Hi team!

Just thought I'd raise a question about the front grilles on our cars;
You can't help but noticing how 'full' the Verada grille is, it completely fills up the front, right up to the beak of the hood.

But the on the Magna, its quite 'cut out' and indented, leaving a bit of a gap between the hood beak and the front of the car when looking at it from the side. Which I personally don't like.

So my question is, has anyone found a way to fill the gap just behind the beak a bit better, so it looks more solid, rather than protruding from the front? Ie, there is no gap when looking at the front end of the car from the side?
(Without buying a KJ grille of course lol )

I noticed there is a bit of a plastic wedge screwed on to the backside of the beak, is there any way to get a larger one to fill the gap a bit?

Thanks for your help guys :)

Your only option would be to hack up a TJ grille somehow. Or buy a KJ grille lol

Haha yeah I'm considering buying a KJ Grill, or a Ralliart if I could find the money :P
But the Ralliart would have the same problem too with the gap? :(

Yeah, if I recall correctly the Ralliart grille has quite a lip on, like the standard TJ grilles.

The KJ grilles look quite smart on VR-Xs. If the lip is really bothering you, I would definitely go the KJ. You could mod the TJ grille with mesh (ala Ralliart), but I think it'd look funny having mesh right at the edge of the grille.

Are you sure it is the difference in the grille and not the fact the Verada's have a deeper bumper making it look different? Just my 2c.

Oh sorry for the misunderstnaing, I'm just talking about how the grille sits.
I did a quick google search of a couple images to show what I mean.

Verada:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/2000-2002_Mitsubishi_KJ_Verada_Ei_sedan_02.jpg/800px-2000-2002_Mitsubishi_KJ_Verada_Ei_sedan_02.jpg

^It fills the area around the beak all up^

Magna:
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee49/dgold3004/28062009300.jpg

^Leaves the grille area a lot more open, and there is a gap between the beak and the front of the grille when looking from the side.

Ahh. I see what you mean. It insert looks indented in the Magna as opposed to the Verada.

You can get ally mesh from Repco/autobarn etc for about 30 bucks in a few different colours that you could use to fill the gap.

Probably need to come up with a good fastening idea and use some plastic/rubber beading as a surround to give it a nice finished edge.

I've used this to good effect on my motorbike and held it in place witha generous ammount of good old silicone bathroom sealant in the hidden areas.

Bunnings also has various mesh stuff that you might be able to use too, with a bit of paint.

I used a very open mesh on my bike so as not to over restrict air flow to the radiators, probably not too much of an issue for you, but worth bearing in mind.

Thanks Falcopops, thats actually a really good idea :)
I'll have to pop down there sometime when I get a little time free.

Who know, it could make for a bit of a unique grille if I cover my existing one with some black (Colour of the car ;) ) free flowing mesh.

And thanks for mentioning about the air-flow, its something thats so blatantly obvious, yet would be a consideration that is easy to forget!

I know you said without doing this but... the kj grill would look awesome on your car mate!

If you're looking at adding mesh, I'd look further afield for something more unique, try searching your local area for the likes of "expanded" or "perforated" metal/aluminium, should be able to find something more unique and still cheaper than from a car store. Also consider the size of the "holes", might look good when you are holding it in the store, but remember most people will be viewing it from at least a few metres away, so go for bigger spacing if you want to make it more apparent.

Rogue_streak has a good point, When I lived in Melbourne I found a few places out towards Dandenong that did a variety of meshes in all sorts of patterns, the drawback was that they usually had minimum order quantities that were way above what I needed.

There wqas also a Compute modifying website that used a perforated mesh to customise their PC boxes that had a mesh I liked, but they didn't have it in stock before I moved north, I'll see if I can find their website info and let you know.

I know you said without doing this but... the kj grill would look awesome on your car mate!

Thanks Chief. Perhaps if I got the chance and could find a temporary donor car, I could swap theirs on to my car to see how she looks :D
But there again, I wouldn't mind messing about with some unique mesh and see how that comes out.


Rogue_streak has a good point, When I lived in Melbourne I found a few places out towards Dandenong that did a variety of meshes in all sorts of patterns, the drawback was that they usually had minimum order quantities that were way above what I needed.

There wqas also a Compute modifying website that used a perforated mesh to customise their PC boxes that had a mesh I liked, but they didn't have it in stock before I moved north, I'll see if I can find their website info and let you know.

A place in Dandenong would suit really well, its just a 15 minute trip down the road. lol
Perhaps I might get lucky and be able to buy a single sheet?
If you wouldn't mind finding out that website I would be very interested to look them up :)

Thanks for all your input guys!

http://www.mnpctech.com/moddersmesh.html

This was the place I was looking. I was after the hexagonal stuff as it's free breathing, visit their "case mod store" too for more.

Also have a look at www.overclockers.com.au another computer forum and drop mesh into their search box and you'll get some good leads, one I saw was a guy who did car mods too.

15 mins from Dandenong eh, are you anywhere near Mentone then?

Good luck

stumbled upon this when looking for the above links, that might be helpful.

http://forums.mightycarmods.com/showthread.php?6051-How-to-mesh-grill-and-mesh-body-kit.

http://www.mnpctech.com/moddersmesh.html

This was the place I was looking. I was after the hexagonal stuff as it's free breathing, visit their "case mod store" too for more.

Also have a look at www.overclockers.com.au another computer forum and drop mesh into their search box and you'll get some good leads, one I saw was a guy who did car mods too.

15 mins from Dandenong eh, are you anywhere near Mentone then?

Good luck

Thanks Falcopops, that hexagonal mesh caught my eye. Reckon that it would make a pretty sweet looking grille :)
Only problem though is that it ships from the US, so would have a few weeks wait for it to arrive :/

I had a quick look on ebay, and the best i could find was http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120710021200?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 which looked the goods, but it appeared to have a circle in it somehow, which I wasn't sure how it would look if in fact there was that feint circle in it.

So I might keep looking around locally and see what I can find, otherwise I'll most likely buy some of that mesh from the shop in your first link :)

And wow you know the area well then, same distance, but I'm on the East of Dandy rather than west.

Thanks for all your help! :D

Nah that ebay one is only 12cm x 12cm, and I'd guess it has an indented circle for fan clearance.

Try googling "perforated metal victoria", I came up with a few which may or may not have stock shapes, and may or may not let you grab sheets big/small enough to do a grille.
eg, Metal Mesh (http://www.metalmesh.com.au//contact-us) in Dandenong South, Locker Group (http://www.lockernz.co.nz/general-industrial/perforated-general-industrial.html) also in Dandenong South.
Some big companies are really good with dealing with little buyers, others won't touch you unless you are ordering a few $M's worth, but it's worth giving a few of 'em a call.