Quickie

[greatbear]

Tonight after work I wanted some fresh air as well as to tinker with my rides. The weather tonight could not decide if it wanted to rain or not, so doing yard work or anything major was out. When last at Carlisle, I picked up a billet aluminum grille for my truck. Bingo. Nice, less-than-half-hour project.

Before


After


Smooooth. Hides the unpainted intercoolers, wiring and such that's way too visible under the eggcrate grille, and protects those very expensive pieces from being damaged by thrown debris. Plus it looks better IMO. And it was only a 20 minute project. Woot.

I started making more use of my Flickr page, as you probably can tell. I upgraded to a Pro account to have video and more groups. This is why you'll probably see more link-portals to my endless gawdawful photography cropping up. I try my best though.

Comments

[liftinmoose.livejournal.com]

It looks like a teeth-whitening product for cars... LOL!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Like how people get grilles in place of teeth these days.

[liftinmoose.livejournal.com]

Yeah.... so you should have gotten the ones with your initials set in diamond!

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

That grille does a lot for the truck. What vehicles do you have in your stable?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Right now, the 2007.5 Chevy Silverado 2500HD you see here, a 2000 Dodge Stratus ES which used to be Mom's car but I kept it since it's been very reliable and practical (only mods to it really are a sound system and wheels/tires), my old '89 Dodge W250 Cummins turbo that's seen better days, the 2003 Mini Cooper S, and my old '69 Dodge Dart that's been mothballed for years.. I have two other cars, a wrecked '89 Shadow ES turbo and a 90 Sundance with a blown engine. These two will one day make one car that I will either sell or strip down and use for low-buck drag racing.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I agree, the new grill is much better in that it hides what's behind it, but I did think the stock one was not bad, but they did need look at it and see what's behind it, or at least paint them black if going with the egg crate look if nothing else.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I had planned on painting the intercooler ends, but doing so slightly reduces their effectiveness. Since the grille hides them, I will let them be.

[friar8.livejournal.com]

Nice

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

Looks much better! Some improvement for twenty minutes!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It would have taken less time if I didnt have to remove a large panel that covers the top of the grille all the way to the fan shroud and fuss with putting clip nuts in the retaining brackets. The overlay grilles like these are a simple but effective mod for good looks.

[mfpatterson.livejournal.com]

Nice, very nice

BTW, I meant to comment on your comment on my journal last week.

Hawaii is ready for you guys when your needing some aloha. You know your welcome!!
Michael

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm way behind on my LJ readings - no way can I catch up now, or I'd be at the PC all day. Since it's a rainy day today, I can catch up a little.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

Very nice. I need to re-pimp some aspects of my 2004 Silverado.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I generally dont go overboard with the pimpin' and bling, but there are so many 'unfinished' looking aspects of this truck, which will undoubtedly be cleaned up as this new body style runs through it's life cycle. In the meantime, since I am not buying any new trucks in the future, I will add some goodies to this one to give it less of an industrial feel. The interior is downright plush. The outside is, well, rather monochrome and unfinished. A bit of chrome here and there, some things to help clean up the look (I added rear wheelhouse liners I picked up from GM - these should be fitted from the factory IMO since the rear wheel openings are huge and you can see nothing but frame, hardware and bracketry without them), and it will be rollin' proud.

[budmassey.livejournal.com]

That's one sweet looking ride!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have been doing little things to it (as I am prone to do) to make it look and perform better. I am never finished though. :)

[budmassey.livejournal.com]

Oh wait. You thought I was talking about the truck. I meant the driver. LMAO!

[colsbearcub.livejournal.com]

Very nice upgrade to the look of the truck. I'm consistently amazed at how simple after-market changes can affect the overall look of vehicles.

Btw, I hopped out to your flickr page and I've got to say you have some nice photos out there. I'm not a car buff by any stretch of the imagination but you've taken wonderful shots of some very classic rides.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I have a ton of car pics among lots of other subjects. Most of them are taken at a pretty high resolution, so I generally reduce them in size for uploading. That takes time, but now that I have a pro account and dont have to worry about file size and space limits, I will be posting more.

The aftermarket is bigger than ever when it comes to vehicle upgrades. There are literally thousands of different wheels and tires alone. Appearance stuff for cars and trucks is bigger than ever, and you can now buy more restoration parts for vintage and classic cars than since the cars were new.

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

Cool beans.....

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I am not the only one that uses that expression.

[jacked01.livejournal.com]

yeah I already started browsing your flickr site I like the upgrades

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I have more planned for it. I have thousands of pictures and no place to keep them all. lol

[rockybear02.livejournal.com]

Very nice Phil! Damn you're my idol - I didn't realize you had the all those cars...so are the two partial cars in the garage too?

Hell - I'd love a second car for me - but the budget just can't make it happen yet....

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The two partial cars are in a storage lot at a garage in Laurel. They've been there for a long time, and I need to do something with them soon.

[sparkygearhead.livejournal.com]

SWEET! You gotta love the inexpensive, quick mods that make a world of difference like that. Too bad there are so few of them that are so effective.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

There are tons of mods like this, but they tread a fine line between tasteful and cheap. Of course, a lot of that is in the eye of the beholder. There are more appearance goodies and whatnot for trucks than ever. Just the catalogs I get from Summit and Jegs have lots of stuff, plus there are other companies I never heard of sending me catalogs, never mind the countless ads in magazines and outfits selling stuff on the 'net and eBay. It's everywhere!

There were hundreds of Mini Coopers at the rally last week, and no two of them looked the same by a long shot. Between the factory customization options (probably more so than any other car) and aftermarket parts, there are infinite possibilities and combos there.

[motherfuckin-ow.livejournal.com]

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[http://users.livejournal.com/_angry_alan/]

I love billet grilles.

I've got one for my Jeep, but I am waiting to get it painted.