Alrighty, my new grill arrived this morning. Packaging was a bit duff but never mind. Soon as the kids were sorted I went out to fit it. Took some pics as I went along:
Before I started:
This is pretty much how the new grill arrived, it had a token piece of bubble wrap around it - no expense spared:
Under the bonnet there are about 7 screws I had to remove which release the grill and another bit of plastic whose purpose I couldnt determine:
I removed the screws (hold the screws as they are undone to prevent them falling into the engine bay):
The grill then just lifts out:
Cleaned around the bonnet where the old grill had sat, obviously this area never gets touched because its out of reach:
There where some plastic bits that fit over the brackets on the new grill for the screws to thread into. I put these on and it was just 4 screws to secure the new grill in place:
Okay Done and here are some pics of it fitted:
It looked really naff, I couldnt stand seeing the silver paint behind it. So off to Halfords for a sniff about. Had loads of ideas about cutting a surround out of plastic to cover the paint but nothing was available. I settled on good old fashioned paint.
Here is what I did next:
Used steel wool on the area I wanted to paint:
After using steel wool I cleaned with just warm water and then dried really well. Now I masked off the area I wanted to paint and covered the inner side of the bonnet to protect the engine from spray:
Then protected the surounding area of the car:
Then I started spraying, I did four coats altogether with 15mins in between each spray. The paint was a Hammerite all in one quick drying paint. Hear are the four coats:
And the finished product:
All in all about 1.5 hours work and pretty easy work at that. I am pleased with the outcome although how long before I change the grill again is unknown.
Peace out.
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