Making a durable (removable) upper/lower grille block for the UFO: 2000 Honda Insight

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

HA!! Now I have to use magnets.

Texas A&M University is working on magnets for wood and plastic.They should be out within the millennia!

[MetroMPG]

Hopefully they're working on those pesky aluminum magnets too.

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I'm reporting in to say that I don't have much exciting to report.

Some more coats of epoxy, some sanding, a few coats of primer. Nothing photo-worthy.

Epoxy is nice to work with - you can use it inside without stinking up the house. Not so with polyester resins.

[Prophecy99]

nice work metro, look forward to seeing final product.

[MetroMPG]

Thanks!

I'm now at the point where I'm deciding how much effort I want to put in the "finishing" details. I'm leaning toward a "10 foot finish" -- meaning, from 10 feet away it will look great!

If I want to double or triple my time in the project, I might be able to make it look like the parts came from Honda ("1 foot finish"), but my heart's just not into doing that much fiddly work. I've got too many other projects on the to-do list for that.

[Blue Angel]

Setting the bar low is good insurance towards being satisfied with the outcome. I suffer constantly from setting the bar too high, so high that I sometimes complicate things so much the project never gets off the ground.

The "Ten Foot Finish" will make for really nice forum pictures... only you will know the dirty truth!

[Varn]

I always want things to look good from 20 feet away. The overall shape is important. Only then would I decide if it is worth working toward more finish and detail.

[turbothrush]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

coming up with a good fastening method can be the tricky part, especially if you want to be able to easily remove the parts (even trickier if you want to be able to remove them without using tools).

Metro , 3M/Scotch makes dual lock fasteners that may work for you. RF9730CH

They are similar to velcro but both sides have the plastic hooks. I've used them with great success. Maybe worth a look.

[MetroMPG]

Thanks, turbothrush.

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The upper grille block is pretty much ready for paint:



I hope I don't jinx the paint job by saying this, but it's looking more like a 3- or 5-foot job, not a 10-footer.

Lower block: I'm just tweaking its shape to fit the opening snugly. This weekend I'll decide on a way to mount it, and then it's on to finishing work for that piece.

I'm going to visit relatives tomorrow evening - a ~200 km (120 mi.) highway round trip. Both parts will be on the car for the journey, finished or not!

(Likely not.)

[2000neon]

Looks great! Good job.

[a8ksh4]

Very nice!