Sport Grill and Skid Plate

[Resurrect Dead]

I got a little mod-happy yesterday. It started with pulling my sway bars and sort of snowballed from there. I made a mesh sport grill by cutting out the old silver parts on the stock grill, painting it black and cutting some honeycomb expandable steel I got from the metal supply place. I also grabbed some aluminum to make a lightweight skid plate for the bottom. It isn't gonna support the weight of the car or anything, but it'll definitely protect against rocks and stumps in the trail. 

 

Tomorrow I'm going to the junk yard and pulling a grill guard off a Rav4 to see if I can make it fit on the foz. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Before

 

After

The front attaches to the stock threaded holes form the plastic splash guards. Bent it to wrap up the front and tuck it under the towing receivers. 

 

Attached the back under the existing subframe plate

 

[Resurrect Dead]

Here's the construction process for the plate - mocked it up with cardboard first, then outlined onto the metal. Marked out the two front holes, test fitted, bent, test fitted, bent some more, test fitted. The final test fit before marking the back holes I slid it in as if it were going to be mounted, screwed in the front and then marked the holes where it would bolt between the subframe and frame. Measuring is for the birds, I eyeball that stuff because I'm awful at math - easier to just hold it up there and mark the holes. 

Untitled by Jim Ferrigno, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Jim Ferrigno, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Jim Ferrigno, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Jim Ferrigno, on Flickr

[Resurrect Dead]

As for the grille, I took it apart cut out all the center space and painted it

 

Then I put it back together, cut the honeycomb steel to fit, marked the bends and went to town. Once it was properly fitted, I zip-tied it down and bonded it with Automotive Goop.