Another Pretty Grille Block

[Cassem]

Im back in Michigan and now I can get down to really making aerodynamic modifications to my beautiful little Mazda 2. I am going to wait to make wheel skirts and more involved stuff because Im loaning my car to the dealership for fleet emissions testing ... the beauty of owning a car so few people bought.

Yesterday I started on a new grille block after reading Daox's "Pretty Prius Grill Block" thread about 5000 times.

Here the grille is all covered in aluminum. I did get a small rip trying to form fit it at the bottom. This didn't end up being an issue.


After applying the Good Stuff.


It looks like I don't need to worry about adverse side effects from the grille block. I spent a good while looking and there is a small vent to the radiator at the top of the "smilie face"


I am going to shape the grille block today after I finish a lunch meeting on the other side of town.

Some things I noticed:
- After playing around with different versions of Good Stuff sealant at Home Depot I thing the the large gap filler cures harder and won't need as much reinforcement after shaping.
- you can speed cure the Good Stuff by misting water. I would lay down a few lines then do a lite misting. This seemed to counteract the fact that I was doing this in 35 degree weather.
- The Good Stuff seems to shape better if you do it in short bursts. Just enough to empty the applicator. It starts to get tacky in the applicator. If you don't do this it just runs and cures on the driveway.
- If I did this again (Im going to on my brother's pickup) I would cover the mess with a few layers of cling wrap so the final shape would be easier to sand down.

Question:
I am going to use a blade to bring the large raised areas down. When I sand, do you guys think a belt sander would be overkill? Would I risk ripping the foam?

[jsatter]

I just used spray foam to make a grill block for my Forte. I sanded the excess by hand with 100 grit sand paper. Anything rougher tore the foam up, which I didn't want. A belt sanders might be a little overkill, but a small handheld mouse sander would probably work perfectly.

[Cassem]

Great, thanks for the advice

[Daox]

Cool project.

I found sanding with my ~40 grit paper was plenty fast enough to do my entire lower grill. You can give the power sander a try. Just be careful around the edges.

[HyperMileQC]

nice job, waiting for the final result.

[Cassem]

Tried to sand it down a bit tonight. I wasn't making much headway so I attacked it with a hacksaw!

Im going to check the shape tomorrow and then bondo over it to deal with all those really deep holes.



This baby isn't going to go on the car until she is done. Ive got some ladies to impress.

On a side note, I got my average mileage for this tank up to 46.8mpg on my way to and from my meeting. I had to have been doing mid 50s there and back to bring it up to that. It's nice, Ive been having a hard time since I got back up north.

[Cassem]

Im finishing up the shaping, work got in the way of that this week.


I just went out to the car to check the size and shape. Unfortunatly, the backside expanded and ruined the shape a little bit. Ive been carving it down for the past hour and Im just about happy with it. NOW, I can put the bondo on.


While I was shaping I stabbed myself in the finger. Im glad I had these super manly band aids.

[Cassem]

B-B-B-BONDO, SON!



The area with no bondo is going to be trimmed a little before I spray the rubber covering on.

I think I figured out how I am going to attach it too. This is going to look stock but it wont be ugly.