Hey All,
I've been thinking about doing this for a while now and finally found the time to give it a shot. I have a '02 LS V8 with 60K miles so its at the point where I don't mind tinkering myself. I'll probably keep the car til it dies! I always wanted to change the air dam opening and love tinkering with things on my own. I've seen so many different ways of doing it but I always liked the wire mesh the best. I had some left over from a construction job I helped out on and that really got me thinking. So I cut it to size (actually a little bigger) and spray painted it black. I then used a hack saw and cut out the stock "grid" between the fog lights but kept the supports that border the inside of the lights. I sanded down the uneven edges and spray painted the inside edges of the air dam opening and then actually the lower lip under the air dam too to even it out. Without removing anything, I slid the wire mesh into the opening and pulled it tight up against back edge of the opening. I cut the mesh a little bigger than the opening so then I bent back the wire mesh where I had to and screwed in 3 small screws into the top edge and 3 into the bottom edge to hold the mesh flush against the back of the opening. Since I can't get rid of the front license plate, I used a thick black tie wrap and wrapped it around the middle of the bracket; which has an opening, and just looped it through a few holes in the wire mesh to "pull" the whole middle of the mesh forward and flush against the back of the plate and to provide some additional support. It took only about an hour all told. It's one of those things that for 99% of people looking at it, you'd never know it wasn't stock. You can only see the imperfections if you get on your hands and knees and look from the ground at it. Tell me what you think. I posted before and after pix. While I was at it that day, I painted the lower rocker skirts all around the car gloss black and again, looks good from a normal distance. I did it without taking the skirts off. I just masked and blocked off the bottom of the car while I was doing it. I know I've seen others do it on this forum and I think it gives the car a lowered and more aggressive look (if you're car guys like we all are!)
I've been thinking about doing this for a while now and finally found the time to give it a shot. I have a '02 LS V8 with 60K miles so its at the point where I don't mind tinkering myself. I'll probably keep the car til it dies! I always wanted to change the air dam opening and love tinkering with things on my own. I've seen so many different ways of doing it but I always liked the wire mesh the best. I had some left over from a construction job I helped out on and that really got me thinking. So I cut it to size (actually a little bigger) and spray painted it black. I then used a hack saw and cut out the stock "grid" between the fog lights but kept the supports that border the inside of the lights. I sanded down the uneven edges and spray painted the inside edges of the air dam opening and then actually the lower lip under the air dam too to even it out. Without removing anything, I slid the wire mesh into the opening and pulled it tight up against back edge of the opening. I cut the mesh a little bigger than the opening so then I bent back the wire mesh where I had to and screwed in 3 small screws into the top edge and 3 into the bottom edge to hold the mesh flush against the back of the opening. Since I can't get rid of the front license plate, I used a thick black tie wrap and wrapped it around the middle of the bracket; which has an opening, and just looped it through a few holes in the wire mesh to "pull" the whole middle of the mesh forward and flush against the back of the plate and to provide some additional support. It took only about an hour all told. It's one of those things that for 99% of people looking at it, you'd never know it wasn't stock. You can only see the imperfections if you get on your hands and knees and look from the ground at it. Tell me what you think. I posted before and after pix. While I was at it that day, I painted the lower rocker skirts all around the car gloss black and again, looks good from a normal distance. I did it without taking the skirts off. I just masked and blocked off the bottom of the car while I was doing it. I know I've seen others do it on this forum and I think it gives the car a lowered and more aggressive look (if you're car guys like we all are!)
, now all you need is that JT lip kit to help that look. If I ever get the kit, I have had my heart set dead on doing that.
