Coupe Grille

[portzy]

Getting There

As Shude said, the pictures at the dealer were simple line drawings. So, do I take a gamble?. Well, in the car park, there was a 54 plate face lift C220 Coupe with the Evolution pack so I ask, if we use the reg No to obtain a VIN No will that lead us, via the EPC, to what I want?. The man said "Yep".

The No is A20388012839744, (not the VIN ) exactly the same as Shude gave us. Its described as having a "Brilliant Silver" paint finish which my present plain slatted one does not, its duller in fact.

Things are looking positive but I will let you know early next week when it actually arrives.

Portzy.

 

[andyw]

price?

EDIT: PLEASE!!

 

[Shude]

The No is A20388012839744, (not the VIN ) exactly the same as Shude gave us. Its described as having a "Brilliant Silver" paint finish which my present plain slatted one does not, its duller in fact.

Things are looking positive but I will let you know early next week when it actually arrives.

The clue is in the part number: A20388012839744

The other item had a different colour code which was for "atlas grey". Atlas grey is the colour you get on a two-toned vehicle whose main colour is 744 brilliant silver. I'm simply wasted in IT!

Item should be about £90 I'm guessing.

 

[portzy]

price?

Please!!!!!

£82.81 plus Very Awful Tax. There is a chrome strip if you want as well but that should be retrievable from the original, as should be the other odds and ends and fixings. I've ordered one BTW, I dont think I mentioned that

Thank You, Portzy.

 

[Shude]

£82.81 plus Very Awful Tax. There is a chrome strip if you want as well but that should be retrievable from the original, as should be the other odds and ends and fixings. I've ordered one BTW, I dont think I mentioned that

The chrome strip appears to be the same no matter what grill you order, same goes for the other bits. If anyone wants I can post part numbers for those too.

I'd be tempted to have the chrome thing painted bodycolour

 

[andyw]

Please!!!!!

£82.81 plus Very Awful Tax. There is a chrome strip if you want as well but that should be retrievable from the original, as should be the other odds and ends and fixings. I've ordered one BTW, I dont think I mentioned that

Thank You, Portzy.

see above

I gathered that you had ordered - need pics the minute it is fitted to the car

thanks Portzy

 

[portzy]

I'm simply wasted in IT!

Most folks think I'm 'simply wasted'

Portzy.

 

[portzy]

see above

I gathered that you had ordered - need pics the minute it is fitted to the car

thanks Portzy

Will Do.

Portzy.

 

[portzy]

Its Arrived

Picked it up this morning.

Its relatively easy to fit but it isnt a direct replacement.

Remove the the two bolts in the central plastic brace (the one above the star) and you will see that it is held in place on the grille by a couple of small barbed clips at either side. Just gently ease these two apart then the brace pops out.

Look at the ends of the new one (grille) and you will see two pegs about 10 mm in diameter. Locate these same pegs on the old one. They locate into a small plastic retainer which has a spring loaded catch, one LHS and one RHS. Gently prise these off and put them somewhere safe along with the bolts and brace from earlier.

The old one is held at the bottom as well by two plastic push in lugs about half distance from centre to the end and a central expanding clip. Remove the pin from the centre expanding clip (tricky!) then pop out the clip from the front underneath with a piece of dowel. Save these.

The new one fixes (at the bottom) to face lift bumpers differently. It has small barbed catches. If you do nothing with these catches they will push the bottom of the grille forwards when you re-assemble so, with a Dremel type machine remove small amounts at a time from the catches then fit temp/remove and take a bit more off until the new grille follows the rake of the original. Dont worry to much if you take off a little to much, see later.

When you are happy with the exact location, orientation and rake you will have noticed by now that the end pegs are slightly smaller than the original grille and are a loos'ish fit in their locators. I had some small bore black rubber tube which I cut to size and pushed over which made the lug/locator a tight fit. You could build them up with tape but tube is best.

If you re-assemble everything now you will notice its quite rigid, right?. Well my concern was because there is no true fixing at the bottom edge then it could rattle against the newly trimmed catches?. Where the catches would theoretically vibrate place some exterior sticky pads (white) you cant see them on re-assembly so dont worry. This is where it would not matter TOO much if you got carried away with the Dremel, you can make it up with the sticky pad. Finally, re-assemble everything not forgetting the clips over the pegs.

It wont fall, fly or drop off, trust me.

I'll post some piccys later. I did try but the Kbs were to much. Errr, it looks like an Evolution Grille at the end of the day I guess but the look of the old (two year) car is transformed. I might come back and re-edit if I think of anything else

Portzy.

PS PM me if this dont make sense in places.

Result a Piccy

 

[Shude]

Picked it up this morning

I'll believe you when I see pics

 

[portzy]

I'll believe you when I see pics

There Ya go

Portzy.

 

[com]

The new grill is looking very cool, definately going to have to get me one of these. I think ill just see if I can blag the dealer fitting it in the price as it sounds kind of complicated

 

[portzy]

The new grill is looking very cool, definately going to have to get me one of these. I think ill just see if I can blag the dealer fitting it in the price as it sounds kind of complicated

I dont think a dealer would do it but a thinking mans body shop may. You have to mod the new one, thats the prob. One thing to remember though is that the old one does not need destroying to get it off, neither do the original fixings so you can go back to as was whenever.

If I can do it though, anyone can . Took about two hours including thinking time.

Portzy.

 

[Shude]

Code 805 refers to facelift (MY05) models, 949/950 refers to evolution.

10 : A203 880 02 83 : panelling, top
20 : A203 880 03 83 : panelling, bottom (atlas grey, 7246)
20 : A203 880 10 83 : panelling, bottom (805) (atlas grey, 7246)
20 : A203 880 12 83 : panelling, bottom (805+949/805+950) (brilliant silver, 9744)
30 : N 000000 001454 : screw, to support, 4.8x19
40 : A124 990 04 92 : rivet, radiator cowling to bumper (-805)
50 : A203 885 00 42 : clamp, radiator grill (-805) (x2)
60 : A203 889 00 90 : spacer, radiator grill shell
60 : A203 889 01 90 : spacer, radiator grill shell (805)
60 : A203 889 00 90 : spacer, radiator grill shell (805+949/805+950)
80 : A000 988 87 25 : treenail, to support (x2)
90 : A001 990 38 36 : screw, to support, 5x21 (x2)

 

[fuzzer]

The new grill is looking very cool, definately going to have to get me one of these. I think ill just see if I can blag the dealer fitting it in the price as it sounds kind of complicated

its 6 self tappers and thats it ..

 

[C320Girl]

Thanks Portzy

I now have the EVO grille fitted after being turned away by 2 dealerships on my 2003 sports coupe. thanks to the forum and Portzy for making the "impossible" possible - and quite easy to do too.

 

[Shude]

I now have the EVO grille fitted after being turned away by 2 dealerships on my 2003 sports coupe. thanks to the forum and Portzy for making the "impossible" possible - and quite easy to do too.

Looks great. I hope you have shown your work to the stealerships who turned you away

 

[SportsCoupeRich]

also had mone done with great thanks to portzy and agree it looks fantastic. Unfortunately i dont have the xenons....yet...

 

[Flash]

I now have the EVO grille fitted after being turned away by 2 dealerships on my 2003 sports coupe. thanks to the forum and Portzy for making the "impossible" possible - and quite easy to do too. [/QUOTE]


Grill looks great...

Unfortuantelty, most Stealerships are useless and for some of them just doing routine servicing is too much of a "challenge" and when it comes to doing retro fit mods they always claim "it cannot be done..." :rolleyes: This has happened to me on several ocassions too...

 

[Shude]

Unfortuantelty, most Stealerships are useless and for some of them just doing routine servicing is too much of a "challenge" and when it comes to doing retro fit mods they always claim "it cannot be done..." This has happened to me on several ocassions too...

Sometimes even when an item is exactly the same except for colour it still "cannot be done" - this is based on the EPC probably

Whitefield have been pretty open minded in the past, they have done retrofit comand jobs and retrofit xenon etc but only when the job has been priced at £3k+ and it's worth their time and effort (bear in mind warranties etc).