Talking of a custom aluminum grill ...

Would it make sence to make it the same width as headlights?
Continue with a rubber seal under it (the same way it is under headlights). Also there would be the same gap above headlights AND grill.

The next question is ...
1. Make a plate from steel and weld it to the hood (even shape eyebrows at the bottom on each side) ... make smooth all around and paint (a lot og work) or ...
2. Glue a rubber seal (only option for black in color) at the bottom of the hood or ...
3. Make plastic cover (paintable) and bolt it to the grill and headlight housings

What do you think, guys?

 

honestly, i don't really understand or follow clearly your description. WTF? can you draw it? sketch it? what do you mean make it the same width as the headlights? huh? you can learn to spell, as well.

 

yeah go into a little more detail.

 

I think it may look good if you molded a grill into the hood, but I wouldnt do the eyebrows too, if your going to be doing all this work you may as well just gets some lights that look more aggressive and forget about the eyebrows.

 

I don't exactly draw well ...

 

... and you could consider learning to be more polite

 

I thought about that too (like older style MB). But there would be a slight problem with opening the hood (hood lock is located at the top).
And I agree with skipping eyebrows thing (but if desired - why not )

BTW, which "other lights" would fit?

 

none will be a direct fit but if you were going to be molding the grille and all the other work of moving the latch to the bottom of the grille I would say mold in some diff. headlights.

 

Actually, your idea SOUNDS good. And it'd even be something I'd be willing to get into as well. But like Jay said, I'd likely go with a different kind of headlight conversion if you wanted to try that.

As for what kind of light, I found that a certain year(s) of Mitsubishi Diamante might be a viable alternative to the BMW lights. Especially since a lot of Diamante owners use BMW lights on a regular basis. Might be worth looking into.

 

it will be like the last gen of acura legends, I think its a classy look. not a fan of diamonte lights but mabey some newer style bmw lights since you would be doing the grille.
If I didnt have a cf hood I would try something like this.

 

But Jay, doesn't that gen of Legend have the wraparound/one-piece headlight and corner light combo?

 

yeah theres one sitting in my garage now lol, the stock headlights are pretty nice, and I know that the newer m3's (gen after the e36 ones ) those head lights are almost a direct fit into the legend.

 

yeah theres one sitting in my garage now lol, the stock headlights are pretty nice, and I know that the newer m3's (gen after the e36 ones ) those head lights are almost a direct fit into the legend. but no there not one piece, you can get one piece jdms but there $$$$.

 

cool. your drawing is excellent! now i get it. but you could consider using the correct words, man. seriously. it is height you want to change. headlights and grille are same height. not width. that threw me off.

anyway, you have a cool idea. it could work. it would lower the profile, if you will, of the "tallness" of the headlamps and grille. i have thought of this before, too, actually, but never seriously considered doing it. but you make a compelling case for it. i would avoid rubber or plastic add-ons for this. instead i'd would have the actual front resculpted. the headlamps could have projectors, and the lower profile look similar to an R32.

nobody would be able to guess what car you were driving right away, but it would look familiar. if you had the stillen front lip with the new face, too, the car would be very unique.

 

wow.. nice idea, if u pull it off it will be one of a kind and will look good

-is that a napkin? i though i saw some food particals on it..

good luck

 

I'll stick with E36 for now. But I agree that grill should become a part of the hood. Something like this:



Also I'm thining of pushing grill (mesh) deeper inside rather then on the same level with headlights.

BTW, anybody wants to take measurements for this small project?

PS: bonzelite, english is my second language ... so sometimes I can effort to make grammar mistakes (or misuse words) ... but I really don't like when somebody starts making "jokes" because of that. other then that -no hard feelings

 

... you mean some food particals on a scanner?

 

the grille being a part of the hood is a cool idea, but i think it may be too square for the noce of our car. ive had some headlight conversions in mind, but none of them are mild.
i think if you are planning on sticking with the e36 ligths just do the headlight covers like awsm66 and craig

 

all apologies. i was out of line. do you speak french? i cannot write a dam*n thing in that language if that is your culture (french-canadian). so i should not criticize.

the drawing is a universal language. i hope your idea happens.

 

je parle un-peu de francais, mais je ne le escrit pas tres-bien

 

so thats why you had me write that sentince in french for you

 

ha-ha!!! no, I'm not French ... it's even worse - Russian is my native language

BTW, I was looking for a "close" fit for maxima (meaning grill and headlights). what do you think about this:


with some cutting it might fit very well (including opening for the grill)

 

nay.......

 

 

xyebo!
kusik machina!
Pardon my spelling, I tend to forget how to spell it.

 

well ... just a thought ...

I started bending metal today and got all of those "waves", which is really hard to get rid of. But ... I think I have a solution for that - one layer of fiberglass over the metal ... and then sand it. Might work - didn't try yet.
Another thing I'm going to try is fiberglass grill fabrication on a foam form. That shouldn't take more then 3-4 layers and a lot of smell and dust

 

xyeBo ("B" must be capital)
btw, what second expression means?

 

****in' Car

 

old pics from someone else's car
I can't remember what he used to secure the grille to the hood or how he got to the hood release

 

i would stick to just welding the metal up. im not a big fan of mixing processes up since it usually ends up that you have to redo it in the future. ie dont mix metal and fiberglass, or glass and urethane, etc. glass is the most rigid of either metal or urethane, slight pressure(wind even or vibrations from the car) will cause it to crack in time. if you're gonna bond the grille to the hood use a comercial panel adhesive like what they use to glue vettes together with ( and some late model door panels, the old lumina van, etc, and use gorilla hair(long strand fiberglass mixed with bondo) over that. just make sure it's thickness is consistent so there's no weak spot to crack

 

looks like he just attached two L-shape brackets to the grill (to 4 existing mounting holes and attached it to the hood (this allowed him to avoid shaping the grill but it should be above headlights then, which might look not bad - I don't know). Also I see there are bumps on headlight housings at the bottom from each side. And some crappy plastic covers on the top of headlights.

It's a very simple solution but I wouldn't do that. This setup just doesn't look good in my opinion (also I think there moght be a gap between bumper and grill when it closed).

 

"spa-see-bah."

"dah."

 

OK ... this is a sketch of the final design I'm going to go with:



Marked in "red" is the piece to manufacture.
I have decided to bolt it rather then make a part of the hood.
It will be mounted with 2 (or 4) screws at the top and secured with 2 pins at the bottom.

First I'll try to shape it from steel and see if I get really "bad" "waves" ... if "steel" production wouldn't work out well - I'll try fiberglass (if I still be into it - my offroading season is coming soon )

 

yeap ... that's how to pronounce it in english (transcript)
somebody been taking "russian" classes

 

you are quite the artist. my hats off to you, sir. spah-see-bah.

 

Like you said before: "what you can't say - you can draw".
And still I have had to see for myself how it's going to look like before making damage to steel

 

I like that! I was thinking of something along those lines, except that I just wanted to do something with the headlight eyebrows (ala the newer 5-series BMWs). I've got too many other coals on the fire to give it more than a passing thought for now...

 

i like the sketch, i had actualy considered making something similar to that to cover up the tops of the headlights after dooing the no gap covers, and haivng it incorporate into the grille. i would make it out of 'glass and all one piece that would actualy just look like a stock grille, just cleaner looking when the hood is open. i wouldnt do the dimples on top though. just do eyebrows and put the dimples in the bottom.

 

sounds good, make me a red one.

 

ill take one in black

group deal?