Hey I was just wondering if anyone has put the grille off of the aero kit onto the stock bumper of the r53. I know the hood grille is just a simple swap but I wanted to know how extensive the cutting is to make the lower grille fit. I'm thinking about swapping them out and just wanted to know the difficulty of the task. Also has anyone managed to mount the stock rally lights with the aero grille?

 

http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/MI...ll_install.pdf

Having done a half dozen of these I'll say it is not difficult but the first time out is obviously the most difficult

The cutting you need to do is in two parts. First the part is too thick (the Aero bumber hole is deeper) so you need to cut away about 1/2 of the back lip. Secondly the tabs don't line up to the slots in the bumper cover so you need to do a combination of reshaping the tabs and enlarging the slots until things match up.

To cut the lower piece a variable speed Dremel and a cut off wheel makes things much easier going. Work slowly else you generate heat and melt rather than cut. Cut some, then test fit, then cut some more ... you can take more off, but you can't put it back.

To enlarge the slots in the bumper cover I use a Dremel cutting bit . .

The DIY says take off the bumper cover. You can do it without but the advantage is being able to work from the back side benefit being if you scratch the back side, who cares.

The existing lower piece is held on by the tabs and a piece of double sided tape. I prefer to work the piece off by pressing from the back but like I said you CAN do it from the front. Careful application of heat from a heat gun or strong hair drier helps soften the glue.

For DLs and the AERO grill, if you look at the instructions for the factory kit,
http://www.minimania.com/pdfile/NMA3030_INSTR.zip
you see a refereence to a templace to use to cut the AERO grill. Unfortunately I believe this template is no longer available as a part.

IF I were going to do the two projects together I'd take the old upper grill off, attach the DL brackets, then make a cardboard template to use to cut the AERO grill.

OR you COULD work with the picture of the template in the instructions and using a computer drawing program, play with it and scale it up until it fits the actual grill dimensions but note that in this case it is important that the brackets go on AFTER you cut to ensure they are in the correct place. (I've done several sets of DLs too)

if you have addntl ? feel free to PM.

 

i just installed the top aero grill on a 03 justa. it wasn't difficult at all, the bottom grille i'm not sure about though