My custom rear deck vent grilles
11-02-2009, 08:59 PM
#1
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My custom rear deck vent grilles
Well I decided to make some custom rear deck vent grilles, I've never really liked the way the factory ones look. My car has several one-off custom pieces on it, so I thought why not! 
Just so we all know what I am talking about, here are a couple of pics of the factory grilles on my car:
I decided that I wanted something a little more modern looking, and I wanted to use mesh. A friend with a C5 decided he wasn't going to use the pieces from the SS mesh kit for his car that are meant to go in the rear valance:
My first thought was to cut out all the bars from the stock pieces and mount the mesh under it, so I bought a junk set off Ebay for $15 to cut up and experiment:
When I mounted the mesh under the cut up stock piece, I decided it didn't look right because the mesh was too far down from the top of the stock grille......so, I took some measurements, and had my CNC guy cut me a set of these in 1/8 aluminum:
Then I had to make a spacer to bring the mesh and custom grilles up to the right height to be flush with the body......1/8 spacer + 1/8 SS mesh + 1/8 grille was what I needed. I made the spacer first out of copper wire, then made it out of aluminum, and then checked it's fit in the body:
Here is a pic of the 3 pieces that go together to make this:
Here is the finished product. When I first installed them, it looked weird that I could see the white body color through them, so then I blacked out the vent plenums, and it looked much better. Still not sure if I like them or not, but it is just a bolt-on mod, so it is easy to change back!
Just so we all know what I am talking about, here are a couple of pics of the factory grilles on my car:
I decided that I wanted something a little more modern looking, and I wanted to use mesh. A friend with a C5 decided he wasn't going to use the pieces from the SS mesh kit for his car that are meant to go in the rear valance:
My first thought was to cut out all the bars from the stock pieces and mount the mesh under it, so I bought a junk set off Ebay for $15 to cut up and experiment:
When I mounted the mesh under the cut up stock piece, I decided it didn't look right because the mesh was too far down from the top of the stock grille......so, I took some measurements, and had my CNC guy cut me a set of these in 1/8 aluminum:
Then I had to make a spacer to bring the mesh and custom grilles up to the right height to be flush with the body......1/8 spacer + 1/8 SS mesh + 1/8 grille was what I needed. I made the spacer first out of copper wire, then made it out of aluminum, and then checked it's fit in the body:
Here is a pic of the 3 pieces that go together to make this:
Here is the finished product. When I first installed them, it looked weird that I could see the white body color through them, so then I blacked out the vent plenums, and it looked much better. Still not sure if I like them or not, but it is just a bolt-on mod, so it is easy to change back!
Last edited by 7t2vette; 11-02-2009 at 09:04 PM.
Is that called expanded mesh? How hard is it to find that material 
11-02-2009, 10:35 PM
#7
Burning Brakes
Very well executed! Looks like a winner to me. 
PS...I like your fuel filler door....where did you get that? I've wanted something similar for my 80.
Trevor
PS...I like your fuel filler door....where did you get that? I've wanted something similar for my 80.
Trevor
11-03-2009, 01:39 PM
#15
Platinum Supporting Vendor
Look great to me! I wonder if there would be an aftermarket for these???
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11-03-2009, 02:13 PM
#19
Melting Slicks
11-03-2009, 02:14 PM
#20
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I like them a lot and would buy a pair but I doubt there is enough buyers for an aftermarket tooling for them....so if you get bored with yours sell them to me...