I've attached a pic of an aftermarket intercooler installed and have sketched a rough area where the grills would be located.
As you can see the majority of the grill sits in front of the foam block. But a small portion of the lower part of the grill is in front of that intercooler. I did some research and it turns out that the Hahn intercooler is the deepest which is about 4" deep. The one in the pic is from Dejon and is not as deep as the Hahns.
Depending on how deep the grills go into this area and how far the intercooler will actually come out and whether both elements actually do come in contact or not remains to be seen. In time, I may end up upgrading to an aftermarket intercooler, whether it be Hahn, Dejon, or RPI. Hopefully we'll know the answer before I do upgrade, however.
If you're look'n fro someone to prototype the recessed grills with a Hahn IC, I'll volunteer.
__________________
Regards,
Bodean
(North TX, 2007 "Cool" GXP Automatic with Monsoon System, Escort 9500ic, Custom Wind Restrictor, K&N air filter, Hahn BSR Tune & Hahn IC, Dual Horns, Kappasphere luggage rack (when needed), Flash2Pass, MagnaFlow muffler, JLe430 amp with Pioneer Components & Blaupunkt rear, Crossfire amp with Sony Xplode Sub, DDM ProBeam, ADR Propulsion Wheels, Solo Hi-Flow CAT, Halo Demon Eyes), Hide-Away plates, Cherry dashboard
Thanks for the offer for test fitting. Once I get these grills in production, please send me a PM for your contact info and I'll send out an extra set for you to test fit onto your NA since you have one with an aftermarket intercooler. I imagine the aftermarket intercoolers are probably going to be deeper than oem but not sure if that'll cause any issues or not for these grills. Does anyone out there know which brand is the deepest off hand?
Anyways, I'll let everyone know of whether I can fine tune them further (bringing down the bowed area) or go straight into production with what I have in the near future.
rudy
Bump, any news?
__________________
Regards,
Bodean
(North TX, 2007 "Cool" GXP Automatic with Monsoon System, Escort 9500ic, Custom Wind Restrictor, K&N air filter, Hahn BSR Tune & Hahn IC, Dual Horns, Kappasphere luggage rack (when needed), Flash2Pass, MagnaFlow muffler, JLe430 amp with Pioneer Components & Blaupunkt rear, Crossfire amp with Sony Xplode Sub, DDM ProBeam, ADR Propulsion Wheels, Solo Hi-Flow CAT, Halo Demon Eyes), Hide-Away plates, Cherry dashboard
Sorry nother question, traditionally Pontiac uses a 6 equal-sided polygon (honeycomb) design. The grills appears to be an unequal polygon (2-sides are longer). Was there a reason you didn't go with the traditional honeycomb shape? TIA
Very cool, I'm assuming composite. So the bezels can be plastic chromed?
Yes and maybe. Theoretically, there should be no problem in plastic chroming the bezels or inserts. Just needs to be pre-finished properly with extremely smooth surfaces as chrome will reveal all the imperfections easier.
Sorry nother question, traditionally Pontiac uses a 6 equal-sided polygon (honeycomb) design. The grills appears to be an unequal polygon (2-sides are longer). Was there a reason you didn't go with the traditional honeycomb shape? TIA
Along with the flushed to surface lip edge, I wanted the insert grills to look similar to the SD-290 slightly as well as you can see here:
Speaking of which, I recently got word that my source who is providing the SLA service for the grills, says that the construction of their building is nearly finished and that they'll be getting the machines up and running shortly afterwards. I already sent him the fog light CAD files and he'll jump on those right away. He also said to send him the revised CAD file for the recessed grills and he'll do those two. So, I'm trying to figure out how to adjust the slight bowing in one part of the grill without having to affect the rest of it as well as the insert. I did manage to radius the outter edge which softened up the look of the bezel overall and may reduce the bowing affect slightly more than what it is currently. Here's a rendering of the radiused edge of the bezel:
I really like the look. Kudos to your efforts. Have you done any durability testing? BB gun/rock test? I'd hate to see that be an issue since you are so close to completion.
I may have missed this question earlier, will there be any way of changing the mesh portion. I'm not a huge fan of the plastic honeycomb, but true metal mesh would be a great improvement. Keep up the great work this is looking very interesting.
__________________
Mean GXP Delivered 1/30/2007 $MSRP +$2K
Pioneer Avic D3 - Nav System
JL Audio ZR speakers, Alpine PDX 4.150 amplifier
Solo Performance Street Race exhaust
JPM custom center console, handles and shifter
Painted dash and windshield surround
Custom Valentine1 flush radar display
Debadged rear lettering
K&N Air Filter
OZ Ultraleggera Wheels
DDM Works Big Brake Kit
I'm liking the way the grill is coming along but I too would be very interested in something in metal mesh...is this a possibility?
__________________
2004 Suzuki Hayabusa- for those who know.. no need to say!
2006 Chevy HHR- work in progress...
2008 Pontiac Solstice GXP!- need I say more...
The race is not always won by the swiftest...but it sure helps to be fast if you happen to be in a race!
