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View Full Version : Changed out front grills today


wscruiser
July 15th, 2009, 10:41 PM
Work has been slow at the shop and I was off today, so I decided to tackle installing the M7 Mesh Grills that have been taking up space in my garage for a while.

Out of the box the grills looked great. But, fitting them to the car was somewhat of a challange.

They are well made, not your Lowes or Home Depot gutter mesh by no means.

The fit of each grill was a little off, so it took a little adjusting to get them to fit right. The center grill sticks out slightly on each top corner, but I can and will have to live with it. The bottom doesn't fit the opening as well as it could.

In my opinion, there are not enough anchor points for any of the grills. The top grill is anchored by 2 studs. The center grill is anchored by 3 studs. The bottom is anchored by 3 screws.

The top grill is a straight forward swap.

The bottom is pretty much a straight forward swap. You will have to drill 3 holes behind the grill for mounting screws.

The middle grill takes a little work. You have to cut out a section of you bumper cover behind where the grill mounts.

Before mounting the top grill, you need to spray paint the opening in the hood black.

You really need to spray behind where the center grill will mount. I was running out of time and about to sweat my ass off, so I didn't do that. I'll do it the next time I have the front end off.

I turned out pretty decent. It's different than most MINIs you see.

All in all, I'd rate the M7 Grills a 7 out of 10. They are nice, but could be better.:ponder:

Here are some pics. Ignor the dirty MINI, its clean now.


http://www.tarheelminis.org/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=1654

http://www.tarheelminis.org/picture.php?albumid=148&pictureid=1653
GokartPilot
July 16th, 2009, 07:28 AM
That looks really good, nice job! From the picture the middle grill looks like it protrudes from the opening a little or am I seeing things? Do the top and bottom grills do the same? It is a little hard to tell from the pictures?
R52 WUF
July 16th, 2009, 07:39 AM
Nice. I am looking to change out my grills but have not put forth the effort.

Be proud of your work it looks GOOD! :happy-smiley:
TWISTER
July 16th, 2009, 08:01 AM
Nice to see modding happening on a once almost gone MINI. Looks awesome Mark
Flynscot0256
July 16th, 2009, 08:29 AM
Looks Great I am going to paint the slats in my Grill> Chili Red to match my Mirrors and I also bought some newFake Brake ducts that I will paint Chili Red also. I am going to modify them to get some air into the rotors
dmagoun
July 16th, 2009, 09:00 AM
Very nice job. Twister and I used Black tape when we changed mine out but you can see more with the mesh so painting is the way to go. They are a pain but they look great when you are done!
wscruiser
July 16th, 2009, 09:29 AM
That looks really good, nice job! From the picture the middle grill looks like it protrudes from the opening a little or am I seeing things? Do the top and bottom grills do the same? It is a little hard to tell from the pictures?

Yes the center grill sticks out just a tad at each end; which bugs the crap out of me.:angry:

The grill does not fit the opening as well as it should. That one of the problems I have with the workmanship.
GokartPilot
July 16th, 2009, 11:18 AM
Yes the center grill sticks out just a tad at each end; which bugs the crap out of me.:angry:

The grill does not fit the opening as well as it should. That one of the problems I have with the workmanship.

That would drive me nuts too. It wouldn?t matter to me if they were all protruding or all flush as long as they were the same. But hey, it still looks good!
WINICooper
July 16th, 2009, 11:07 PM
I dig it, looks sharp.
onefastmini
July 17th, 2009, 10:30 AM
Looks good Mark, I have the same grille set on my EB '02 "Crunch"
The paint I used for the bonnet is starting to flake and is noticable in the right light. It was a plastic/fabric paint that I had used to paint the rockers on my BMW. I will redo it when I have the body work done and paint the car.
Oh, BTW, I have these grilles in stock for both R53 and R56 :)
--Dan
MidnightDave
July 17th, 2009, 01:48 PM
Lookin' good. Did the same to MINICHI. There's a paint from Wurst that I used on some plastic bits when I was trying different looks (aluminum bad, chrome worse, black good), and it's held up pretty good.
wscruiser
July 17th, 2009, 03:57 PM
Oh, BTW, I have these grilles in stock for both R53 and R56 :)
--Dan


I wish I would have checked with you before I ordered from M7. It took almost 5 weeks for them to ship. They were "in paint" for over 3 weeks. :ponder:
Scott111184
July 22nd, 2009, 01:34 PM
Those grills give the car such a mean look! :happy-smiley: