I realized a while back that my cool new ultimate lower grill (M7 sells 'em, but I got one that was from GrillCraft, who manufacturers for M7) has no hole for the front tow-eye. If I should ever need that front tow-eye, I would have to remove the entire front bumper (slightly time consuming and hard to do on the side of the road) to get to the screw-in point on the frame.



Taking some advice from maxmini, I went to Home Depot and dug around the home electrical department until I found some grommets. They cost $2.50 and have in inner diameter of 3/4 inch. They fit a 1 inch hole. I found a bubble-pack of 3 grommets in the area where they sell wire termination connectors (for radio-shack type projects) and home cable/phone/network install systems.



I started by forming a 1 inch square with painters tape on the grill, as a guide. I used my dremmel to cut out an approximate 1 inch round hole in the grill. I then test-fit a grommet and fine-tuned the hole with a 'nibbler' (a tool for cutting small amounts of thin sheet metal). You could keep going with the dremmel, but I had better control with the nibbler.



The test fit process scratched up the grommet pretty well, so I used a fresh one for the final install... after all, they only cost $0.75 or so each. Before I put the final grommet on, I used some touch-up paint to cover the exposed metal ends (you gotta prevent rust) and let it dry.




This gave me a nicely finished hole and the tow-eye fits in perfectly.

 

Excellent find... thanks for sharing this!

 

sure, you're welcome...

 

maxmini mentioned that he saw this somewhere, but couldn't remember where. I searched for it here a few weeks ago and didn't find it. Thanks, cooldaddy, for the round-a-bout mod idea!

I had to re-invent it, but we wound up using the exact same part (same manufacturer and part number).

Here is cooldaddy's install:



and a photo from maxmini that first got me thinking...

 

I can take credit for the details on the grommet - but not the idea of the actual grommet

 

I've always been surprised that M7 didn't include a standard hole for the tow eye, especially since tow eyes are required for the type of track events that M7 customers are likely to attend.

I guess it doesn't become the "ultimate" grille until you hack it apart yourself and add some home depot parts!

 

We were wondering if we should include the hole from the grill when we first offered the item but we figured that most of our grills will not see the track and many would not like having a whole in the grill without having " something" in it . Our clients that wanted to modify it for track use can ,at their discression ,easily modify the grill for their needs. If you are the " hacking " type I guess you could go that route but we feel we have a more sophisticated clientele. In any event thanks for the support

Randy
M7 tuning

 

The fitment of the hole would change, too, with the angle and install of the grill. Once you try to put one of these grills in, you will realize how much possibility for different positions there are. I must have spent 20 minutes deciding exactly how to position my grill before drilling the holes. Each different position allows for a slightly different look and each one would require the hole to be in a slightly different location.

I'm kinda happy that the hole wasn't there from the factory... It gave me more options with the install.

 

I have mine pierced as well, but Sid (Misfitoy) I think was the first I ever saw back on 2003 (standby for blast from the past):

 

That is another excellant point. From what I see it is about 50 /50 for those that like the flush mount look and those that like the grill more recessed . It really does give a different look alltogether .

Randy
M7 tuning

 

Wow...the "M-Stripe" days... My grill has over 52,000 miles on it since and is ready for a replacement