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Custom-made Sport Grill: S402 Replica Walkthrough ('05-'07 Legacy)


nospmoht04

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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.

 

Aluminum sound great! Cost, wait and see! :eek:

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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.

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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.

Edited by nospmoht04

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if I still had time and a place to work on these I'd buy a honeycomb grill and make a mold for it and make them. I used to do fiberglass work growing up repairing surfboards and then got into making front lips. I designed all the RBS stuff for 2008+ cars also. The hardest thing for me when I was doing grills was sourcing good honeycomb at a good price. I see you are finding it just as hard as I did.

 

If you don't mind buying a honeycomb grill you can find someone local to you that does fiberglass work and have them mold it for you. Mold should cost about $500-$1000 dollars to make and each grill should cost ~$100-$125 to make. I'd say a fair price for one would be around the $200-250 mark and then buyers pay shipping.

 

Anyways.. best of luck to you.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Kind of wish I waited now lol. I am still interested in one of these grills though, looking forward to seeing the outcome.

 

Would it work if I was to send you the grill I bought you and you made the moddifications or would it be easier with a used factory grill?

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Kind of wish I waited now lol. I am still interested in one of these grills though, looking forward to seeing the outcome.

 

Would it work if I was to send you the grill I bought you and you made the moddifications or would it be easier with a used factory grill?

 

PMed

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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.

 

Can't wait to see! Should I order the emblem, or would you like to attach one and I can pay your cost for the 08 emblem?

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