Last weekend, I finished installing Koopah's new Aero Grille in the stock MCS bumper. It went about as I had expected: upper grille easy...lower grille a PITA but doable. BTW, don't even attempt the lower grille if (a) you are *not* the @nal-retentive type who actually enjoys plodding throught painstakingly detailed tasks and (b) don't own a Dremel tool!

After reading SamJ's instructions and contributors' notes, here's what I did differently from the write-up when installing the lower grille:

(1) I made a template of the lower Aero Grille by pressing the grille into a strip of cardboard. I outlined the grille on the cardboard with pencil. Removing the grille, I then drew "notches" where the cardboard had been punched by the tabs. The outline and notches were cut out of the cardboard and the whole thing was taped to the lower grille area of the bumper. I then marked the new slot locations on the bumper using the notches on the cardboard. This worked really well.

(2) After cutting an unnatural amount of plastic off the lower grille edges, I still ran into trouble making both the top and bottom edge fit flush with the height of the bumper surface. A little investigation showed that the grille was riding on the protruding "louvers" to which the old body colored grille slat was attached. After sizing things up, I took the bold move and cut the louvers off. This created a half inch opening behind the grille and was not noticeable once the grille was attached. The new openings should also marginally increase airflow to the radiator. Now the lower grille was flush with the bumper surface. This, also, worked really well.

(3) I debated on how to "black-out" the remaining yellow bumper material: tape, paint, permanent marker...? I then realized that the bumper material is black so I decided to try a fuzzy sanding wheel I have for the Dremel tool and remove the paint. Well, here's the deal...it *does* take the paint off quite well, but it doing so, the surface heated up enough to allow a slight amount of yellow pigment to be bonded into the melted plastic. It looked ok, but it did not work out *really* well. However. the plastic was almost black so I put two coats of high temp flat black paint on it.

(4) The only part of the installation that made me think a while was the gluing of the grille to the bumper. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to glue it. What if someone taps me and I need to replace the lower grille? Will I need a whole new bumper? I have tried to break-loose plastic that has been epoxied and it is pretty much impossible. So I got an idea.

The four end tabs (2 on each corner) of the lower grille protrude into the bumper shell quite far. Firmly fastening these four tabs would hold the lower grille quite securely in place (remember, I drilled slots for all the tabs on the lower grille which gives added support). So I fashioned four rectangular rubber-backed plastic "washers" with slots in them and drilled a 7/64 hole through each of the four tabs. The rectangular washers were pushed on the tabs and all four tabs were secured with brass cotter-pins going through the holes drilled in them. The grille is now quite frimly attached. This will allow me to remove the lower grille should it ever need replacing. This worked really well.

So, that's it. Below are some pix of the finished product. I really like the contrast of the black Aero Grilles on the Liquid Yellow body, though I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste.

 

Looks great and thanks for taking the time to post, in detail, how you did it.

I don't plan on installing the aero grill but, I'm sure your info will help those who do.

 

I think it looks great on LY. Nice going!


regards,
Red

 

I like the looks of that A LOT. In fact, i just bought the type s bumpers for my yellow MC, and the aero grill inserts. So mine is gonna look almost exactly like yours. But seeing how good yours looks makes me feel a lot better about spending the money on the conversion.

 

When you say you removed the "louvers," are you talking about the long slat that the 1 body color slat for the stock grill was attached too? Other than that, i think im going to take the bumper back off and do that, it looks a ton better then mine. I'm happy w/ mine, but its not 100% flush.

 

Koopah,

Great post, good instructions and excellent pictures showing how flush the grille should be on the upper front bumper.

The reason why the grill and the bumpers don't fit and need so much hand work is that the aero grill is for the aero front bumper and not the stock MC or MCS bumpers. Hence all of the tabs and slots are wrong even if the overall size of the grill is correct.

I had my aero grills installed for me and they had to cut away quite a bit to get things to fit. I had my inner grill area painted black but it is getting nicked up by road debris.

Another variation is that the trim edge of the front grills can be painted body color and not left all black. This would be more painting labor work but does decrease the big black grill look.

Also note that in the MCS like this one the lower front bumper grill is black while in the MC the lower grill is silver.

 

Yeah, that's the one. The forward edge of that slat is what prevents the lower grille from fitting flush. Use a cutting wheel on a Dremmel tool to do the job quickly and carefully.

Good luck!

Theo