Grille Mesh Mod Question...

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AiDub

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Ok, I've seen a few folks on here do the grille mesh insert modification and I've been wanting to do it for a while now. I finally bought the material but unfortunately I live in a apartment complex and don't have the room to take my grille off and such here. I can however take it to my buddies house and do it there but I want to get everything preped before heading over there like cutting the individual inserts out of the large mesh pieces that I bought. My question is, for anyone who has done this, what are the measurements of the inserts that I need to cut out? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
 

Porkchop

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Dont know but I made a kit for the backside of the grill inserts and will sell the kits to members for 35.00 plus s&h I do know that thay are all not realy the same size use a paper cut out first this will help you.
Just got a new droid phone l will try and get pic and post on sunday the day of the big race yahoo
 

Porkchop

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Sorry took so long to get back but got called into work on sunday (big snow storm in mi) first time I have been home for more than 4hrs I will try to post pic on thurs when I can get on a pc and not the dryoid
 

Lima.Charlie

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I used gutter guard and rattle can bed liner to paint them.

I took the 3-4' section of gutter guard and laid it over the bumper and some tin snips and cut the general shape out I needed. Then I trimmed each section up to fit. After that I used the 3" UV resistant tie wraps to secure it to the bumper.
 

twack

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i used the plastic behind the grille to hold in my mesh, its held up for years, unfortunatly i need to repaint mine with bedliner. paint dosnt hold
 

jnaut

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Kind of what the others said. The only decision you have to make is placing the mesh in front of the slats or behind. IN front shows better, but you can see the rough edges of the cut grille material. Behind doesn't show as well unless you leave them silver or go with a bright color, but they look cleaner on close inspection.

http://jeepkj.com/forum/showpost.php?p=377654&postcount=26
 
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yellocoyote

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when are you going to paint them yellow? hmmmm

No - when they were in, I had them painted black. The upkeep on the paint was killer though. Each and every chip in the paint from oncoming road debris showed. :disgust:

Last year I switched it up and took out the mesh, and put in flexible fiberglass screening... it comes in black. Still serves it's purpose with no upkeep. I know that it doesn't look quite as cool as the mesh did, but it works to keep the bugs/rocks/etc. out of the radiator. :badger_1:
 

Porkchop

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hope I did this correct at work still with no time> (more snow)
 

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blacKJ

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did this a while ago, havent gotten around to putting any pics up. After looking at it all i decided to just take out my grill and lay the enitre piece of mesh in place of it rather than mess around with cutting individual inserts for it...
 

blacKJ

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heres a couple pics i just took from my phone, i got the mesh off ebay, came in a 12x48 sheet already painted black, although i wish it was flat black b/c it still looks a little chrome-ish in sunlight. I had a little scrap piece left over but i never found a decent way to paint it without it chipping.

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BjBnet

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heres a couple pics i just took from my phone, i got the mesh off ebay, came in a 12x48 sheet already painted black, although i wish it was flat black b/c it still looks a little chrome-ish in sunlight. I had a little scrap piece left over but i never found a decent way to paint it without it chipping.

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I love the idea of taking out the inserts and so I did it to mine....looks much better. Didn't like the cheap plastic anyway. Thanks for the idea
 

Jeffrey

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I love the idea of taking out the inserts and so I did it to mine....looks much better. Didn't like the cheap plastic anyway. Thanks for the idea

I just added mesh to my grille yesterday. (gotta post pics) I didn't like the way the plastic insert looked either. I kept mine in but I cut out the vertical pieces of the insert and sandwiched the mesh between the grille and the insert so it adds support to the mesh but you don't see it. The fog light holes are a different story. Not telling what I did there because I cracked the insert around them and the mesh fell off as I was putting the grille back on the jeep(epic fail). Maybe when I come up with a better idea I'll let you guys know.
 
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Kugellager

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I used the sandwich between-the-grille-and-inserts method years ago. The original inserts have been on my KJ since 2006. I painted them with several coats of flat black Rustoleum and they have lasted well. Coming up on six years later they do have some paint chips but not much.

I wanted mine to be functional and was not looking for a "look". They have performed well and definitely have saved on the radiator damage as you can see a few dings in the gutter guard material.

You can see my take on them by following the "Mod" link in my sig.

John
];')
 

jeeptorino68

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so i feel a bit inadequate since i cannot complete this simple modification....
but when i put the inserts between the two grilles, it wont snap back together...
are the inserts supposed to be the exact size of the front grille openings and not wrap down the back side?

hard to explain

thanks
 

surfRenegade

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I cut my pieces out larger than the sizes of the grille openings. Then laid each piece behind the opening and with thick gloves on and some pliers shaped each piece so that it pushes out through the opening and looks three dimensional. Then pried the excess around the back sides. painted with black enamal and used 3m to secure to the inside lips of each opening. No plastic grill behind, no twist ties, just a nice 3d grille. Most people that are into cars and jeeps ask me where I bought it
 

Jbergun

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Did mine with the plastic grill and sandwiched the fiberglass screening in there easy looks good but its for protection
 

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