How To: JDM Style Front Upper Grill

[kidkorrupt]

JDM STYLE FRONT UPPER GRILL.

Here is a another cheap little mod. I probably won’t be doing any worthwhile How-to’s until I get the old style JDM tail-lights and document the installation. =P

Basically all you have to do is pop off the black portion of the upper grill. You don’t need to take off the whole grill or mask to paint this piece, it pops right out. This is for mp5’s but it should be the same for protégé’s

5 snaps hold it in place, they are pictured below. For removal I used a screwdriver but broke the left female snap and the middle male part. 2 broken pieces out of 10 aint bad but still……. A member of mpsport.net recommends using a L-shape tool to pop it off. Whatever you use, ust work slowly and all should be fine.
http://members.aol.com/ieperoso/FGpegs.jpg


Here is the pieces I broke:
http://members.aol.com/ieperoso/FGbroken.jpg


Now that it is off you can paint it yourself or bring it to a body-shop to paint it for you. If you have a factory paint job open your driver side front door and on the door it will say the color code of your car. for a 2003 silver mp5 the color code is 22V. You can bring the piece to a body shop with the color code and they should charge you cheap for it ($30-$40). Maybe you can haggle since you took the piece off for them and know the color code so they don’t have to do matching.

You can also use the color code to buy spray cans of automotive paint online that are the exact color. They are like$15-$30 for just the paint though! Yikes.

I did mine myself. I started off by sanding with 350 grit sandpaper and going to 600 and putting on some light layers of primer and sanding again. For paint I went to kragen and got Duplicolor brand silver that was only like $3 a can. There motto is they match original paint and it worked pretty well. I also got duplicolor 500 degrees clear coat. When painting ALWAYS follow the instructions on the can. Go light coats and give it plenty of time to dry.

for black p5 owners your out of luck unless you want to paint the strip silver like on a protege


Here is is all done with a comparison of a silver JDM sport 20:
http://members.aol.com/ieperoso/FGnew.jpg

edit in-i changed the grit for sandpaper because i accidenly put 150..don't use that, its very rough. also, i know the car isn't a sport20 familia s-wagon. i couldn't find pictures of a silver one on mazda.co.jp, but trust me, the upper grill is body color on them

[scootzpr5]

That looks sweet as hell. Its a very subtle mod but it looks clean. I think i'm gonna do that shit too now. props man.

[kidkorrupt]

thanks man.

yeah, i go for the subtle stuff. No one would know i modded my car unless they were into mp5's and thats the way i want it =P

good luck on the mod and if you got any questions just PM me

[azeli73]

excellent job Kid! (thumb)

[derrick1623]

why not just leave the strip on there, and tape off whats not to be painted?!! thats what i did.

[enigM@]

geniuUuUsSsSs!!!

that's what i was gonna say!

[kidkorrupt]

yeah, you can jsut leave it there and mask but some people would rather not deal with the hassle of masking. Cuz if you do a bad job masking you can get like color all over your grill or headlights. And i guess if you want an EXACT color match it would be easier for a body shop to work on with the piece removed.

also if you leave it masked its hard to get the piece all one color, some hard to reach areas may not get even color distribution. Like the underside of the black piece thats near the grill...It would be hard to mask in such a way as to get that part all one color, especially the area above the "M".

for me i jsut wanted to make that whole piece silver so that it would look like it came factory like that.

[123zoom]

Isn't it possible just to get some vinyl and put it on top of teh black piece instead of painting it?

[enigM@]

yea but it might not be an exact match

[123zoom]

cuz i read about ppl doing eyelids with vinyl and since it reflects in teh light it will b a good match? is it possible ot get vinyl back off?

[kidkorrupt]

vinyl wont be as durable and it will be hard to get all parts of the plastic covered with it. far away it'll work but up close you can tell it a giant sticker

vinyl comes off easier, a hell lot easier than paint..lol

[90210brandon]

Thanks Kid! I did exactly would you wrote. I did mine in blue to match the theme I am trying to put to my P5. I'll have to post pics when I can. Right now, I am in Victoria, BC for work. I'll be home soon though (Friday)! Thanks again though.

[90210brandon]

Just showing ya'll what I did. Thanks again Kid. http://www3.telus.net/dd90210/Dion/MP5/P5-grill2.bmp

[kidkorrupt]

looks good, same paint as the strut bar?? =P

and nice gujustud oilcap, you got the logo i wanted

no rpob on the guide, it was almost too easy to do a write-up on. did you break any of the clips during removal?

[90210brandon]

Same paint as the strut bar, yep. Thanks about the oil cap, I'll tell Amish! Yep, I broke one of the clips. :'( Thankfully there are 4 more. ;)

[Dexter]

damn, attempting this on nrrfrogmanp5's car and broke 2 of the holders :(

oh well, nothin a little tape wont fix

[uclap5]

welcome to the club :D

[Dexter]

while were were taking it off, we said to each ohter "hey its okay if ONE breaks, it happens to everyone" and then i broke 2 in a row. LOL

[Dreeza]

ok, i really want to do this...and i would rather take the thing off and paint it....about how long did the whole thing take??

and...what is the best way to take them off without breaking those things, cuz as of right now i am completely clueless on how to do that!

[90210brandon]

It's easy to do. The more time you spend getting to the clips the less probability of breaking the clips. It took me a half hour to take it off. Painting it, same thing, the more time, the better it turns out. Good luck.

[90210brandon]

Originally posted by 90210brandon
Just showing ya'll what I did. Thanks again Kid. http://www3.telus.net/dd90210/Dion/MP5/P5-grill2.bmp Here's mine...

[Natey]

(hah)http://protege5.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33844 (bling)

[Dreeza]

HAHAHA thats great...do they make duct tape in laser blue????

[Dreeza]

Originally posted by 90210brandon
It's easy to do. The more time you spend getting to the clips the less probability of breaking the clips. It took me a half hour to take it off. Painting it, same thing, the more time, the better it turns out. Good luck.

lol, ok...maybe i need to go out and actually look....is it self-explanatory once i do that?? cuz i am still not sure how to go about taking it off

[JTP]

Originally posted by Dreeza
HAHAHA thats great...do they make duct tape in laser blue????

No but they do make electrical tape in a very close color. In fact I have some at work.

[Dreeza]

Originally posted by JTP
No but they do make electrical tape in a very close color. In fact I have some at work.


lol, send me some of that stuff!!!


jk...seriously though...any tips on taking it off, i tried looking at it, and i just didnt know how to go about pulling it off

[Snacks McGee]

Woohoo....did this mod without breaking any clips! I was afraid that the yellow strip wouldn't match...but they matched up perfectly.

[Dreeza]

Originally posted by Snacks McGee
Woohoo....did this mod without breaking any clips! I was afraid that the yellow strip wouldn't match...but they matched up perfectly.

alright..HOW'd ya do it???

and what paint do i get???

[Snacks McGee]

Originally posted by Dreeza
alright..HOW'd ya do it???

and what paint do i get???

You just got to work at it real slow. I used a flat head screwdriver and wedged and pulled more horizontally than vertically.

I ordered my paint from Levine Paint and Auto Supply for $25 bucks :eek: . But they matched the paint perfectly....here's the site if you want to check it out.

http://www.levineautoparts.com/spraycanofto.html

I just followed the directions....sand...few layers of primer...sand again... and 5 coats of yellow paint. Real easy...and subtle but great results.

[Dreeza]

Originally posted by Snacks McGee
You just got to work at it real slow. I used a flat head screwdriver and wedged and pulled more horizontally than vertically.

I ordered my paint from Levine Paint and Auto Supply for $25 bucks :eek: . But they matched the paint perfectly....here's the site if you want to check it out.

http://www.levineautoparts.com/spraycanofto.html

I just followed the directions....sand...few layers of primer...sand again... and 5 coats of yellow paint. Real easy...and subtle but great results.

whoa, 25 for everything! awesome...thanks, ill look into that

[viVid]

Just got done doing mine... and NO broken clips! (yippy) Other than a little orange peel from the clear coat, it looks pretty good. Used the paint from Levine...

You just got to work at it real slow. I used a flat head screwdriver and wedged and pulled more horizontally than vertically.

I ordered my paint from Levine Paint and Auto Supply for $25 bucks :eek: . But they matched the paint perfectly....here's the site if you want to check it out.

http://www.levineautoparts.com/spraycanofto.html

I just followed the directions....sand...few layers of primer...sand again... and 5 coats of yellow paint. Real easy...and subtle but great results.

[Kansei]

i now join the jdm crew or something...

oh and here is a before shot
http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/523000-523999/523421_41_full.jpg

[RobMP5]

hey myndfi3ld, does any light show through since you color keyed your amber side markers? looks pretty good.

[Kansei]

Well.. a tiny bit did, but I took the bulbs out. If it wasn't such a pain to get in there and pop them out to put bulbs in, I would so you could see it. But in the daylight you could see a little light coming through.. veery little though.

[protegeV]

that cant be legal(headshake

[TStar]

hey kid, you are aware that the edm/jdm apperture is not silver but chrome like the mazda emblem :) ?

[Kansei]

hey kid, you are aware that the edm/jdm apperture is not silver but chrome like the mazda emblem :) ?
ok ok, so it's not JDM style. let us have our fun :)

It's more of a mazdaspeed protege style.

[TStar]

ahhaha.okaaay... hm, but the "problem" could be easily solved.. just use some chrome paint from the DIY store... no more expensive than the normal paint and voila .. you got your jdm/edm

[Kansei]

ahhaha.okaaay... hm, but the "problem" could be easily solved.. just use some chrome paint from the DIY store... no more expensive than the normal paint and voila .. you got your jdm/edm
I've never seen chrome paint work. Not on plastic.. it just comes out silver. I'd rather have it color matched than chrome (though now it looks a bit dumb with the CF hood).

[Dimitrios]

Anyone do this mod with a Midnight Blue? :D

[Kansei]

Anyone do this mod with a Midnight Blue? :D

Now that would be a hard color to match with spray paint. It would be subtle on such a dark color but I'm sure it would look nice.

[RaiderMP5]

Anyone do this mod with a Midnight Blue? :D

Here is Traitorhound's ride. He had a shop do it, but it looks sweet.

[Dimitrios]

Here is Traitorhound's ride. He had a shop do it, but it looks sweet.

That's what I'm talking about..thanks (headbang)

[awsmp5]

looks soo nice
i wanna do this too but im afraid of breaking that thing
i'm just all paranoid of this kinda stuff i pulled on it lightly today but just stopped
does anyone have a close up pic of what the pieces look like?

[RaiderMP5]

I finally did this! Paint is drying. used 600 grit to scuff the plastic, then primed, painted, cleared. no wet sanding. Looks sweet. Did the cupholders and ebrake surround silver too to match. Will post pics when back in the car.

[Kansei]

You mean inside the cupholders? That could be interesting or worthless, I can't decide :P

[RaiderMP5]

You mean inside the cupholders? That could be interesting or worthless, I can't decide :P

nope, the silverish thing got resprayed silver. The cupholder part was removed prior to painting. Basically I color matched it. Yeah, paint on rubber-not long term.

[RaiderMP5]

updated with pics!

[Kansei]

updated with pics!

Nice. I don't think I have any pics of my painted interior pieces on here but I have the shifter surround and radio surround color matched to the car too.. haven't gotten around to the window switches still.

[HFD45]

sorry to bring up a dead thread.....but wonderful, i just did this today, i got the upper trim off the grill just i snapped ALL but ONE of those snaps. I guess thats what happens when your Irish and have the patience of a todler. lol Oh well nothing a little emblem adhesive cant fix!! Look damn fine though~!

[Kansei]

wait wait wait. You did it on a black MSP? The MSPs have that part of the grille painted already :)

Plus, if it didn't it would already be black.

[vicham]

i want to do this......but where do i get laser blue paint????

[RaiderMP5]

Go to a local shop that sells paint supplies for auto body shops. They can make a small spray can for you. Or, take it off, take it to a shop, and have them paint it for $40 or so.

MSP's also came laser blue, see if someone is selling a grill for one.

[InFlames]

wait wait wait. You did it on a black MSP? The MSPs have that part of the grille painted already :)

Plus, if it didn't it would already be black.

I was thinking the same thing. I dont see much of a point to this...

[HFD45]

I was thinking the same thing. I dont see much of a point to this...

i didnt do it for the JDM look i did it b/c that on little top trim piece was chipped and knicked to shit and i couldnt stand looking at it anymore...i guess i forgot to mention that

[RaiderMP5]

yeah, painting a black piece of plastic black was kind of a weird thing to do. Now we know why, sweet!

[jomoyo069]

how do you remove the grill on the 03 sedan?

[Kansei]

how do you remove the grill on the 03 sedan?

Two screws on tabs sticking off the sides of the top of the grille, one on each side. Two plastic clip things (the ones where you use a flathead screwdriver to pop the middle section out and then the whole clip comes out) to the left and right of the opening for the hood latch. There are things that stick out of the back and bottom of the grille to link the grille to the bumper to the radiator core support. I usually pull upward on the grille and then pull it toward me to get it off. Once you do it the first time it's a quick 20 second job after that, as is the story with almost everything with this car.

[jomoyo069]

Thanks I got it off.. After pulling for a couple minutes trying not to break anything..

[jomoyo069]

None of the stores I went to or called had the correct color paint.. What should I do?

[RaiderMP5]

I am not sure about white.

[RaiderMP5]

If yuo go to an auto body supplies shop, they can mix up a spray based on your paint code, or you can take the piece to an auto body shop to be painted.

It is just luck that Duplicolor made their silver just like the protege sunlight silver...

[jomoyo069]

Duplicolor does make it.. none of the stores carries it... they said its in the warehouse or something.. If I cant get them to just get it from the warehouse ill do what you said.

[RaiderMP5]

looks like you need to special order it then

[Kansei]

If yuo go to an auto body supplies shop, they can mix up a spray based on your paint code, or you can take the piece to an auto body shop to be painted.

It is just luck that Duplicolor made their silver just like the protege sunlight silver...

Yeah it's awesome, a perfect match. I picked up another can of it the other day. I did my sidemarkers with it and no one can tell but me :). The front upper grille strip, that I did at the same time, isn't fairing as well. I guess I didn't prep it enough or something. It looks like the clearcoat is yellowing. I'm going to give it one more try before I send it to a body shop or pay the 145 or so for an OEM sunlight silver MSP front grille.

[jomoyo069]

Do you think that it would be alright to drive around without the black part on the car for now.. (the part that i took off to paint)

[RaiderMP5]

yes

[02PROTEGE2.0]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/misterwacker/my%20car/062306_1340.jpg

[RaiderMP5]

pretty!

[worker_robot]

Two screws on tabs sticking off the sides of the top of the grille, one on each side. Two plastic clip things (the ones where you use a flathead screwdriver to pop the middle section out and then the whole clip comes out) to the left and right of the opening for the hood latch. There are things that stick out of the back and bottom of the grille to link the grille to the bumper to the radiator core support. I usually pull upward on the grille and then pull it toward me to get it off. Once you do it the first time it's a quick 20 second job after that, as is the story with almost everything with this car.

i'm trying to do this on my PR5 and install a DGM CF grill but i'm having trouble taking off the stock grill - i got the two screws out, and the two plastic pieces that hold the grill to the frame but if i tug the grill now the fender sorta comes with it and i'm scared i'll break/mess something up if pull too hard...any suggestions?

[02PROTEGE2.0]

jsut yank that bitch! ahha. it feels like its screwed in... but pull UP afetr u get the top to pop out... and put one hand on the bumper so it wont flex so much..

[Kansei]

I've been doing this mod for the second time for a few days now. The clearcoat was yellowing a bit and then some bug smacked it and even with bug and tar remover I couldn't get it all off.. I guess it got into the paint. I sanded and sanded and sanded.. but I think my problem might be that the finest sandpaper I could find anywhere is 400 grit.. damn you new hampshire and everything being so far away. I sanded down the old paint, did 5 light coats of silver, then two coats of clearcoat (well it's not the lacquer stuff that I used last time, just clear enamel paint because that's all the store I was at had). Then I lightly sanded the clearcoat, washed it off, and yeah it just had a satin finish to it. I tossed another coat of clearcoat on and it looked nice and wet (kinda a heavy coat I know that's a no-no). When it dried it was back to the satin look, so I went at it with some polishing compound (the auto parts store I found didn't have any rubbing compound) and it really doesn't look any better. I think I may just put it back on for now. The color matches, just not the gloss level.

Is it the fact that I'm using clear enamel, or that I couldn't find any good sandpaper? With all the money I've spent doing this multiple times I could have professionally done it by now lol. Oh well soon I'll be getting the whole front end repainted because my front bumper has seen better days. I want the car to look like new again, and not just in pictures.

[red99pro]

thats why im going with black. cant go wrong. but i cant ge the damn grille off. im at the point were it comes to the front with some of the bumper like worker robot said i dont wanna crack the paint or nothing. i read that the silver peice yanks off, but i do not no how to disengage the clips or exactly were they are.

[red99pro]

ok i got the bastard out of determination. i have a 99-00 we have 4 clips holding the silver peice.

- - - -
g b b g

g=good
b= broke

[the_jaf]

I'm confused as to take it out, am I sticking in my screw driver to hit the clips horizontally cuz on mine the clips aren't exposed, i'm just confused...

[red99pro]

get a flathead behind it and TWIST, not pry it, and pull up on the grille is what i did.

[the_jaf]

ok so the only exposed clip I see on this is the one on the very left where you can push down on. Then everything else isn't exposed. From what I understand, i'm supposed to take a flat head, stick inside the hole horizontally and hit these clips?

[the_jaf]

I just got it off, nothing broken. :)

[IAMHOLLYWOOD]

this looks sick, im gonna have to do this to my LX

[IAMHOLLYWOOD]

Heres the pictures
http://a253.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/51/l_cbda71edfe75fa2197e586d7aedaf794.jpg
http://a776.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/24/l_0ce112272471d337c3c27d801de4aaef.jpg

[ga0887]

so whats the paint code on the duplicolor spray paint that matches 22v?

[IAMHOLLYWOOD]

idk. i jsut used their metallic silver

[ga0887]

any chance i can get a pic of the can? thanks in advance.

[IAMHOLLYWOOD]

here u go

[ga0887]

sweet thanks ill be doing this mod soon

[red99pro]

Dang that matched good to not be coded.

[Crazy D]

just for reference

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123677135

[MazdaSpeeder]

Okay, thread resurrection. I have the grille off (I took it off so that I could install a new horn) and I am having trouble visualizing the tabs. I got the one in the middle that can be removed from the back, but as for the other four: do I insert the screwdriver vertically down the crack at the top and twist, or go horizontally from the front and then twist. I just don't want to break these clips...doing it from the front is putting strain on the grillwork itself, and I don't want to break that...going from the top is marring the top section of the grille. Any help/pics? Thanks!

[MazdaSpeeder]

Bump...can someone supply me a pic or something?

[Scorch03]

Could someone walk me through removing the actual piece of trim on the top of the grill. I read it through but when i go look at mine i can't figure it out. My cars an LX sedan and that piece of trim (the one this thread is about painting) is chrome. Any help would be appreciated because i can't see any clips at all.

[MazdaSpeeder]

I don't know how different the sedan is, but for the P5 I really just had to pop the middle clip (the only one i could get at from the back) and then really muscle the others by inserting a screwdriver vertically into the slit between the trim and the grill piece and applying pressure toward the front of the car. You may break some clips, but if they're not destroyed, you can repair them with super glue like I did. Once you get the first couple the rest come off easier. It feels like you are doing a bad thing...but it works out all right in the end. And the replacement piece is about $40 on ebay if you really screw up. Hope that helps!

[Scorch03]

Ya, that does help. I guess I'll just muscle it off tomorrow, and hope for the best. Thanks.

[Scorch03]

I got it off today without even breaking any of the clips, it just lifted straight up after i got the first one out. The paint turned out pretty good and it looks sick with the emblem blacked out.

[MazdaSpeeder]

Glad it went well for you! I've got everything needed to do this, now I just need a day to do it!

[MazdaSpeeder]

I just did the primer and basecoats last night at work, and I am letting them set to do clearcoat later today. My question is, should I sand the base (color) coat any before clearcoating? I am afraid I will screw it up and it will look bad, but it feels rough to the touch now and you can see some rough spots (if you tilt it and look in certain light). I'm a total noob at painting, and I'm afraid I will take off too much base and will have to go back to repainting that. I have 320 and 600 grit sandpaper. What should I do?

[Scorch03]

You could try the 600 grit but i have a feeling you'll need to get some sort of sandable primer to than sand that to get it nice and smooth. You might as well try the sand paper on what you have now and hope for the best.

[MazdaSpeeder]

I tried sanding the basecoat and it didn't turn out well, requiring more base to be layed down. Oh well, it doesn't look that bad, and I am hoping that once I get enough clear on it will look better.

[Scorch03]

Ya, clear is pretty good for covering up small flaws like that.