My Grille Block with Fabric Cover
 

A while back I made a thread here asking about using stretchy fabric to cover the bumper. Basically, I wanted something that looked a bit more aesthetically pleasing than just cutting and drilling choroplast to the bumper. Here's how it turned out


Factory front grill
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3782/frontgrill.jpg

I wasn't sure if the fabric alone would be a good wind deterrent (I figured wind would still pass through it), so I made a grill block from choroplast.
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/225...asticcover.jpg

Here's the lycra nylon I cut up
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5566/nylonfabric.jpg

Grill, block and fabric together
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9...tandfabric.jpg

All it takes is a simple stretching and wrapping the fabric around the grill clips
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4...ndtheedges.jpg

Here's how it looks!
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/734/grillid.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/1990/farshot.jpg

Overhead
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6857/topviewv.jpg

From the side
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5808/sideviewr.jpg



What do you guys think? Be honest, if you don't like it that's cool. I like it because it's easy to remove if I need to, and I think it's more aesthetically pleasing than what I could do with choroplast alone. I'm going to do the whole bumper one of these days soon, but this will do for now.

I'd say that it looks very nice. My brain is trying to ask "What about the coroplast having sharp corners and cutting the fabric? What if the fabric tears?" and I'm trying to shut it up. :)

Good creativity! I've been working on my grille block for a a couple days, and not once have I thought of fabric :)

It looks good!

If you like it enough to make it permanent, you could always cover the fabric with fiberglass resin and make it a lot harder and not worry about the fabric tearing.

TomO -

I like it too. The "make it solid" coating is what I was thinking, but I didn't have a good suggestion. Can the resin be spray-painted on? Do you have to sand it down?

CarloSW2

Fiberglass resin is usually brushed on and yes, you will have to sand it smooth unless you can brush it on super evenly.

For non-technical applications like this where the strength of the epoxy or
polyester resin/fabric composite is not an issue, you can significantly
shorten the post construction sanding/finishing time by adding a soft "filler"
to the resin to more quickly cover the weave pattern in the fabric.

Huh?

Typically, in structural applications, the ideal resin-to-fiberglas ratio is 1:1
by weight. There a special lay-up schedules to achieve this. Usually it
involves using non-woven mat between layers of woven cloth to lift the resin
content, and get better cloth-to-cloth layer bonding.

However, this is not the case in something needing little real strength like a
grill cover. What you want in this case is a quickly/easily/inexpensively
achieved surface that fully masks the weave in the cloth and be sanded
smooth for finishing/painting. The answer is to fill the resin with some
relatively soft material.

Like what? If you have access to a West Marine or other boating supply
house you could buy some "micro-balloons," incredibly small plastic
spheres. But you can just as reliably use stuff around the house; very fine
wood dust from sanding, baking soda, cornstarch, even plain old
cooking/baking flour.

First coat your fabric with coat of straight epoxy/polyester resin. You don't
have to go immediately on to the next coating. Just do not let the resin fully
cure. To get a chemical bond between coats, you need to apply the second
coat while the first is partially cured and slightly tacky.

Next thoroughly mix the two part epoxy/polyester resin in the correct
proportions. Then add you thickener-of-choice to get a consistency between
mayonnaise and peanut butter. Thinner mixtures will tend to level better,
but are harder to sand. Thicker mixtures build faster but result in a rougher
surface requiring more sanding. Brush, roll or trowel your filled resin onto
the fabric base. Strive for enough thickness to allow for sanding some away
to get a good smooth surface for painting.

Once the coatings have cured hard, sand away to get a smooth surface with
final sanding with 220 grit. Follow-up with 2 coats of primer (sand between
with 320), and two coats of top coat (sand between with 400 grit). A clear
topcoat is optional but desirable.

Most folks don't like to hear it but the longer you let paint harden and cure
in air before you put it into service the better. It wouldn't be a bad idea to
let your new grill block sit in a well ventilated place for a week before
mounting.

Hope this helps.

Did you give any thought to using vinyl? Just make yourself a aero "bra" that covers the grill opening instead of leaving it open as the commercial ones do. It would be more durable than fabric and the surface could be wiped off. I'm afraid any open weave fabric would get pretty stinky after a few hundred bugs smash into it.

Rokeby, super helpful info there mate. :D

Haha, it's all good; nylon is pretty tough stuff but one suggestion I have is to get nylon lycra or some other "four-way stretch" fabric, otherwise you can't cover the top and bottom too.


Hmmm, I might do the front around the corrugated plastic piece, but I like the idea that I can take it off the grill if I ever want to for some reason.


I thought about using a lot of different stuff, including vinyl and monokote plastic wrap, but in the end the lyrca was cheap ($30 for a 4x8' sheet), easy to cut up and not permanent. Plus, I'm not very good when it comes to making aesthetically pleasing exterior stuff, so I went with something lazy :D Not to mention, this stuff's lightweight, and I can always wash it if it gets to smelling.