tdevil55

iTrader: (23)

I didn't find a thread for this, but if there is one out there, mods help me out.

When I first got my Camaro, I removed the front grill to clean up the look. When I removed the stock plastic grill off the nose, I found that the stock grill left a few marks on the nose as you can see on the left and right bottom sides:



I don't have the kind of $$ to toss into a SLP grill, and I like having the CAMARO letters up front instead of the bow tie, as well I don't have time or money to get the entire car painted. So I decided to paint the stock grill and put it back on. I know some have done this in the past, but I could not find a actual thread on this. This is what I did:

Since I have the stock grill with a license plate mount on it, which I did not want to keep on, I had to fill in the holes and paint them over. To do this I used plastic epoxy to fill the holes from the bracket. You can get this from walmart, I found mine in the paint section near the glues and painters tape. Get the one that is for plastic and take 7 mins to dry. I Mixed a little up and filled in the holes and a little over the top of the hole. I let it sit for about 10 mins and then used a razor blade to cut the excess off and evened out the epoxy on top of the hole. I then sanded it down over the filled in holes to smooth them out and match the grill surface. I ended up using 2 cans of gloss black paint and slowly put coats on the grill to create a even coat and a good gloss shine, letting each coat sit for about 10-20 mins. So far this is what I have ended up with:







I am letting it sit overnight to finish drying and setting, then tomorrow I will spray it with a few coats of clear-coat and then hopefully get it back on the car. Ill post the finished mod once I get it on the car.

Ok, let me know what you think.

EATSGTS

iTrader: (2)

Has the potential to look good. I'd put some stainless fill-ins for the letters.

tdevil55

iTrader: (23)

Got those coming in the mail from Emblempros.com already.

Ls1CamaroGuy87

iTrader: (7)

Cool man looks good

I painted mine as well and added the stainless inserts. I have a couple pics in my fquick

thecobrahunter

iTrader: (1)

Starting to look great. Don't forget to put up pics!

06 6.0 GTO

In for pics.

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

looks real good man. i just put a few coats of enamel on mine to give it that "just armor-alled" look, but yours looks a lot better i wish i did mine glossy like that.

black_sheep454

iTrader: (9)

Grill looks good man, gonna look alot better than it did before

omarrakeen

iTrader: (2)

hmmm i think it will look better...will it look nice on black camaro?!..gd work

Ls1CamaroGuy87

iTrader: (7)

^^color matching the stock grille on any color looks good...

shaun

this will give you an idea on how it will look.
it has to have the ss letters or it will look wierd.

fucter

iTrader: (5)

just brain storming here;
what if I got SS emblems from an old camaro or chevelle and did this mod, and added the emblems?
slp ss grille for low cost?

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

^definitely can be done. you would just have to go through the extra work of filling the letters

99Zeeeeeeeeee28

iTrader: (9)

I've thought about doing this for my Z. I hate the stock grill and I've got some white spots on it from wax that is really tough to get out. Anyone have a picture of a white Camaro with the grill painted gloss black and filled in with white Camaro inserts?

tdevil55

iTrader: (23)

Clear coat is on and letting it dry for a day. I want it to be clean and no bubbles or runs. The clear coat really made it shine more, hope it will help protect it more also. Once I think its dry enough, I will install it on the car and then take final pics, for now here is how it sits today.

LeftySS

iTrader: (17)

Very nice! Will look so much better than the stock finish!

caseypryan

iTrader: (10)

Wow that is veryy sick. I've never seen that. It looks great. I wish I could paint! Can't wait to see the final product

02CamaroSSLE

iTrader: (5)

are you color matching or are you painting it black??? looks black in the pics but then again not much light to go off of... looks SHINY!!! lol

tdevil55

iTrader: (23)

Its gloss black. I have the CAMARO letters comming through the mail from Emblempros.com to fill them in to help break up the area. Being that the car is registered in VA, I have to maintain a plate up front. Too keep the grill from being covered too much, I made a lower mount for the plate, as you can see in the first picture in the orginial post. If I got everything set right, the plate will only cover the lower part of the grill just below the CAMARO.

Thanks for everyones comments on this. I am getting excited about the final fit and look. I can usualy work with small things like this for painting and moding, but I wish I could do the whole car like this and get rid of the dings and marks that have come from driving it daily and the crap from the road. Maybe one day I will graduate to doing a entire car.

Stay tuned, hope to have pictures with it on tonight after work, and I hope the Emblempro.com package is waiting on me when I get home also. That would be

travisnd

iTrader: (21)

Looks great Craig! I've thought about doing this years ago, but got concerned on how it will hold up againest rock chips and stuff.