A friend of mine got a billet grille for his 03 for christmas and we're having a devil of a time figuring out how to install it. it's an ebay "cut to install" grille and of course it came with NO instructions. we removed the grille cover and OEM grille insert, but can't figure out how in the world to mount it. the back has two L brackets welded to the grille. does it bolt to the grille shell or the header panel that's exposed after removing the grille shell? it came with 4 straight brackets and a couple of clips, but once again, we're stumped. can anyone help?

 

Mine had the same exact problem! In mine (I dunno how your friend's is designed) we had to cut the 4 vertical support bars about an inch because they were sticking out of the bottom and were scraping against the shell. If you get some pics, I can help you some more. Be sure to get close-up of the tabs and whats not fitting.

If your has the Tinnerman clips, they are supposed to be clipped onto the 4 stright brackets it came with and then attatched to the welded tabs that are on the grille with some screws it should'a came with. This is a very hard process, be sure to give some verbal encouragement!

Best of luck


NOTE: my grille is for the '98 year, which is shorter than the '03s that had that one that goes down into the bumper, so you may be having a different problem that I did

 

thanks. the grille did come with the tinnerman clips. they slide on and then a screw goes through them, that's the tinnermans, right? so the straight brackets attach to the L tabs on the grille, and then the other side of the brackets attach to the metal support behind the grille shell? makes sense, but what keeps the grille tight to the shell? when you mentioned the vertical support bars, you mean the bars that the fins of the grille are welded to? is any cutting of the shell required? thanks again.

 

Yes, the vertical support bars, on the bottom of mine, they were sticking out too far and I had to get a hacksaw and cut off the bottoms until they were flush with the rest of the bottom of the grille. What I thought was pretty stupid was that the grille bolts (self-tapping screws) onto the front plastic frame thing while the shell sits over it. I thought they should've just made it 1 piece and has the billet installed into the shell. Oh well. As for the Tinnermans, yes, thats them. Be sure the screw is facing down (pointy end) on the top and the brackets with the tinnermans are on the bottom of the L-brackets and for the bottom, the tinnermans are on the top and the pointy end of the screw it going up. My dad had to bend the top L-brackets because the way the 98 grille sits is at an angle





^^^ Where the scrapes are is where I ultimately drilled the holes. I first just put the billet in there, then INSTALLED (screws and everything) the shell and then moved the billet around and pushed it forward until it was flush with the shell and then got a little paint brush and put a dab of paint on where the holes were on the end of the tinnermans and then took EVERYTHING off and got a very small drill bit (forget the size, but it was small enough to where the self-tappings could sit in there and bite at the same time) and drilled and then reinstalled everything and then put the self-tappers in and got a wratchet and screwed them in they're pre-made holes. Mine isnt perfect (some things I noticed afterward) but it still looks good!