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Old 1st March 2020, 18:35
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Default Radiator Cowl Grill fitting

Thanks, Jack.

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Over the last week or so I have been fitting the trim and grill to the radiator cowl so here is a summary of how I did it.........

I first fitted the chrome/plastic trim. This comes with an adhesive bead inside that is supposed to stop it coming off. On the day I fitted it, it was very cold in my garage so I put the trim in the tumble drier for a while to warm it up and make it easier to form round the bends. Plastic trim has a tendency to shrink over time so I cut the trim about 3mm oversize and then forced the last section in so that the joint is under compression.

Radiator cowl trim by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I then cut the grill to size. I have chosen a stainless steel mesh with a 5mm pitch. My tin snips could only manage one wire at a time so a slow process to get the right shape. I bought two pieces of mesh, each 200x400mm because that was cheaper than one large piece. I then polished the front side of the grill.

Radiator grill fitting by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

Then I glued a length of rubber hose with PU18 adhesive to the cowl. The hose is just a gap filler to attach the grill to. (Note: I later discovered the PU18 softened the black 'schultz' coating my painter put on the inside of the cowl so I had to redo this stage after removing the schultz to get a good bond with the GRP. A messy job with white spirit but no harm was done)

Radiator grill fitting by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I then made up the centre clamping bar made from 1mm steel strip.

Radiator grill fitting by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I then held the grill tightly in place with some wooden splints and cable ties......

Radiator grill fitting by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

....before running a bead of adhesive along the grill above the rubber hose making sure it was pressed down to fill any gaps.

Radiator grill fitting by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

So here is the final result fitted to the car!

Radiator Grill final by Sabrebuilder, on Flickr

I'm very pleased with the result

Next up will probably be the bonnets.......

.....peter
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