Hi, this is my first time posting a guide so please take it easy on me, but any constructive criticism is welcomed.

First off i would just like to say that this isn't a good MOD if you really wanta spend alot of money on your grill. I'm a poor highschool student and unfortunately couldn't dish out 200+ dollars for a grill so i decided to fabricate my own. Let me know what yall think. Total this MOD should really only cost you like 15 dollars max and that's including gas money to go to the store to buy your supplies.

Please attempt this at your own risk. I won't be responsible for any damage you might cause your car.

Supplies:
Flathead+Phillips screwdriver (I'm sure we all have one)

4 wood screws of optional size (We probably have plenty lying around, if not go out and get some)

5pk gutter guards (less than $10 at Lowes)

Piece of wood (optional, i'll let yall know where it comes in later)

Yes that's right i used wire mesh guttar guards to make a grill. I know it may sound horrible but i think it actually turned out pretty well. The guttar guards were actually perfect. they were just the right height and length for the top grill. Anyway just read on if you wanta find out more or close the window if it sounds too cheap for you.

Ok first here's what ur gutter guards probably look like. I got mine at Lowes and they had both painted black ones (the ones i got) and some un-painted stainless steel ones. The painted ones were like 9 bucks and the unpainted were 7. Also pick up some wood screws while your at the store if you don't have them around the house





After you got your gutter guards it's time to remove your grill. Pretty simple, if you have trouble go to the tech guide about installing grills. There's just 3 push screws clearly visible when you open up the hood (2 on either end and one in the middle). here's a pictures of what the screw mechanism looks like. You have to pry up the inner part before the whole thing will come out. After you get all 3 screws off just pull up and out and the grill should come out easily



After that i removed my emblem and was left with this.



Now time to work with the wire gutter guards. First remove the 2 clips that are attatched to each one. Just simply pry up on the little tabs, they bend very easily.




After that notice how all of them have a slight curviture. Simply place them on the ground and bend them back so that they flatten out. Once you do this you'll notice that they naturelly begin to curve backward.



After you got your mesh flattened out begin to fit it on your grill. You should have about an inch extra on each side. (sorry no pictures for this part)

Using the optional wood piece as a guild bend just one end of the mesh an inch away from the edge. Then placing that end flat against the grill carefully bend the other end around the grill. You might have to make a mark and then bend it again using the wood piece as a guide. The piece of wood really helped to get nice staight bends. I just used a piece of ply wood.

Now you have 1 of the mesh pieces finished. I acutally used 2 because it looked too scattered with just one, so just repeat the above processes again execpt make sure that your second pieces fits over the first. Sorry i didn't really document this part of it very well. Hopefully you can get the jest after seeming the next few pictures.

Now that you have both pieces finished try and line them up so that the second pieces covers over some of the holes of the first piece. This takes a little fiddling around with and might require you to rebend your sides. After that simply attach the 2 mesh peices to your grill with the wood screws. I lined it up so that the mesh was just a tiny bit below the bottom of the grill on each side. I didn't even have to drill holes, just requires some patience. Be careful not to crack your plastic grill as ur applying pressure trying to get the screw to catch. If you want to drill holes i guess you can but i didn't really find it necessary. I used 2 screws on each side.



I found it easier to put 1 on each side before doing the second one instead of doing 2 on one side and then 2 on the other. Anyway hopefully you get the idea. I'm sorry i didn't really document that part of it very well.

After you get everything screwed on simply put ur grill back on the car. Be careful it will be a tight fit with the added width of the screws and mesh to both sides. The plastic on the sides of the headlights were very tough on the stocks but if you have expensive headlights you might wanta use some electrical tape over the screws to protect your headlights. Mine fit in with just a little bit of pressure and didn't scratch the plastic at all. All you gotta do is push in on both ends. Anyway re-attach your plastic screws and your done. Before you slam down your hood carefully check to make sure that the mesh won't sctach up against it or the bottom bumper. If they do take it off and reatch using a differnt hole on the mesh.

Here's the finished product.




Sorry i don't have any before pictures but i'm sure yall all know what a stock TCM grill looks like. The pictures were take at night with a flash so it really revealed the stock grill behind the mesh. Hopefully it'll be better in daylight, if not I might paint the stock grill black or put something infront of it that's dark so that it's less noticible but it's only really bad like that if you catch it at just the right angle. Over all i think it looks pretty good for the 8 bucks i spend on the gutter guards and it only took about an hour to install. As i said this really is a mod for poor highschool students that can't afford to buy a nice grill. It does give the car a less stock look and is an quick and easy mod. And another thing that i love about this mod is that it's completely reversible. If you don't like the look just simply take it off and reatch your emblem. The holes for the screws are on the sides and can't be seem unless you remove your grill. Thanks for reading!!!

Please give me some feedback. I'll post some daytime pictures in the next few days and let yall know if i have any problems with it weathering. Hopefully it'll be ok since it's a gutter guard and designed to withstand rain and stuff.

Thank you again for reading!!!

 

awesome and innovative. way to keep it cheap too.

 

Nice work. One of the first I've seen done like that.

 

awsome write up, i might have to give it a try

 

Looks nice. I did this on my pickup several years ago. I'd put the logo back on or find something else to cover it since you can see the mount.

 

Very nicely done!

 

just a quick question about the pins on top to take off the grill. do you just use a phillips flathead and pull up on the top piece?

 

whoa.. Thats actually pretty clean! very innovative and original! Kudos man for keepin it cheap!

 

Not bad man, probs for the DIY mod.

 

how do you people think of things like this?! I have lost my imagination in my old age haha.

very nice job that looks awesome. definately VERY original

 

wow dude thats pretty sweet. are u going to paint your stock grill black? i think itll look cleaner if the factory grill was black. but overall good work imma probably do it later on! good job man!

 

Looks nice!

 

Nice, I'd also like to see it on the bottom grills. One thing I noticed on the last picture was at the top you could see the ends of the mesh, is there anyway to bend those? Great mod and DIY.


jOHN

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Yea i definately need to do something about the original factory grill. I thought that it would be less noticible in the day light but it actually got worse. I don't really wanta paint it because i want to keep this mod completely reversible, so i'll probably end up putting some kinda black material in front of it so that you can't see it under the mesh. Idk what i can use yet but i'm going to head over to the hardware store again this weekend to see if i can find anything. Yea looking at it for a while i do agree that the top looks kinda bad. I'm going to try and bend it back and see if that helps just to give it a little cleaner look, but it may require a few snips with wirecutters on the ends to get it to bend properly. Thanks for all your advice, this is still a mod in progress so i'll keep working at it and give yall an update once i get all the kinks worked out. Thanks!

-Chad

 

Yes you just pop up the piece in the middle with a flat head and then whole thing comes out with a little bit of force. You might have a play with it and turn it to get it to comeout sometimes.

-Chad

 

now do this
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77152

 

looks ok

 

not bad!

 

nice job.... maybe a piece of dark screen material behind it would help.... you know the screen stuff used on screen doors and such.. .should be able to pick up a roll for cheep

 

Nice DIY!!! Maybe you can use use a black plastic backing instead of the grill. You could probably heat up the plastic and contour it to the shape of the grill.