Bank holiday creativity. (Nova honeycomb grill)

[8valve-craig]

So, growing ever tired of working on my Nova with no real end in sight, I decided to do something a little different. Its been ages since I ventured out the back into my man shed to make something, the last creation I think being my cam cover, which was fun.

I had a mint grill painted a while back for my car, so it was already dismantled and needed gluing back together, but since fitting my cooler behind it I didn't really want to re-fit the slats which direct air upwards.

I popped to a few hardware stores to see what mesh they had, but none suited me. Looked on my shelves and had a nice Polo GTi honeycomb grill, it couldn't be used, but did give me an idea of what I wanted. Looking on my bumper pile I found one from a bumped Lexus which looked like it might work. I took the grinder to it and liberated the mesh which is part of the moulding and otherwise non removable.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7799_zpse035a90e.jpg

So, a few swipes later the Nova grill was at the point of no return and the measuring could begin.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7800_zps994f08ad.jpg


http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7801_zpsc5aa4c5c.jpg

Obviously me being me it had to be lined up spot on, so once it was somewhere near I heated it up to get the kink in the centre, then gave it some spots of hot glue to hold it for the time being.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7802_zpsc09304b8.jpg

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7804_zps46c9148c.jpg

Happy, so fully glued it, rubbed it down and gave it a wash in the bath, as you do. Please ignore the fork we use to remove the bath plug since the chain snapped, We are not poor, just lazy.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7806_zpsde907872.jpg

The eagle eyed will have noticed that I slipped with the cutter in the bottom left corner, but its not an issue, luckily.

All painted up in satin black

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7807_zpsd79aac7d.jpg

The picture of the fully glued seam, which I forgot to do before paint. It had to be painted front and back to get into all the crevacis.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7808_zpsaa008d90.jpg

And done.

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7810_zps3ea841f2.jpg

http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/smith9051/IMG_7819_zps02666340.jpg

It wont be to everybody's taste, but I like it and am very pleased with myself. The car is far from original, and it's function is 2 fold as not only will the cooler get better airflow I can now keep an eye on the unions, and see the oil pump through the grill so happy days.

[Southie]

I actually like that looks subtle enough, good work ;)

[craig green]

Cool. A subtle little touch.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

im not normally down with these aftermarket type grills, but this custom one looks pretty sweet.

I would spray the top half of that support bar black myself, so it doesn't jump out

good handywork there craig :thumb:

[Pistol Pete]

Awesome work. Can't beat abit of tinkering to keep motivation going!!

[Southie]

I wonder how many will copy this now lol

[mk1nova_rich]

Looks nice...I agree with jimbob though about painting the top section of support bar :thumb:

[8valve-craig]

Thanks, I'm not normally a fan either, but I'm not keen on steel mesh and the slats had to go so here we are.

Regards to the slam panel support, I'm in two minds, either paint it black or remove it altogether. Its blocking the right union for the cooler so you cant get a spanner on it without physically removing the cooler. I have never removed one before, any gen on how much effect it has on the structure of the slam panel? Bonnet is on pins anyway.

[Iain]

Excellent work. Just drill the 2 spot welds top and 2 bottom and it'll come out easily. Doesn't really do much in terms of slam panel support I've never regretted it.

[Peredur]

Now that looks the business, nice twist

[88ESR]

Nice job.. :thumb:

Reminds me of the lower grille on the Perodua Nippa (a car that I happen to like)...

[Novasport]

Looks nice. Those foglights need grafting into a GSi bumper as well ;)

[8valve-craig]

I wasn't expecting such a great response so am dead pleased. I was actually looking forward to posting this, unlike lots of other things I do to my car which tend to divide opinion.

[dgbnova#1]

Spot it out the support then bolt it with one bolt top and bottom so undo top one and pivot on the bottom one grill looks good also

[BRoadGhost]

Yeah looks alright & well done too. Loosing that bar is a step forward in practicality not just looks.

You can get hex design plastic from ebay with smaller increments; I'll have to show you what I've done to your bumper you sold me - I just got the black plastic mesh for it & grill.

[SRimon]

Great work that - from the outset could sound mesh grill like but looks nic

[Keif]

Nice little mod (once the vertical bar is removed/painted).
Meriva and Zafira VXR lower grill are the same design and not that expensive from Vauxhall.

[8valve-craig]

Never thought of Ebay, Just had a look and there's a good selection. The only upside to the is200 I think is that I managed to retain the upper and lower straight edge which gave me much more surface area for the glue. I would imagine the ebay stuff to have no usable border.

I would be interested to see what you did BRG. When its ready post pic's in here if you like.

[Edd]

Looks better than the original mk2 imo

Good work

[Benn]

I really like that, very nicely done. Great change with out metal mesh.


. Doesn't really do much in terms of slam panel support I've never regretted it.

It supports and stabilzes the bonnet too,

[turbojolt]

looks smart. one of them trick mods that would take someone ages to pin point because it looks so oem