AnneCrystal Brezina
Member
Here is a view of the stock ST grill.
Here is what Trenz ships. The grill, poor instructions, and 4 pop rivets. I tried this project a week ago, and couldn't figure out how to remove the front bumper cover. Having spent 2 hours and still not having the bumper cover off, I screwed everything back together and gave up. Immediately went inside and ordered the Ford CD from Ebay.
Having just received the Ford CD and printed out the grill removal pages, I started again on the bumper cover removal. To get to the grill, you must remove the bumper cover. This time, the bumper cover was off in 30 minutes. You remove the plastic radiator support cover, 3 wheelwell trim screws and a bolt on each side, 3 bolts from under the bumper cover, and the turn signal and headlamp assemblies. There are 6 clips holding the front of the bumper cover to the frame. Four behind the plastic grill and one on each side under the headlamp assembly. There are also clips that each side of the bumper cover attaches to under the fenders. When all of these clips are depressed, just pull the bumper cover straight off being careful not to scratch the fenders. I had a thick vinyl-padded cover that I used to spread out in front of the ST to lay the bumper cover face down on so that it would not get scratched.
<P>
Do not let your spouse see the condition of the ST at this point. They may quietly inquire as to why you just destroyed your ST. Luckily, she didn't walk out and didn't see this condition until looking through the developed pictures.
<P>
Once the bumper cover is off, pull the plastic grill assembly out from the tabs holding it to the bumper cover. Now comes the point of no return. For a flush grill fit, you must snip off the 16 or so plastic tab clips that hold the stock grill from the bumper cover. This is the modification that many members have been confused about, or uneasy performing since it looks like you would have to purchase a new bumper cover if you decided to reinstall the stock grill. However, after going through this, I don't see anyway around this modification no matter whose grill you use. Once you clip these tabs off, you will no longer be able to mount the stock grill. After you have your guts in check, start sniping away (I was apprehensive at first, but in hindsight it's not that bad. Just have faith in yourself).
<P>
The Ford emblem in the middle of the grill requires the stock grill to take up space for the nuts that hold it. I had some rubber strips normally used to close up auto A/C compressors after they have been rebuilt that fit the holes perfectly - how nice. I cut two strips to serve as spacers and then reinstalled the emblem to the bumper cover. Whatever you use, the spacer will have to be about 1/4" thick or you could just stack larger nuts over the emblem pins to take up the space.
<P>
Now is the time to install the new grill. I chose not to use the pop rivets that were included, and instead used some small bolt and nut assemblies that I had lying around. I felt these would hold tighter and stay tighter longer than the rivets. You have to drill through the new grill tabs and the bumper cover area that they mate to whether you use the supplied rivets or bolts. If you use bolts, be sure to position the heads into the grill area so that the nuts are below or above the grill. Otherwise the bolt end/nuts will affect the two outside middle tabs and the radiator support cover from securing properly (I found this out the hard way and had to remove the bumper cover and change the direction of the four bolts).
<P>
Now you install the bumper grill exactly in the reverse order from above. I chose to lay out each picture step from the CD on the garage floor and placed all components affected by that step in order. Made re-installation really easy by just reversing the removal stages.
Here is the new Trenz Billet Grill installed. Total installation time from start to finish was 2-1/2 hours. I should have taken more pictures of the small and intermediate steps, but didn't. I would rate this as a 2-1/2 to 3 on a scale of 5 for degree of difficulty. If you are adept at all with using basic hand tools (screwdriver, sockets, drill, and exacto knife), this shouldn't be a problem, just a little time consuming. The picture looks OK, but looks much better in person (as does most of all of our ST modifications).
Here is what Trenz ships. The grill, poor instructions, and 4 pop rivets. I tried this project a week ago, and couldn't figure out how to remove the front bumper cover. Having spent 2 hours and still not having the bumper cover off, I screwed everything back together and gave up. Immediately went inside and ordered the Ford CD from Ebay.
Having just received the Ford CD and printed out the grill removal pages, I started again on the bumper cover removal. To get to the grill, you must remove the bumper cover. This time, the bumper cover was off in 30 minutes. You remove the plastic radiator support cover, 3 wheelwell trim screws and a bolt on each side, 3 bolts from under the bumper cover, and the turn signal and headlamp assemblies. There are 6 clips holding the front of the bumper cover to the frame. Four behind the plastic grill and one on each side under the headlamp assembly. There are also clips that each side of the bumper cover attaches to under the fenders. When all of these clips are depressed, just pull the bumper cover straight off being careful not to scratch the fenders. I had a thick vinyl-padded cover that I used to spread out in front of the ST to lay the bumper cover face down on so that it would not get scratched.
<P>
Do not let your spouse see the condition of the ST at this point. They may quietly inquire as to why you just destroyed your ST. Luckily, she didn't walk out and didn't see this condition until looking through the developed pictures.
<P>
Once the bumper cover is off, pull the plastic grill assembly out from the tabs holding it to the bumper cover. Now comes the point of no return. For a flush grill fit, you must snip off the 16 or so plastic tab clips that hold the stock grill from the bumper cover. This is the modification that many members have been confused about, or uneasy performing since it looks like you would have to purchase a new bumper cover if you decided to reinstall the stock grill. However, after going through this, I don't see anyway around this modification no matter whose grill you use. Once you clip these tabs off, you will no longer be able to mount the stock grill. After you have your guts in check, start sniping away (I was apprehensive at first, but in hindsight it's not that bad. Just have faith in yourself).
<P>
The Ford emblem in the middle of the grill requires the stock grill to take up space for the nuts that hold it. I had some rubber strips normally used to close up auto A/C compressors after they have been rebuilt that fit the holes perfectly - how nice. I cut two strips to serve as spacers and then reinstalled the emblem to the bumper cover. Whatever you use, the spacer will have to be about 1/4" thick or you could just stack larger nuts over the emblem pins to take up the space.
<P>
Now is the time to install the new grill. I chose not to use the pop rivets that were included, and instead used some small bolt and nut assemblies that I had lying around. I felt these would hold tighter and stay tighter longer than the rivets. You have to drill through the new grill tabs and the bumper cover area that they mate to whether you use the supplied rivets or bolts. If you use bolts, be sure to position the heads into the grill area so that the nuts are below or above the grill. Otherwise the bolt end/nuts will affect the two outside middle tabs and the radiator support cover from securing properly (I found this out the hard way and had to remove the bumper cover and change the direction of the four bolts).
<P>
Now you install the bumper grill exactly in the reverse order from above. I chose to lay out each picture step from the CD on the garage floor and placed all components affected by that step in order. Made re-installation really easy by just reversing the removal stages.
Here is the new Trenz Billet Grill installed. Total installation time from start to finish was 2-1/2 hours. I should have taken more pictures of the small and intermediate steps, but didn't. I would rate this as a 2-1/2 to 3 on a scale of 5 for degree of difficulty. If you are adept at all with using basic hand tools (screwdriver, sockets, drill, and exacto knife), this shouldn't be a problem, just a little time consuming. The picture looks OK, but looks much better in person (as does most of all of our ST modifications).
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