Building a Custom Grille

I have been thinking about building a custom grille for the 1972 Maverick Grabber I have been restoring for my Dad. I have been using a rendering that I have found on the internet as my plateform for this build. It will be the same color and design.



A big part of getting the Maverick to resemble the rendition is the grille with round driving lights.

I seen a grille that was very simular to this one done by PART-TIME. After a phone conversation with him, I had a good base to start from.

First I would need a medalion grille. After some looking I found one about 1 1/2 hours away.



The first thing was to remove the medalion part of the grille. I used a hacksaw blade with a handle and carefully cut through the plastic fins.

 

Once the center portion was removed I took a dremel and sanded down the tabs that remained leaving a clean square opening.



The next step was to fill in the area I just removed with slats and fins so it looks like it the center section of a grabber grille.

I found a grille from a 1972 grabber that was less than perfect to section out the center section to use to fill in the opening of the medalion grille.





The medalion grille and the grabber grille have different molding styles. The medalion grille has flatter slats then the grabber grille. To make them both look the same I hand sanded the front face of the cut out section till the forward face was the same flat thickness.

 

After numerous minor adjustments to the donor piece to get it to fit just right. I slid it into place and used a few drops of super glue to hold it in place, till I can epoxy it in when I am finished fabricating all the pieces.

 

Very nice. I was thinking of doing the round lights in a grill Im making. Ill be interested in seeing your progress.

 

The next part of the build was to to decide on what location to place the lights in the grille and to decide on just cutting the openings for the lights or to incase the lights into the grille much like the rectangle lights on the later grilles.

After laying out a 4" circle template on the grille I decided to place the lights towards the outward sided of the grille. I also decided that I would incase the lights in a circular housing to give more of a factory designed feel to the grille.

After marking out a close proximity of the area of the material I was using to incase the 4" lights, I used tin snips, hacksaw blade on a handle, and a dremel to cut the section out for the light housing making sure that each slat was cut at the proper angle so the light housing would face forward and level.

 

Looking good man

What kind of epoxy you useing?

 

Once I got the first side to fit I started on the second side. The second side took about 1/4 the time just because I had the correct angles to have the housing at the correct angles.







I tacked in the pieces to ensure I had them at the right angles to so they were level a straight ahead. I them marked the back side so I knew where to cut and trim them so when they are permanently installed they will be flush on the back side of the grille.

After getting them marked I pulled the housings back out and cut them down using a multi-tool. I them hand sanded them flat on a sanding board I built.

After they fit perfect in the openings in the grille I use super glue to hold into place until I was ready to epoxy them into place.

 

what lights are you putting in the holes?

 

I received the PIAA 5192 4" Xteme White SMR Driving lights that I ordered. I couldn't wait to see how they looked in the fabricated housings.

I placed them in the housings to get a general idea.

They look pretty good to me. What do you guys think???

 

nice work man, looks good

 

looks killer. has me thinking about adding lights like that to my grill.

 

Loctite Epoxy for plastic. It is a 2 part that sets up in 20 minutes. I am in the process of looking for plastic syringe to apply the epoxy so I am hoping that I can apply it without making to much of a mess to clean up.

Most of the progress is done except for applying the epoxy, scuffing up the grille, apply bulldog adhesion promoter and painting it.

PIAA 510 Xtreme White Plus SMR lights and wiring kit. They are really nice lights and one of the few upper end companies that sell lights that are 4".

Thanks!!!!!

 

Very nice work. I can't wait to see it painted and on a car.

 

Wondering what you used for your light rings?

 

I often thought about how some inboard lights would look on a maverick, like the 67 Shelby lights. Has anyone seen this done on a maverick?