Rob G installed a billet grille on his L today.A very serious undertaking indeed.Took almost the whole day.Here are some before and after shots.It looks sweeeeeeet!






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99.5 Lightning(white)
Best 1/4 mile:13.89 @ 98.1 mph, 60':2.02(stock)
ARE LSII Tonneau w/wing
Alpine Stereo System(400 Watts)
clear turn lenses/clear tail lenses(on order)
Phantom Boost Guage
AirRaid Filter Kit
PSP Chip(installed)
3.73 Gears(arrived)
Belltech 2" Drop Shackles

 

I am glad the blue oval was kept. To me they just dont look right without them. Love the rims too.

 

HOLY body shop,

I think Mrs. Speedin Bob would have me committed if she walked in the "stable" and saw my "L" in the "during" stage.

Looks AWESOME. you buy it from this site?



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See ya at the Apex,

Speedin Bob
'99 "Pi$$ed Off" Red Lightning #2504
NLOC # 438
13.98 @ 98 mph (Rookie Session)

Clear Corners & Tails

 

Prime:
Excellent job! Do you really have to pull the entire front to install?

Bob:
I've ordered mine from this site(Roger) a couple of weeks ago, but not much of a response from him.

Does anybody know if he's unavailable or should I be getting p*ssed? Never had this problem ordering anything else from him...

Would hate to get obnoxious and find the stuff sitting at my door.

Thanks,


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Rich
1999.5 SVT Lightning - Red. Super Chip. K&N Filter. Viper Alarm w/remote start, Sir Michael's roll pan, smooth corners and steps w/billet inserts, clear corner lenses, tow package, cd changer, cover, Phantom boost gauge, MTX Thunderform w/ 2 10" MTX 200w. subs. 5-channel 500w. Clarion amp.(APA5241), (4)Polk Audio 3-way, 130w. DX 7's, Muth signal mirrors, Soundproofed cab, BedRug, AIM 2" Drop, color matched mirrors, etc. Build #2755
TampaSVT@Tampabay.rr.com

http://home.tampabay.rr.com/tampasvt...Lightning9.jpg


1999.5 Expedition XLT
2001 PT Cruiser Limited on the way!!!

 

Where did the Blue Oval come from? Did it come with the grill or did you add it yourself? If you added, where did you get it? It looks great!!

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1999 Red Lightning,
Bed Rug, Soft Cover, Towing package, Super Chip, 50 Series Flowmasters, PSP Filter, Valentine 1.

1996 Kawasaki ZX-11-Candy Red
1996 Honda Goldwing Aspencade. Candy Red
1974 Century Ski-Fury, (454 Mercruiser inboard)

Jsnyder414@aol.com

 

Tampa,

I read in previous posts that removal of the front has to occur (for the upper grill anyway). Now i am a believer.

It does look great but I recently bought clear corners and tails, ordered an Airraid today (Powerstack filter to follow) and have the cross-hairs set on a chip next. Mrs. Speedin Bob has limits and i am reachin them fast. I have to install stuff pretty convertly or say "please, please, please" alot or else ......well you know.

Cant help you with Roger. I bought my tails and corners from him/here and got them in adequate time. Good luck to ya. let me know if i should be concerned too, i bought an Airraid through him.

Good luck with the install

------------------
See ya at the Apex,

Speedin Bob
'99 "Pi$$ed Off" Red Lightning #2504
NLOC # 438
13.98 @ 98 mph (Rookie Session)

Clear Corners & Tails

 

Hello, thanx for the pics, really helps me out and know what to look forward too now, but i got one more questions did you encounter any problems while taking everthing on and/or putting it back together?

 

Hey Everyone,
Thank you for the compliments and thanks to
ZorPrime for posting the pictures. The billet
emblem was crafted from a hitch receiver, I
cut the tongue off of the thing threaded in a couple of studs and there you have it,
instant billet emblem. As far as problems are
concerned it's actually fairly easy to
dismantle the front end but it's time consuming. The heat exchanger for the intercooler sits right in front of the lower
grille opening and the bolts that hold it to the bumper support are a little tough to get at. Then again I have big monkey hands.
I also discarded the supplied rivets and used
3/16th's stainless machine bolts to secure
the top and bottom grilles and I cut off the
top grille L shaped brackets that are supposed to attach the billet grille to the
stock shell. There would definately be a
hood closing problem with this arrangement.
Instead, Zorprime and I drilled through the
top bar and installed tiny nuts and bolts that fasten to the stock shell. You can see them right above the emblem and to the right and left of the emblem. Not an easy project
but worth the effort. See you in St.Louis.
Rob

 

To answer my own question...

NO, you don't have to pull the entire front to change to the billet grill. Did mine last night. Took about 2 hours. Doing the lower one tonight.

So, those of you that are sweating the conversion, don't. *** PS.. Consider not drilling the top section. The pressure from the top grill screws are more than enough to hold it firmly in place. It'd be hard to hide the rivetts/screws anyway.

Rich

 

These grills (RobG's & Asdeman's in another thread) look great. I'm considering doing this also but have one question about airflow. Has anyone who has run this sort of grill for a while noticed any change in engine performance or engine heat levels? TIA.


-tvw

 

tvw:

Even though the grilles look relatively solid in the pictures, they are not.
The volume of air that passed through these should be comparable to that of the stock grill.
I wouldn't expect it to be restrictive, IMO.

Rich

 

Yeah,what he said.Gonna put a billet grill on mine in the near future.Tampabaylightning,now are you telling me that you just used the top screws to hold the grille in?It seems to me that when we installed the grille it was less than a perfect fit.I know that the top tabs of the grille need to be drilled and somehow fastened to the top plastic somehow.How exactly did you do this,so i know what to do and what not to do when mine is done.

------------------
99.5 Lightning(white)
Best 1/4 mile:13.89 @ 98.1 mph, 60':2.02(stock)
ARE LSII Tonneau w/wing
Alpine Stereo System(400 Watts)
clear turn lenses/clear tail lenses(on order)
Phantom Boost Guage
AirRaid Filter Kit
PSP Chip(installed)
3.73 Gears(arrived)
Belltech 2" Drop Shackles

 

Prime:

Backwards, man....
Top of the grill will be held in place by the 5 trim screws. If you drill additional holes, you may see them(trust me). The tabs hang over and are pretty thick(hood clearance...).
The bottoms have to be secured.
Lower grill was a b**ch. Took about 2 hours also.
Good Luck!

 

Well after reading all this I have one question. Do the two stock grills come out forward or do they go backward and then out. Can they be removed without taking anything else loose? I saw Wyldmans today and they are painted gloss black and they made my gray grills look sick. I'm gonna take mine out and paint them.
noelvm

 

I don't know why you took the entire front off the truck. When I did mine I just pulled the shell off. You got to take the headlight trim panel off first. I got mine done in about 2 hours. Either way it looks nice and thank god you kept the oval. L's don't look right without it. Did you guys do the stock oval or did you do a glow in the dark one. Thats the one mod I get the most comps on. Cheapest one too, next to the painted brakes. Looks good. After seeing that I really do have to get my rims chromed. Got to quit putting it off.