Hatchback: Change Sport Grille to Overseas Standard Grille

[ag bullet]

I got lucky and was able to get this one from ebay that was already Titanium gray. It only took us two hours and a six pack, but the grille is on and looks great. I will snap some pics in the daylight tomorrow.

Anyway, here is a brief step-by-step of what we had to do to make it work. Let me know if you have any questions.

Since the bottom piece is moulded into the bumper, we had to cut that off using tin-snips. Afterwards, we used a cut-off wheel to trim further:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71256827.jpg

From there we had to trim the remainder of the moulding and some pieces behind. The rest of the mould was removed, by hand with a hack-saw blade:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71256946.jpg

Then we sanded the really rough stuff nice and smooth:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257010.jpg

The few places we couldn't sand, we filed:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257083.jpg

The Styrofoam in the bumper stuck out like a sore thumb so we painted it real quick:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257146.jpg

Next, we welded a tab to the bottom of the hood latch to make it easier to reach:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257268.jpg

New latch in place:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257613.jpg

All done! I love the new look. I have to fill in the gap between the bottom of the grille and the bumper a little. Perhaps with some weather-stripping. Shouldn't be a big deal.

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257674.jpg

Once more, daylight pics coming:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71257686.jpg

[mazdaspeedpower]

thats awesome man.

[protegeV]

nice(thumb)

kinda looks like the 3i grill with the top bar painted...

[sndsgood]

yeah i'd like to see how that thing looks in the day.

[ag bullet]

yeah i'd like to see how that thing looks in the day.

For those that wanted a before/after shot and or some pics in the daylight, I present you with the following:

Before:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/69489091.jpg

After:

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71340615.jpg

http://pic13.picturetrail.com/VOL487/135343/5072665/71340620.jpg

[Hollywood2009]

I like a lot ...goes with the lower grill... nice blend

[wongpres]

Great stuff ag bullet, so good that I moved it to How-To vbmenu_register("postmenu_1309149", true);

[protegeV]

awesome(thumb)

[3-LOV3R]

Love it! Makes it look a lot more aggressive. Nice Work.

[jersey_emt]

Nice work.

[TomH]

Definately different. I'm not sure I like the way the Mazda emblem seems to hang from that top bar though. If you like it, that's all that matters.

[ag bullet]

Definately different. I'm not sure I like the way the Mazda emblem seems to hang from that top bar though. If you like it, that's all that matters.

I like the emblem a little better. It is a tad smaller, or so it seems on the "new" grille. For me it was worth the switch to make it different.