling some holes in the grooves so you could push the duraglass through

Waiting to see this one

that looks like a Padanky grille there... i like it!

I like it, where are the pictures?

Can't wait to see the final pics.

ok folks here come some pics

thease first ones are of most of the supplies you would need to to something like this.

the fiberglass putty



the hardener for the fiberglass


the spot putty


spreading tools


sandpaper blocks, i made my own


sand paper that i will be using: 80, 120, 360, 400, 800, 1000, 2000

the paint
filler primer, works wonders


this is a second primer.
i do this because the paint is a different brand then the first primer and i just wanted to avoid any problems with thye different brands making a soup out of things. ive had it happen befor, don't ask.


flat black (main color)


gloss clear (top coat)




this is were i stuck the screws

like this

ok so ive already done all the needed fiberglass work.
its simple realy just pour out what you think you can use in a few minets and put a little hadener on it and mix it all up real good with one of your spreaders.
if you mix too much hardener it will turn to gel real fast (like less than 2 minets) and if you don't use enough it will just take a bit longer to set up.

after i did about 3 coats of the fiberglass i had filled the groove full.
as fast as you can mix it push it into the grooves and mix some more untill you have as much applied as you want. i little too much is better because you can always sand it off later.
after it fully cured i filled all the low spots with the spot putty.
waited for that to dry and sanded everything smooth with 320.


its best to use back and forth stokes at an angle instead of strait accross or circle motion.

then i rinced it all off with just water.



now it was time for the first coat of primer.
i started with the fill primer because it will help fill some stuff so i don't have to do as much sanding.


now that i had 1 heavy coat of primer on i can see all the other spots that i missed


applied more spot putty, wait for it to dry and then do some wet sanding with 400


and the last thing i did tonight was put another heavy coat of the filler primer and let eveything dry and set up for the night.

i still have a few very small spots that i have to hit with spot putty, then ill wet sand with 400 again and go to the brown primer next.

lookin good!!!

Mine has the center one only, lovin the look of yours.

sweet, looking good man! ill send mine to you when youre finished

hell yea nice work man thats going to turn out great.

still workin on it guys.

i had a bit of a problem with were the emblem was, the fiderglass sagged a little befor it hardened and instead of filling in with more fiberglass i used the spot putty.
well............ the spot putty turned out to be a little too thick and wasn't wanting to fully cure.
so i remover the putty from just the center down to the fiberglass and added a little more fiberglass, then sanded and filled the holes with spot putty.

its better to fix it now befor i get any paint on it.

so ive just been sanding and sanding and sanding, i hate body work.

so thats a no then on making me one?