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There have been several posts on replacing the Stingray grill with a Z06 grill – and a great video or two that help a lot. I replaced mine over the weekend, and thought I’d pass along a few additional helpful tips that I had not found in other threads I researched.
As others have done, I replaced the standard grill with the Z06 grill because I like the looks better. I understand that many prefer the stock grill, and that’s great. For those who want to replace the grill, here are some tips.
Helpful video: I found the following video to be extremely helpful. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...val-video.html . Many thanks to jagamajajaran for doing this! In addition to the video, the following may help a bit:
• I used painters tape to protect the paint around the seams of the fenders, hood, etc. – just to be safe. Shown in pictures below.
• As the video shows, you certainly don’t need a lift to make this change. However, I have one and it sure made it easy.
• I had already installed a splitter – the bumper cover can easily be removed with the splitter installed.
• When you slide the lower cover out per the video, immediately look up and toward the front of the bumper cover from under the car and you will see the five 7mm bolts the video refers to. The video mentions them but didn’t show them – I missed them until I couldn’t move the cover and went back and found them.
• When removing the three torx screws in the fender liners, I found it very easy once I turned the wheels to the side.
• When disconnecting the side marker lights, there is a gray ‘keeper’ on the connector that is shaped like a ‘T’. This keeper needs to be moved up before you can disconnect the lights. When reinstalling, don’t forget to slide the ‘T’ back down to lock in the connector.
• When all is ready to take the cover off, you will find that everything pops out pretty easily (with a little persuasion) with the notable exception of two areas at the upper edge of the bumper cover right next to either headlight. These are more difficult. I tried pulling hard, using plastic trim tools, etc. What worked for me is having a second person lift the already loose bumper cover up from the bottom, creating a bit of a gap in the noted area. I used a pencil flashlight to show the two 7 mm bolts that keep the bumper cover tab bracket in place in that area – I loosened the two bolts using a Ľ inch drive socket with long extension. This made it easy to remove these last two areas, and the second set of hands were also useful for setting the cover down on my blankets. I’ve tried to show the areas in the pics below. After seeing how these tabs work, I realized I could have probably pulled harder without loosening the brackets, but it’s no big deal either way once you know what you’re dealing with.
• When removing the stock grill, remove the two screws and keepers on each end as the video shows. I then found it helpful to use a med-large standard screwdriver to push each of the tabs back. I began at one side (where one of the two metal keepers was removed) and put my fingers under the edge of the grill while working the closest tab with the screwdriver. As each tab was pushed with the screwdriver, the grill would pop up slightly with the pressure from my fingers, and I just worked around the grill until all the tabs were done and the grill popped right out.
• If you have a Z51 (I do), the new Z06 grill brake intakes match up to the existing brake ducts even better than the stock grill.
• After installing the new grill, and prior to moving the bumper cover back over the lip under the hood, take a good look at the various tabs and guides on the cover, and how they fit into the areas on the fenders and hood brackets. This will help you understand how to avoid re-work and get things properly aligned. This includes two 2 inch flat guides on each side of the bumper cover – you can easily note where they fit if you look first before you move the bumper cover back onto the car (shown in pictures below). Also take note of how the tabs work on the bumper cover to fender area.
• As soon as you hang the bumper cover back on the car, look underneath to ensure that the remaining panels under that car are above the bottom edge of the bumper cover. When you look, you’ll know what I mean. If the panels are below the bottom of the bumper cover and you begin to button up the cover, you’ll need to ‘loosen’ things up a bit to get them back to where they belong. Ask me how I know.
• Get everything aligned, make sure it’s good, then use your fist to pop each of the various tabs back into place on the cover, replace the screws, covers, etc. in reverse order you removed them.
• It sounds like a bit of a pain, but it really wasn’t. Took me about 3 hours including putting things away, etc. And I took my time and enjoyed it – wasn’t in a hurry as I like doing stuff like this.
My wife came out when I was finishing up, looked at the new grill on the car, and immediately said ‘I really like that a lot better’. So do I, but again, it’s a matter of personal preference and I get it why some like the stock grill better, some like the chrome brace, etc. To each their own.
I hope this helps someone. The video and other helps were really good – but I thought I’d share some additional details. Have a great day. Paul
My grille arrives today, but the Z51 brake duct kit is coming separately later
Hey Yell and 7 Liter (or anyone else who decided to do this) - please feel free to PM me if you run into any issues or have questions when you do yours. Happy to help if needed.
Hey Yell and 7 Liter (or anyone else who decided to do this) - please feel free to PM me if you run into any issues or have questions when you do yours. Happy to help if needed.
thanks, I am having a body shop do that and my Z51 spoiler at the same time
Anyone replace their grille w/ front cameras with a Z06 grille w/ cameras? Anything different or difficult about doing this install? I would think I'd have to disconnect some cables to the cameras and re-attach to the new ones.
I did a camera grille swap on my 16. There are just two harnesses to unplug. There was ample slack to get the nose off far enough to unplug them. The two clips by the headlights were a bitch. Otherwise, not too tough a swap.
01-12-2016, 11:47 PM
Z06 grill replacement: Helpful hints and pics
