I was originally approached by GrillCraft to have my car be a guinea pig for the development of a grill for the RS several months ago. About three weeks ago the prototype grill was fitted on my car. I was very impressed with the look and the high quality of the construction. Recently, when I was washing my car, I noticed how many marks there were on the grill where rocks had hit it (my prototype grill is not powdercoated although production versions are). I never realized how much crap was being hurled at my radiator during every day driving (I don't rally-x)! Needless to say, I feel that if you have any intention to participate in events where there is a pronounced threat of damaging your radiator, then you should definitely consider some form of protection.

I've thought about the "home depot" grill mods (I even bought some steel mesh) and IMHO these often tend to wind up serving as mickey mouse cosmetic enhancements instead of real protection. I'm not saying that it's not possible to make a good one on your own, I just think that most people won't go through the trouble and hence will wind up using flimsy twisty ties to hold the thing in place and hence compromise the function of the grill.

I hope my ramblings have been somewhat informative without sounding salesman-ish. These are my honest opinions so please don't flame me if you disagree. :)

Haig

this is what he's talking about...nice by the way :)

http://a9.cpimg.com/image/6D/6E/5336429-d326-028001E0-.jpg

Sid

Thanks Sid! :)

Pictures not working!
Tara

how bout now

Very nice!

now where would I find one of these grills? I do rally cross, and I need something to protect my fragile radiator...
AO

Check out their website www.grillcraft.com for ordering info. :)

Just wondering how it mounts in there?

This is how we installed the grill (the instructions it comes with will have much greater detail):

1)Remove bumper assembly (4bolts in the engine bay, 1 in the front opening, and IIRC 2 underneath, plus the fenderwell clips).

2)Drilled the necessary holes (3 of them, 2 on the sides and one on the bottom).

3)Used the provided clips to mount the grill (you can see the bottom tab in the pic).

4)Reassembled the bumper.

It took us about 2 hours but that's because we were taking pics for the instructions (I'm the guy in the orange shirt :D ). It should take about 45min-1hour if you're comfortable with regular hand tools. Hope this was helpful in answering the question. :)

Haig

PS. If you live in the SoCal Area I can help you do this if you want. :)

You know what I think would be really cool? Foglight covers for the WRX in that style. It would look cool and it would beat paying over $200 for STis. The WRX's fogs are recessed into the bumper more than the gen 1s.

Jeremy

I made my own w/ some steel mesh and it definetly works. I used zip ties to secure it and the only way anything is getting through is if its smaller than .25 inches or its huge and it hits the mesh at a 100mph, which in this case nothing going that fast will stop it. Does grill craft make grills for the hood scoop and the upper grill? I just don't have the patience to make these look and fit good enough to put on my car. My upper radiatior and IC are getting dinged to hell. Link for their site isn't working.

It does look nice. A Bit pricey though, but hey if your the demo guy, I suppose free is a really good price!

taken from Grillcraft.com
99-01 IMPREZA 2.5R/S LWR GRILLE 1, SUB 1710S SUB 1710B N/A 191.02

And this is only for the lower grill.

And BTW here is alink for getting the bumper off. If you got it off and back on in an hour, your my hero! It takes me forever to do it. here is the link: http://www.i-club.com/mods/piaa_80_xt.htm

Just to let you know, www.scoobymods.com has a tutorial on how to do a hardcore (hardly noticable) radiator protection mod.
Here is a pic:

http://www.scoobymods.com/mods/impreza/images/carfront.jpg


But of course apparently grillcraft is offering both cosmetic and protection in the same package.

FUBAR

They are trying to figure out a good way to make the hoodscoop and front grill (top one). I'll keep you updated on their progress.

ChosenWon

You're right, it is pricey! One cool thing about it though is that it covers up that ugly front license plate mount and gives the car that no-nonsense look it deserves. And like I said, if you really know what your doing then you could come up with a viable alternative (the one you have looks nice btw :) ).

PS. Taking the bumper off efficiently is definitely a 2-person job, otherwise it could wind up taking a while. :)

Haig

First the price is very high. Second how the hell am I going to be able to put my front plate on. People that live in Maryland have to have a front plate or we get a $60 dollar ticket.

I just put it on my dash but there are brackets avaiable to mount it in front of the grill. :)

Is this product available yet? If so who and where?

It's available now. You can check their website www.grillcraft.com You can also find it at many tuner shops as well. :)

If alot of people are insterested then I could talk to them and see if a GB would be possible. :)

Haig

Fusion,

Check into the group buy. I would be interested depending upon price....

I'll call them tomorrow. :)

Haig

The materials Grillcraft uses are the same materials you could buy from Home Depot for 10 bucks and use a can of spray paint on it so it won't rust. My Celica has a custom grill for the bottom too, 15 bucks total. Grillgraft price = 100+

I haven't seen too many DIY grills that weld on the mesh to a precisely fitted frame that is secured to the bumper using screws and clips and is powdercoated for $15. If you know something the rest of us don't then please share. I have nothing to gain from this either way as I already have my grill, however, this information would be very helpful to many others (which IIRC was the purpose of this board). I must note though that the reason why the Grillcraft grill is so much more expensive is that it takes alot of R&D (and expensive machinery) to develop a quality product. Like I said in my original post, it is possible to make a similar grill if you have the time, patience and resources. For the rest of us, there are companies like Grillcraft. :)

Haig

http://www.remarcable.net/misc/legacy_outback/gallery/pics/gallery3/Image34.jpg

I ran over a cat.




Just kidding. Actually that was after some offroading that caused my bumper to flex from hitting dirt mounds.

I had it secured via a few staple-gun shots and zip ties along with the front license plate screws.

I need to go buy some more and stick it on there again, because it really did help with crap getting into my radiator.

The lowest 4 inches or so of the radiater have clay everywhere.

You can see part of the gutterguardgrill (GGG) before its demise in this pic:

http://www.remarcable.net/misc/legacy_outback/mods/hella/stone-shields.jpg

In defense of grillcraft, I can tell you this: I have been makeing similar pieces for the RS. I have had numerous requests from customers to make a similar grill. I have been trying everything to get it to work but my efforts have been futile so far... And I can say that the cost once it is finished will be kind of high. No where near theirs, but I can kind of see where they are getting their price from.

But it would appear that they are trying to get all their money back off the firsts sale! :D J/K

EDIT: I have been all over home depot, Lowes, Clarks, and half a dozen small hardware stores. I have yet to find material big enough and sturdy enough to be useable here. unless onikageka knows of some wonder material that I have not been able to find.

Here's the grill I have been selling on e-bay. this one is raw alluminum finish but the final production kits will be powdercoated. They should be available at SPO Motorsports here pretty soon. (within a couple of weeks) We are still ironing out some details.

I will be doing a group buy here on the I-club soon. I have done alot of reaserch into thiese and I can say that grillcraft's high price comes from its molded frame. CNC programing has a production cost of about $20K per design. I don't have that kind of capital to invest, nor would I want to. As is, my full kit( Hood Scoop, Front grill, Break vents and bumper grill), should retail at about 1/2 the cost of the grillcraft lower grill. The molding does make the Grillcraft grills look pretty sharp though.

Buck

Oh, I forgot to mention, the material is a thick guage alluminum mesh. It is verry sturdy and suprisingly light. I have some friends in the metal industry so I get it super cheap. You guys have no clue how much money these guys make on this stuff!:eek:




Buck