Celica Forums Install Guides and Technical Articles Exterior Guides Grill, Custom - Install

Front Grill/Mesh and Top Grill Installation:
by Eb Ojong (a.k.a: powercx)
AIM: InfinityNBeyond
e-mail: powercx@powercx.com

Thanks to the help of Laurence (a.k.a: bunnylust)
AIM: Fun SoCal Tiger
e-mail:bunnylust6@earthlink.net

Purchase Grill at Home Depot or any Hardware Store. Price for Grill is around $3 U.S. Dollars for 10 Feet worth.

-1-
Cut Grill in a square format.
34 inch wide by 10 inch.
Bend the bottom of the grill 2 inch diagonally (90 degrees). By bending, it will fit the grill on to the bottom of your bumper with your existing bumper screw.


-2-
Put your car on the jack and jack it.
Lift it where the wheels will lift.
Enough for your head to go underneath it.


-3-
On the bottom, on each end. There is 2 black screws. Unbolt them with 10 mm wrench or Phillips screw driver.


-4-
Near the middle on the bottom, there is 4 shiny bronze color nuts. Unscrew them with a 10 mm wrench.


Note: Once you jack your car up, use a jack stand from having the car plow on top of you. Of course, you should know that using just the jack to keep the car up is a not recommended

Both of the screws will loosen the bottom cover which you need to take your bumper off. I didn't take the bumper off because I was able to slide it in underneath the car. To take the bumper off, you need more work. Such as taking the top plastic front cover in the engine bay off.

To take the plastic off, there is a plastic plastic screws which you have to pop the plastic screw open from underneath it. Sometimes you can't reach your hand under the plastic screw to pop open. What I did was pry it open using a flat head screw driver. The plastic screw pop right open without damaging them. You don't want to damage them because you need it to put it together. Then unbolt 4 more screws underneath the plastic covers.

The top is secure somehow because of the tight space. You can use what they call to patch up your wall and use it like glue. I only tighten the bottom because I wanted to change it in the future. In my case, it works. If you are ready to make it permanent, don't use screws or metal glue.

My way:
Unscrew the cover on the bottom. Once you have enough room to slide the mesh, slide it carefully by avoiding scratching or hitting your radiator. Push the grill all the way up until the bent bottom reach the bottom of your bumper. Screw back the bottom bumper taken from step 3 and 4 to avoid your mesh from falling again. It took me an hour to install the grill. It could take you less if you already know how to take your bumper off.

My suggestion:
Paint the grill to avoid rusting. I only use the 6 screws on the bottom to hold the grill so I can replace the mesh when I find something I really like in the future.

Reason Why I did this:
I have a friend who has a Celica and he pulls out wooden stick and rocks out from his radiator that is close to embedding to it. On that day, I decided to install it. Since my car is still new, w y not.

Finish:
Bottom is pictures of the finished installation.






Emblem Grill Installation:
Take off the screws on the back of grill with an angled screwdriver. This will take a lot of patience as it is very difficult to do. Once the screws are out, carefully slip the tabs on the back out. Install the new one in and screw it back on.

Source...
http://www.powercx.com/celica/grill-inst/grill-inst.asp

some detailed photos from my install can be found at...
https://celicahobby.com/gallery/index.php/category/inst-lower-grill

It looks happy , Very nice. That shall be the next step on my to do list. Enjoi.

thanx for the pics. i did it with no problem. but for anyone that hasnt done it yet. when you cut the grill watch your hands...i learned the hard way. it cut my hands to shreads. but it looks nice. thanx again

great installation guide mad propz