Ongoing cosmetic DIY and more....

[solidtrance]

This weekends project will be.......Oil cooler and AC condenser guards. This morning I hit up Home Depot to get the supplies (25.00 including a pair of tin snips for 14.99). I got 2 metal gutter guards, and some paint. You cant see it in the pictures on Home Depot's site, but these are pretty sturdy, should provide plenty of ventillation, and are in a diamond pattern that should go well with the grill that is already on the car. I also picked up some screws for mounting hardware, and some Black (Gloss) Paint, and some clear coat (for this and for the ongoing under the hood paining that I am working on). I will hit the guards with a few coats of black and some clear coat to provide some level of chip resistance (cross my fingers).

Picture attached: It's small and hard to see the detail.

First Question: What do you all think about removing the stock grill in the middle of the bumper and painting it with the same Gloss Black while I am at it this weekend?

The next project will be a Fog Light mod. I already rewired the Fog Relay so I can turn it on any time. I am waiting on some Yellow H9 Bulbs. If they come in this week I will do this over the weekend too. I chose the H9 (come stock for the High beams but can be used as fogs too) vice the H11 (stock fogs) because the H9's are much brighter. Since they are going to be yellow, I will actually be using them as fog lights. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Chime in and let me know what you think. i'll post pics as I go along.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

linky no worky..i cant really picture what this looks like so i cant give any comments. but ive worked alot of rx8's if i can think of anything u could do ill let u know

 

[solidtrance]

deleted link and added pic.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

i like the black plastic better

 

[solidtrance]

I like the way the plastic looks also. I'm sure it would be easier to work with too. I'm painting is gloss black and was worried about the heat, and strength of the plastic. The pattern is very simmilar to the plastic stuff that I have seen.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

oh u think the heat from the fogs might melt it ?

 

[solidtrance]

No. I wouldn't think the fogs would give off very much heat.

Its the oil coolers that they will sit right infront of that I was worried about. As long as there is a little seperation it should be okay, but if they ever got a little loose and touched the oil coolers when the car was hot I would be worried that they would melt pretty quickly. Most likely I wouldn't notice due to their location for a while. All the plastic could clog up the oil cooler. Its not the most likely thing, but then again its not entirely unlikely either.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

im guessing ur turbo'd? sorry i dont know much about ur car.. never seen under your hood.

 

[Suspect987]

No. I wouldn't think the fogs would give off very much heat.

Its the oil coolers that they will sit right infront of that I was worried about. As long as there is a little seperation it should be okay, but if they ever got a little loose and touched the oil coolers when the car was hot I would be worried that they would melt pretty quickly. Most likely I wouldn't notice due to their location for a while. All the plastic could clog up the oil cooler. Its not the most likely thing, but then again its not entirely unlikely either.

 

[Relentless Pro]

sub'n

Im interested on how this turns out. My black plastic grill is cracked and broken when a dam bush got in my way. oh those rainy days ha ha

 

[Suspect987]

sub'n

Im interested on how this turns out. My black plastic grill is cracked and broken when a dam bush got in my way. oh those rainy days ha ha

 

[solidtrance]

im guessing ur turbo'd? sorry i dont know much about ur car.. never seen under your hood.

No turbo here.

Pic of the oil coolers etc that I am protecting. They are next to the fog lights in the same opening. The AC Condenser is in the lower middle opening. I am planning on covering all three.

 

[Suspect987]

I will actually respond in a coherent fashion now. Interesting idea Caleb, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[solidtrance]

I think it will be time consuming, but the way I am doing it, I can't see a down side (knock on wood). I am going to mount them to the bumper but from the inside so they should be mostly invisable.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

hmmm... that mesh looks familiar!

(ignore the CF hood, not mine)

 

[solidtrance]

Great minds think alike! looks like the same stuff. Why not protect the intercooler also though? I think I would have anyway.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

IS the same stuff. the car is mine, just the hood isn't... IC wasn't plumbed yet in that pic... kinda in progress, so to speak. current pic:

stock grill reinstalled.

 

[solidtrance]

oh.....got it. looks good.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

lol. tried, and failed to make a piece for the lower grill outa the same mesh.

 

[solidtrance]

that lower opening on the MSP is pretty tall. The metal I found is only 7 X 36 in so i can see how that would be tough.