El S2000

Hey everyone,

So Ive learned a ton of info on the s2k from this site and want to give back some. I have seen quite a few threads on the AP2 grille falling out and the tabs break on the bumper and or the grille causing it to look ratty and not stay in. This is a mod I just did that I think looks great and people wont even notice unless you tell them. Ap2s look bad with no grille in so lets fix them.

First I looked on the bumper and found already made holes where the bumper originally snapped in. There are 2 on the bottom and one on each side. My stupid self did not get a picture of it before I put the grille in but you will see them if your grille is off.

I went to the local hardware store and got these snap pieces (much like the ones that hold in interior plastics that have a "christmas tree" end on them)



Below in the red boxes is where originally a pin from the grille was that broke off.. I went ahead and drilled through a bit bigger then the size of the christmas tree snap piece. This shows where you drill the two bottom holes on the grille.


On the sides of the grille there is a snap plastic piece that hooks into the bumper. I filed these off and drilled through them as well.


After drilling to correct size you can see the location of them



once drilled place the grille into location and take the snap "christmas tree" plugs and push through the grille into the bumper (Sorry my grille is dirty its been off the car for like a month )



These matched the bumper perfectly with no paint so they will always stay that color which is a plus. Heres a final shot from further away. The plugs are not noticeable and to me look factory up close.



Anyways, that was my solution to keeping the grille in. I've tried some crazy glues and other various items but lets face it if there isn't some kind of fastener the bumper has enough flex to move and make the grille come unglued.

Hope this helps anyone that is facing this issue! I will try to find exact sizes for the plugs I used, but basically I took a bolt and threaded it into the bumper hole to find the right size and then compared at the local hardware store.

Let me know if you have any questions!

dc2-2-ap1

Good idea and good write-up. It is good to see creative, clean solutions, that don't involve zip ties

icantbeseen1

thats freakin awesome. i like the idea.

ed-gsxr

Genius! Mine keeps popping off now I gotta attempt to try this technique. Thanks

dateggy90

Nice writeup going to have to try this.
Sure beats zip ties lol.

it'S2klean

Super glue, and zipties to hold it tight till it dries

Worked for months so far with no problems

frei

Good idea and great DIY

D-Clem

dude thats brilliant! I HATE how my grille pops out, so embarrassing

sillyboybmxer

El S2000

Nice, I'm glad you guys like it. I think the big part is I'm cheap as hell so I tried an easy way to fix it without buying a whole new grille that could break again. Especially since the grille looks perfectly fine other then missing those stupid tabs. Good news with this mod is there is no additional holes in the bumper so if you bought a whole new grille nothing would be restricting it from fitting perfectly. I went to a car meet today and looking at it in person it really is hard to even see the fasteners unless you know you are looking for them.

Anyways I hope this helps anyone out with a grille that doesn't like staying in.