onions

that trd badge is kinda cool. i wonder how it'd look on a sw xb.

Hannibal

Where did you pick it up at? I was looking on ebay and they had a bunch of different ones on there.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

I got it from AutoModZone's Ebay store/auctions. Here are their Scion grill offerings:
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Auto-Mod...34Q2ec0Q2em322

Here's another photo:



PS. Tweaked the bar spacing a little more after that photo, fortunately, aluminum isn't too hard to adjust .

AAG

iTrader: (1)

Is it me or are some of them bent/not straight on the billet grille? Would def look better in black to match the lower grille.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

I've made bar spacing adjustments following both the above photos (see the above PS). The resolution of the photo and ones monitor is going to affect how straight they appear, but in real life, they look pretty uniform now in my opinion. However, this isn't an expensive grill and the aluminum isn't super thick, so I guess one shouldn't expect perfection.

Thanks for the color input, appreciated .

Hannibal

Thanks for the info, the more I look at these pics the more I like it the way that it is currently. I was looking at this one here.
They appear to be very similar, probably the same just sold by different people.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Judging by the detail description and photo, they're different. Mine is faced with polished aluminum, whereas the other is described as being chrome. Also, the bar lengths seem a little different and the mounting screw eyelets and vertical bar supports are different. However, both have the same number of bars .

===============================================================

Thought I'd take another photo, except this time with a second of the same grill (damaged in shipping) propped up in the lower grill position. Obviously, it covers the fogs, but the idea is just to get a better feel for how it would look.



Personally, I'm thinking I prefer it black down there, but others may react differently.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Just finished final grill install. The early photos were just with it bolted to the OE grill because I didn't have proper mounting brackets. I made my own and so this is how it looked during install (I painted the front of the cross member to reduce its visibility through the grill.)

1) grill area and brackets before mounting the grill

2) grill installed

3) hood closed

4) front of car

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Finished a final pass at adjusting the grill bars for max uniformity and updated the above photos. I think this is pretty much as good as I'm going to get, and for the money, I'm satisfied. I tell you though, working with a billet grill is quite enough to convince me of the desirability of injection molding !

Hannibal

I think it looks good, I might have to pick up the upper and lower set for mine in the near future. Thanks for all of the pics and information!! I must say your pics have actually changed my mind on this grill...before I hated it and now I might pick one up for mine.

rosedaleny806

paint it black. would look much better

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Maybe it would? While I was hunting for front grill and badge examples, I ran across a blacked out Scion badge on the OE grill with everything else OE. It struck me as being too black, like it needed something to break it up. Whereas, with the silver badge on my OE grill, I just found the badge to be a little obnoxious. My feeling is with this grill as is, the look is somewhere in between. The low key silver of the grill (polished aluminum) pretty much matches the silvery color of the headlight assemblies and fogs. At the same time, there's plentyof black around (lower and side grills, plus the upper grill background) to set the silver off.

I'd think an effective direct comparison would be between the OE grill sans Scion badge, and the billet. Here's a photoshop version of that followed by the unpainted billet.




Here's my best effort at PhotoShop'ing the billet grill black:

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Wow, another vote for the black !

I have to admit, I do like the look of the black grill with the fogs below -- didn't like it so much on the car I saw with no fogs. Trouble is, the low key billet look keeps attracting my attention. Perhaps I should work on the damaged grill and get that powder coated. It has a scratch on the face, but the powder coat would hide that.

I'm hoping people will continue to take a look and log a preferance, I'm finding this interesting!

PS. Cut a second screw eyelet weld today so I could straighten the out-of-position bar at the upper left. It wasn't too far out, but it's nicer to have it in !

rosedaleny806

the black almost makes it look like the lower grill, i like them black!

jnaval

Yeah, it would look great black. But I'm more a fan for the mesh-type grilles.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Just updated my final photos again. Cutting that darned weld highlighted a set of bar straightening opportunities on the left, just like what happened on the right side last week. Billet is occuring to me as something of a pain -- sure hope nobody ever decides to vandalize my car by bending bars !

I'm pretty sure I'm done with adjusting now, and although I really do like the look with black, I'm also liking the look as is -- strikes me as more interesting, and even eyecatching. Maybe I just like the radicalism of having non-color matched grills ! Guess I'll just have to see how it goes with time. I can always change it later if I feel the need.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

I passed the photos and the quandary past my brother, and he voted hands down black. So, I've decided to work on the damaged grill (powder coat hides minor finish damage) and when it's ready, I'll have it powder coated to something hopefully similar to the OE grills. I spent more time tweaking today -- the center this time (photos updated yet again), and have now packed that grill away.

I've started on the damaged grill -- cut three eyelet welds to allow bar tweaking, and finished first pass straightening/tweaking. Got to see where I am with it installed on the car tomorrow (camera eye). When it looks satisfactorily uniform, I'll see if I can get one or more welds redone, not happy with only one fully supported bolt eyelet. Eventually, powder coat.

XD40tC

Ive never really like billet but for some reason Im liking it in these pics lol. I think you should just do the top. And black would look good but idk part of me likes it the way it is.

xtylerx

iTrader: (1)

What if you painted it a gun-metal gray? It might just look black I guess.

TrevorS

iTrader: (1)

Thanks dude ! It's nice to know I'm not the only one that the polished aluminum upper speaks to. To me, an aluminum face on the lower would be too much (let alone the side grills), but just the upper alone has some kind of intrigue associated with it that just draws me in ! It's clearly not mainstream, but I can't help but feel there's something there.

Can't say I've considered that. Just either something roughly matching the OE black, or else the somewhat low key aluminum look (low key relative to chrome, anyway). I'm having trouble anticipating what color powder paint is going to work properly with the OE plastic grills as it is. In any case, I think my best bet is to target an approximate match with the OE grill appearance. Other than that, I can always go with the polished aluminum. I'm expecting the end result to be one of the two (maybe I'll eventually consider something in between, but I'm just not there yet )