nospmoht04

PMed

I figured out how I'm doing it and one is almost done. It pretty spot on, it just needs an 08+ emblem for the center. I'll get some pics up later this week. This is definitely the learning phase of it and it's been a lot of work tuning it in. I'll have it all laid out after this and be able to make them a lot faster going forward.

Will need the 08+ emblem and looks better anyways. A nice big emblem in the center. It's the look of a lot of newer cars nowadays anyways. It'll give a good look.

Yeah I'm gonna have to get a 08+ one and compare it to see if it looks good. The 05-07 grill is a little smaller so hopefully the bigger emblem isnt too big.

Coming along nicely. Emblems will definitely be needed though.

Thanks again for the advice, a mold is something I'll look into a little further down the road. For now I do have a couple things going. I just got some new tools to make things a bit easier. The ideas and support have been awesome. The community here is outstanding and better than I've seen anywhere else. It makes doing all this really worthwhile and I'll keep prices as low as possible. Thanks again and I'll be in touch.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Oh nice those are some good shots. I havent been able to track down anything with that sort of thickness while holding that pattern and having the cell walls be thick enough. I haven't found anything that thick and to have it cut out of that sized plastic leaves so much wasted material and takes so much time that the price goes way up. I'm sure Subaru had a mold they made their mesh with. To have 3/16" aluminum sheet cut into that pattern by a water jet, I was quoted $92 per 27"x7" piece which is about the size I'd need per grill. That's without any significant depth like in those shots. Plastic would be cheaper but still pretty expensive per grill. I could have it routed but it'd still be $50+ per grill for aluminum. The stuff I'm buying to try out now has the same shape and dimensions but it's only around 1/4" thick and slightly thicker cell walls.. Is that a look that you guys will be into? Because ultimately it is up to you and not just me. It will look great, it'll just look a little different, but the grill will be different anyway because the 05-07 USDM grill is smaller than the JDM S402 grill so it kind of matches the proportion. I'm going to make one out of it when it's shipped and you guys can give me some feedback.

I think I might have found something, but it'll take a little time. Stay tuned.

I just met with the water jet shop. An engineer there has all of the info on what I'm trying to do and is going to run a few different pricing scenerios. I'm looking at the idea of possibly using plastic instead of aluminum too. It'd take way less time to have a water jet slicing through plastic vs metal and the pricing is dependent on how long the jet is running. Metal could end up jacking the price way up since it'd be a lot of starting and stopping cutting to do this pattern. Either way I'll get some prices on both and go from there. Once I hear from him and get a better idea on how I'm going to get this honeycomb material I'll post it here, but in the meantime I can continue to make the recessed version of the grill with the standard mesh I used in the pictures. Thanks for lookin.

Yeah I mean it'd be pretty BA to have some material cut exactly how the actual S402 grill is even though it'll cost. I know that even if it's expensive I'll be making one for my car.

The "honeycomb mesh" showed up and it was junk. It was too thin and won't work. Whatta ya gonna do? I sent it back and I need to find something somewhere else. I have a meeting set up for Monday with a water jet company one town over so I'd avoid shipping costs. I talked to him on the phone today and had him look at the exact pattern of the S402 grills. He said he'll bring me out on the floor and show me his shop and can have his engineer write up a program for the pattern and hit it near exact. It'd be near spot on and it'd be made of aluminum which is better than plastic in my opinion, but it's going to cost quite a bit to do. Plastic in this pattern sold in sheets its pricey anyways, plus I'll have to pay shipping and I can't mold it to bow out. I'll find out more Monday after work and let you guys know.

The only difference between what you just posted would be that instead of the honeycomb being an extra $14 per grill it'll be $19 per grill. Then there's $7 for the lipping per grill. S402 style would increase in price by a total of $12 across the board. So just an even $250 is what I was thinking. That is also with me eating the shipping on the materials which they quoted me $7 shipping for the honeycomb and it ended up being $21+. That's fine though. So for the S402 you're looking at the price of the regular which was $175 plus $19 and $7 totaling in $201 then the remaining amount would be for extra time spent over the easier attachment of the simpler mesh. Plus on all styles there's the cost of the bleach, bondo, adhesive, primer, paint and sandpaper. I wanted to get one completed and make judgment on an overall price then but it wouldn't be higher than $250 and may be lower. Then to add I don't think the regular mesh will work with the flush look since its too thin to be durable at a bow like that. Just the honeycomb for the S402.

Something else I noticed was that the front face of the honeycomb has a glimmer to it. I don't know if that's just a lighting glare from a glossy finish or if its actually a metallic color. I was thinking after I paint it all a glossy black I can run over the top of the honeycomb with fine, high grit sandpaper to expose the aluminum slightly and give it that look. Aluminum being non-ferrous and having high corrosion resistance would last and look fine in the elements. I'd clearcoat or polish it anyway. Just another idea to add but I think it'd look awesome. If someone knows for sure what the stock S402 grill looks like in that sense let me know.

I have three grills in progress, in my posession (1 is Catalyst's), with a 4th on the way that I purchased last night. I've still got a list and will be working my way down it, prioritizing based on who's contacted me or at least mentioned they were interested. So far, so long as they are interested when they see a finished product, the 3 extras aside from Catalysts would go to: 12sechatch SBT JJr The list goes much longer than this and I'll continue to get more grills as I go and I'll post up who's next. There's no reason I can't be making Outback and 08/09 style grills too. As I mentioned a few posts ago, the 08/09 style will come closer to the S402 look since its a couple inches taller than an 05-07 grill. I can make recessed with normal mesh, recessed with honeycomb, and S402 flush look with honeycomb for each of the grill styles I mentioned. Like I said before the S402 style is going to take a lot more work and I'll be spending more on materials and undoubedly more time fine tuning the attachment of the aluminum honeycomb so I'll write out a breakdown of pricing and all the materials when it's done. I already ordered 1 grill's worth of lipping for the S402 that goes around the grill inside the outside edges and that was $7. I think the lipping will be pretty important as it'll hide the transition from the aluminum honeycomb to the plastic grill. I think that's why it came factory like that and it would look different without it. Another thing was the Subaru emblem mounted in the middle. I can't cover their cost as you all know they can be a little pricey. If you want to find one on your own and send it to me to mount on your grill I can do that, or you can add one yourself when I ship you the grill. I can also look for some in the meantime. If you aren't digging the added costs that's totally fine and I can add only the things you want but I will post pictures of the final product and you can decide for yourselves. I know I'm repeating myself with a lot of this but I wanted to reiterate all of it in one spot for everyone to see or people just starting to follow the thread. I'm starting to see why a replica of the S402 grill hasn't been done yet in numbers because of how time consuming each one will be and how much hands on fine tuning it'll take. This is fun for me though and I don't mind doing it. It's looking like in a few of weeks I won't be working 85 hour weeks like I've been getting recently and may also be having 3 days off a week coming at the end of April. I'll have shop access on my off days and only be working 4-5 days a week opposed to working 6-7 days a week so I can really put some time into these. It's been slow going the past couple weeks because I haven't had much free time at all. Working from 6am to 8pm on some nights and doing a little work on grills at 9pm doesn't leave much time. Again, pictures of the final product will be posted upon completion, along with a materials list including pricing. Thanks to everyone, and I'll update soon. Here's a shot again of the lipping I was talking about:

Good call ministi. I fixed it after work yesterday and it looks way better. Nice and clean and smooth. The top of my bumper was sagging down a bit and its perfect now. Not much of a lip to grab there, they don't make it too noticeable.

Yeah it definitely makes sense since it has the two clips on the bottom.

Ah true yeah there is a gap there. Thanks didn't notice I did that.

Crappy cell phone pic but here's how I just set my grill up. Thanks to scoobydoobie for the free GT emblems he tossed into a sale.

Thanks

I was looking at pictures of S402s and noticed that they all have the taller USDM 08-09 style grill. This means with a USDM 05-07 shell it will look a bit different since it wont have the same honeycomb surface area from top to bottom. The arc will be at a slightly different angle as well. I'm thinking I could make the 08-09 versions of them though, They're just a couple inches taller, same deal otherwise. I have 05-07 ones in progress and going for the S402 look and will post up pictures, but I wanted to note that they will look a bit different.

PMed

I did rattle can it yeah. Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I was wondering since I hadn't heard yet. New honeycomb mesh should be in mid-next week.

Will do once I get one. .:Catalyst:. - Got your grill tonight, just opened it. I'll keep ya posted.

Second new grill showed up tonight so I have 2 in my possesion now. Neither have emblems but I'm getting going on them tonight. Ordering honeycomb on Friday, I won't need it till further along anyways. Stay tuned.