Project pretty prius grill block

[Daox]

I did a bit more work on the grill block tonight. It doesn't look much different, but its a lot smoother. After the first two full coats of bondo, I did a couple more patch coats where it was low and to fill in the edges nicely. After it looked pretty good I shot another guide coat over it to make sure the low spots were all gone and it sanded out pretty nice. Then, I changed my 36 grit sandpaper over to 220 (its a big step, but it was all I had). I started sanding the whole thing down sanding out all the scratches from the 36 grit sandpaper and getting it ready for priming. After getting it mostly smoothed out, I found another problem right in the middle tip rounded area. So, I mixed up another small batch of bondo and slapped some on.

Here is another shot. It looks pretty much the same as before, just a few more blotches of bondo sanded down.

[Daox]

Tonight I got it sanded down again with 220 grit sandpaper and then shot two coats of primer over it. Here it is between the first and second coat. There are some pinholes to deal with, but a little glazing putty will fill those in nicely.

[CigaR007]

As you have probably figured out by now, the whole process requires lots of time and patience. However, it will look pretty sweet when completed !

It sure has been a learning process for me in that regard and it gets better with practice.

[Daox]

Yeah, its definitely more work than slapping some coroplast on a grill (my lower grill block on the Prius). However, its not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The sanding has gone very fast I think and I'm definitely getting much better at spreading bondo after a few tries. Also, its not eating up a ton of time like I expected. Its maybe an hour here and an hour there. I find it very fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product on the car, especially after seeing how nicely yours turned out.

[Daox]

Not too much has been going on lately with this. I've been thinking about how I want to attach it to the car and keep it easily removable. I liked the idea of some form of plastic clip and when I went to the store I talked with one of the clerks there and he recommended those spring loaded cabinet catches. I picked up four of them.




Now, I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to attach it to the block and to the grill area. I'll probably use wood blocks on the car side and probably even wood blocks on the grill block. I'll definitely remove the foam on the back and add some additional fiberglass to the back side of the block to beef it up so it doesn't crack under the stress of installation and removal. I'll probably imbed the wood blocks in the fiberglass to strengthen the whole thing and just screw the catch parts to that.

[FlawedLegacy]

man, this is going to look AMAZING! I just hope my new grille for my Corolla will lend itself to making one of these this nice.

interested to see how those clips work!

[euromodder]

I could see these work as attachments for removable wheel skirts.
Do they grip tightly ?

[Daox]

Thanks FlawedLegacy.

They do grip pretty good. I suppose if you wanted them to grip even better you could just tweak the bent metal clip to be a little wider. Perhaps I'll do some weight testing to see how much one of those can hold?

[Quasimoto]

They also make magnetic latches that might work even better, as they are flatter.

[Daox]

Yeah, I looked at those in the store. They didn't inspire confidence when I played with them as their holding power was much lower than these spring loaded catches.