Folks,

I am looking into creating a custom grill for my Max. I have a preliminary one created in CAD, and I have a hook up with a machine shop and a place to get my OEM grill CMM'd so that the parts will fit up correctly To do this I am going to have to put up some dough. I'm wondering if there is any interest in custom grills. Once I get one created and fit, i'll have the data to replicate future grills for much cheaper than the first one. If i can sell a couple of them, this will offset the cost of producing the first one. I've put a pic at the website below.... Cardomain won't let me in, so I couldn't put it there.

thanks,

dgreggain

Web site removed, please see below..... the cheese grater comment was about right...

 

not my style, but it does look pretty nice. Good to see someone throwing out some creative ideas around here! I think you'll probably get alot of flame responses, and alot of good responses.

 

Not feeling it either.

 

not my thing either, but just like irish said, its always good to be an innovator. i cant really think of any grilles i actually LIKE on the max. if you even seen the Street Scenes grille, i was thinkin what that would look like with smaller holes, kinda like the aftermarket grilles you see on the 300Cs now. that might give you an idea.

 

the only grill I like is mine....painted black, with Home Depot mesh backing

but being original is always a good thing (well, except for that guy with the lambo doors a couple threads down)

 

DGreggain,

i bet alot of guys with regular 5th gens would dig a grill that's like the 5.5 gen.

Or maybe a billet type of grill that maintains the stock trim...


Either way i wouldn't buy one, but just some ideas for you : ]

 

I was thinking of removing the Nissan form the middle, it was a last minute add... and than having mesh behind, the grill would be black anodized aluminum, i would have it anondized before the cutouts, so they would not match. I guess I could anodize after the cuts... just for you irish...

 

haha...
seriously though, it's difficult to picture what it will look like on the car without seeing it on the car

for us 00-01 guys it's a moot point, since our grill is part of the bumper itself, unlike the 02-03 guys whose grill is a seperate piece.

(btw, beautiful family you have there )

 

I'm not feeling that one, though I would love to have the Benz style grill on my max...

 

The thing is, once I get it into CAD space and fit up correctly, I will be able to change the design to modify it to pictures that you guys could send me, you would approve the design, I could get it manufactured... One thing with it is it would be flat... it would be too costly to form the grill to follow the contour of the front of the vehicle.

Irish,

I was wondering if anyone would find their way back to my other files.... Thanks!

 

It looks too much like a grille on a John Deere or Cat bulldozer.

 

Kinda looks like...



Not feelin' it, but it may sell well in Wisconsin.

 

i'm not liking it and that's mainly because of the fact that it's flat.

 

He might have used AutoCAD, which is a PITA for anything 3D, let alone curved surfaces. I might try to do something like this with ProE when I get a chance, but does anybody know the outer dimensions of the 2k2/2k3 grill and how thick it has to be around the edges?

I was thinking the same thing. I don't know what's wrong with some people.

-Brian

 

nah dude that's not it. check out what he said in post #10.

 

Thanks, I guess I missed that. But we could still design contoured grills and dream that they might be created some day. No?

 

If you could give it different looks and designs with a computer program and post it on your site for people to see someone would eventually see something they like and let you know. Plus, once that happens you then would have word of mouth advertising (spreads like wildfire)!

 

thanks guys, i used Pro-e to do it, it's not the fact that I can't do 3d surfaces, it's just the material costs and machine time would be very expensive if I get into doing something like that. Maybe i'll see if a bend operation to get a contour in it.....

that cheese grater comment was harsh... but kinda true now that I see the pic of the grater...

I'll keep you updated on my progress...

 

Sorry, man...just giving you my honest feedback

But mad props for starting to put something together! I would hate to see you shell out your money for an investment that flops over on itself. I know alot of 5th Gens would be interested in a billeted grille, that might be the ticket! Great job on getting this started, we all look forward to what comes next!

 

guys,

I've uploaded a new grill design to my car page, I'm lining up a place to do the measuring for me on my stock grill.

You'll notice on this one I did put the contour on the front, not sure if it is exact or not, but should be fairly close. the design in the middle can be easily changed. I'll put up a few more designs once i get rolling along. I'll also post the manufacturing proces, etc when I get to that point.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/789349/2

dg

 

wow...I'm trying to visualize that on the car....tough to do.....you should take a pic of your car from the right angle and then photoshop these concepts in to see what they would look like!

 

yeah what he said...

 

hey...the wisconsin cheese crack was not called for i may live in ny, but i am still from wisconsin!

 

Below is a link to the site with the grill overlayed using photo shop.... sorry if it looks a littel hokey, I'm a with photoshop...

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/789349/2

 

Not feeling it at all......sorry.

 

Wow....that's a Grill

 

See how well you can replicate the one I posted above....I think you might get a couple of , maybe?

 

Seeing as how some folks (Polak) called my design rather homosexual .... I have posted a picture up with a blank grill, if you guys have any ideas that you would like to see, send me an e-mail with your design and i'll try to get a design done that closely resembles your picture. my e-mail address is "dgreggain at *** dot net". I have also put the latest iteration of the design up on this page. I'm going to be working on the benz style soon.

thanks for the feedback guys, try not to get too mean....


http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/789349/2

 

i personaly really like the street scenes grille. i couldnt find a pic of it on a maxima put here's what it looks like on the Z.

 

i am trying to make one like the cts or the jag s type r...i need to find the mesh other than in huge bulk...i went to kenworth (semi trucks) to see if i could get a grille from a t2000...1st, the pc is $300, 2nd, its too small. here is a pic of the material from a manufacturer in china! anyway, here's the link
http://www.wire-mesh.org/wiremeshpro...edwiremesh.htm see what you can do on a sterling mist 2k2. thanks!

 

here is a company that makes stainless steel mesh .. they are located in NJ ...
http://www.bwire.com

i wanted a billet style grill like you see on all the GMC grills ....

 

thanks guys! i like the billet grille too, i just don't like how the trenz grille looks.

 

is the billet type grille the one you see on the yukon?

 

yep.

 

those are hella cool

 

Well, I sent my grill off to the CMM today, my car is toothless .... I should have numbers back and be able to create an acurate solid model by the weekend. In the mean time I have tweaked some of the designs and posted some more up on my cardomain page. I did one similar to the Benz / Billet design, it looks pretty cool. I think i'm going to go with the one on the bottom of the page and put some mesh backing behind it. Not sure though. I still don't have a cost back on manufacturing, I have to wait to see how thick the plate I need is going to be.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/789349/2

 

this is getting more and more interesting to see someone actually CREATING something with actual engineering tools, which will undoubtely result in a product which is HIGH quality as opposed to some of the garbage, cheap-o grills that are out there from some aftermarket companies.

Even though us early 5th-genners won't be able to partake, I'm still quite interested to see something new around these parts!

 

I like the billet one you made DGreggain. I think that it would look decent on a max.

 

any progress?

 

Heres my grill - practically the benz look