I'm about to do the aero grill mod. I got the upper and lower grills, and I have what seems to be a bit of a problem, and I haven't been able to find the answer by searching.

The stock upper grill looks like its held on by really cheap nuts, fastened to a plastic threaded bolt that I assume is part of the stock grill. On the upper aero grill, there are no plastic threaded bolts, just cross shaped tabs like this:





Are the upper aero grills supposed to have the threaded plastic bolts? Or does the cheap nut actually create the threads when you put it on?

 

it creates the treads when used

 

The nut threads itself over the plastic. Take your time with the lower portion. All day if you need it.


Good luck, and post pics.

 

Ahhhhhhh! Thanks for the quick help.

Thanks for the advice on the lower grill - I'll take plenty of time. I'm planning to do it without taking off the bumper, and I'm going to try and avoid dremeling the bumper itself.

I'll definitely post pics when I get it done. I'm thinking about blacking out the beltline as well, but I'm going to put some electrical tape on it first to see what it looks like.

 

I had to dremmel the bottem part to install it. Also had to take it off the car. Using black silicone to fill in any spots. Also painting the front part of the metal beam befind the lower grill black. You can see it thruogh the grill.

 

V70R: You won't be doing the lower aero grille without removing the bumper, trust me. I've done 2 and I'd say it's impossible to remove the OEM grille without taking the bumper off. But removing the bumper is the *simplest* thing you'll have to do for this mod! My second grille went on much better than the first (unfortunately the first was MY car,) and I learned from my mistakes. I also tried to go without blacking out the bumper behind the grill, but after seeing how nice it looked on my second install, I whipped the bumper off and zapped it. Looks professional...

 

When threading on those threaded nuts resist the urge to crank on them, snug up only, or they will strip.After threading on put a dab of clear silicon caulk on them,it stops them from loosening and also stops any rusting if in wintery area.The lower grille cant be installed without bumper removal.Its not hard to remove,lots of how to,s in various threads.

 

I got the upper grill on - those little nuts are a royal PIA! I didn't loose any, but I lost a few washers - luckily I had some spares in the spare crap drawer!

I can't decide if I'll tackle the lower one tonight, or do it tomorrow. Thanks again for all the suggestions -

 

nice.
totally transforms the car. Take your time with the lower one..

 

I have to agree that taking your time in triming the middle aero grill piece is key. I know from experience that a quick opps ruins the piece and you'll be going back to the dealer for a new piece. Also be careful when you spray paint the bumper where the grill piece goes as you don't want any overspray and you don't want to have to pull it apart because of rock chips that need touching up. I used the how to guide off of motoring file, http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/MI...ll_install.pdf , to help guide me along. Good luck and post pics of the finished product.

 

I got it done this morning. It was quite an easy job, really. I got a little scared with all the posts telling me that I had to remove the bumper, but I'm proud to say that I did the job without removing the bumper. The old grill pried out with my fingers, and I just had to dremel out the old louver for the body colored slat and trim around a bit, and that was it.

I made the new holes for the tabs using a drill bit, as opposed to the cutting wheel, and it was much easier. I pretty much just followed the photo on the motoring file pdf on how to cut the lower grill, and it worked great, as it went right in and is very secure. I didn't use any tape or adhesive.

It may not be as flush as some others out there, but its flush enough for me.

 

Well what ever you did it looks great!

 

Looks terrific! BTW - like your flag - Go Aston Martin!

 

Thanks! I'll be flying that flag at Sebring next month - hopefully the gents will be there this year. I absolutely love the sound of those Aston Martin V12's in the DBR9's. Here is a pic I took last year of one going around 120mph -

 

ProDrive is quite the organization. The Aston's are fabulous.

 

Looks great.
Looks like you did exactly what I did, except I kept the license plate frame, so had to cut some of the honeycomb and notch for the plate backing.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...84&postcount=3

 

Humm, replacing the grills without removing the bumper, that is what was holding me back from doing this swap. I have a dremal, can you go into a little more detail, I am not sure I know what you are talking about any pics of the install you can mail me?
Thanks
Shawn

 

Here is what I sent to Shawn, in case anyone else can use this info -


Unfortunately (like an idiot) I didn't take any pics of the different stages - I only thought about that after I did the job.

The stock lower grill (MCS) is basically comprised of two pieces - a curved chrome strip, and a body colored slat. Many people who have done the mod apparently don't realize that the lower grill is removable without taking off the bumper. I would probably be a little easier to do if you took off the bumper, but I didn't really feel like tackling that.

I was able to work the lower chrome strip loose by hand, starting from the center and working over to the sides. If you can't get your fingers under the chrome strip at the center, then wrap a flat head screwdriver in electrical tape and using a towel to protect your bumper, pry the strip out. It will have tabs that look very similar to the tabs on the lower aero grill, so you'll understand how the chrome piece is held on.

Once you get the chrome piece off, you can then start to remove the body colored slat (looks just like the three that are on the stock mcs upper grill). The single slat on the stock lower grill is held on by two sided tape, so you just start at one end and peel it off. It might actually help to get the front of the car wet - mine was just in a rainstorm prior to my starting on the job, and it seemed to make the tape easier to remove. You could also try a heat gun or a hair dryer to get the tape hot as it will peel off better that way.

Once you get the body colored slat off, you will notice that the slat was mounted (with the tape) to two angled louvers - those louvers have to be dremeled out anyway, so I wouldn't worry about getting the excess tape off. You have to dremel out the louvers in order for the lower aero grill to sit flush. I used a cutting wheel on the dremel and started with the outer edge, then cut the top, and the louvers were out. Just cut out the louvers, and leave the center part in place.

Now you use the chrome piece that you removed as a template for the sides of the lower aero grill. If you look at the way the aero grill is designed, you'll see that the bottom section, which curves up, is thicker than the top section. You basically have to half the thickness of the bottom section - all of it, even the part that curves around, to get the grill to sit flush on the stock bumper. The motoring file PDF (just go to motoringfile.com and do a search for "aero grill", and they have pics of what I'm talking about)

The rest is pretty easy - just dremel out new slots for the tabs on the aero grill, as the locations for the aero grill tabs are different than the locations for the tabs on the stock chrome piece (go figure) and pop it in. It may require taking it off a few times and trimming it again, but you'll finally get it.

Good luck,

 

My approach was a little different. I wanted to retain the option of someday returning the grille to its original configuration. Once the lower grille was off (same prying action as described by V70R), and without any modifications to the bumper parts, I put black electrical tape over the portions of body-color fixed louver that would be exposed. Then I dremelled out portions of the grille to fit as best as possible, including holes for mounting the license frame backing. It see-sawed a little on the fixed grilles, so with care, I made sure the top portion was reasonably even along the top (most visible, sticks out about 1/8") and let the bottom stick out a little more. A little glue (important at the ends) and its done. I also had to dremel a bit of the sides of the license frame backing to fit snug over the grille. I too did not photograph the process - gotta get in the habit!

 

I was hoping to be able to revert to stock, but I couldn't seem to get the lower grill to sit flush with the louvers in place. I started cutting and there was no turning back. I don't see myself ever really wanting to go back to the stock grill - but if I ever did I could always glue something in there that would support the body colored slat I guess.

Kudos to making it work without destroying the bumper -

Any pics of the final job?

 

Nice job!

I removed the lower bumper when I did mine (it's really not that difficult). But I would definitely have considered your method (if I had thought of it!).

 

I posted a photo in another thread.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...84&postcount=3

 

Nice work! That plate mount looks factory. The Aero grill looks amazing on PW -