Opus-n-Bill

One of the few things I didn’t like on my new Lariat was the huge chrome bars on the grille. I considered the Paramount raptor grille with the big FORD on the front, but didn’t want to try to look like a Raptor if I didn’t have a Raptor (no offense intended to all you guys with the “F O R D” grilles ).

Saw DeltaNu’s build here, which got me started. Then photos of the 2018 sport grille came out (which is the same style as my previous 2004 XLT grille, and I realized missed that), so I decided that was the look I would go for.

This is what I have from Ford:


This is the style I’m shooting for:


Looking at grilles to use as a starting point, and reading thru the forums, I decided on this off ebay:

Opus-n-Bill

When I got it and unboxed it, this is what it originally looked like:


The bar with the emblem mount comes off, and looks like this, separated:


and

Opus-n-Bill

To get from this to where I wanted to be, I first cut the emblem from the bar on the bandsaw:



I then ground the edges smooth/flush on a tabletop sander:


Had to be careful, because the grinding got the plastic hot enough to melt.

Opus-n-Bill

Next, I had to fill in the ends where the bar used to be. To do this, I used some of the scrap plastic from the bar that was cut off, and a heat gun to soften it, and bent it to roughly the right shape. If I had this to do over, I’d have shaped a block of wood as a form to bend the plastic around. As it was, I ended up gluing up multiple layers with JB Weld (50139 Plastic Bonder Body Panel Adhesive and Gap Filler).

First, I cut off the side of the bar:


Then fit it to the emblem mount:


Cut to length, heated and curved to a close fit:


Then glued in place with JB Weld:

Opus-n-Bill

Since I just heated and curved the plastic by hand, it didn’t have the right angle:


It’s not easy to tell here, but I used another strip of scrap and a lot of JB Weld to layer it up to make it thick enough to grind to the right angle:



After grinding it smooth on the table top sander, then smoothing with some 1000 grit sandpaper, I had this:

Opus-n-Bill

At this point, I attached it with a small bungee for a test fit:


To mount it, I decided to use the mounting posts from the original piece. They were all originally on the bar rather than the emblem mount:


The emblem area is taller than the bar area was, so after cutting them off, I had to build them up with a couple layers of scrap from the bar. I screwed the mounting plates into the posts to more easily handle it while I glued it all up:


In order to glue it to the right spot on the emblem mount, I bungeed the emblem mount to the grille in the right position, and glued the mounting posts thru the grille, being careful not to shift anything or cover any holes that the actual emblem posts stick thru:


Here’s the emblem mount with the posts glued in (it doesn’t look it in this picture, but they are all straight/square to the face of it). I took the picture further along in the process when I realized I hadn’t taken one, which is why the camera cutout is already there, so ignore that for now :

Opus-n-Bill

Next, I had to make the cutout in the emblem mount for the camera housing. To make the cut-out, I put masking tape on the emblem mount on my current grille (on the truck), traced the edge with a pencil, then pulled the tape off and cut it with a razor along the pencil lines to make a template. I then put that tape template on the new emblem mount, and cut it with a bandsaw and cleaned it up with a dremel:


Test fit it, and did a little tweaking with the dremel until it fit just right:

Gumption

iTrader: (1)

wow, great stuff!

looking forward to seeing finished product

speedydave

Have you seen the current sport grill? Google the 2017 STX package. I posted before your pictures loaded. Your grill looks really nice, post some pics of it on your truck when you are finished. I didn't know the center section is removable, that is great information.

Opus-n-Bill

Next, I cut the grille itself to fit the camera mount. I used a picture of a real Raptor grille as a guideline:


I outlined where the emblem mount goes with tape, and cut the appropriate bits out:


Next, I rough framed where the camera mount will go:


Once the JB weld cured, I trimmed it and smoothed it with a dremel and sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper. Much better: