Another Grill Alternative from GTFO Squad

[Project Whitemare]

Looks like this kind of mesh: http://www.customcargrills.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Woven_XXL_Flat

Bingo!!

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[Project Whitemare]

If it is a stainless mesh then ya, material cost is going to be higher.

You're way off on both cost of materials and also labor time spent. However I do appreciate you taking the time to put together an estimate of what you thought they'd be worth.

 

[Project Whitemare]

Looks great man would def just purchase one if you would sell. I would easily give $300-350 for a set

Considering the Grill Delete is $280 at best, you think the labor and materials would equate to $20-70 to make this?

The quality would be much less in the grill material. Frankly, that's where the cost will be coming from. This grill material is not inexpensive, as it's top quality.

Cheap material is out there, but it's not something I was interested in using for this grill.

Know what I mean? This is meant to be an alternative to the Racemesh Grilles, not the RPI as an example. That grill could be made at a much cheaper cost due to the quality of the mesh.

I'm sure everyone would greatly apriciate to hear about where you purchased materials and the build process, it's nice to see when someone takes time on a good build, and then shares ideas and projects with others.

I'm happy to help, however, I figured this out on my own. I feel it'd be better to help out on a one on one basis, versus just documenting a DIY version of this. Still undecided on how I'd like to go about this. I saw your PM, I'm happy to share all of the "secrets" with you! Hahaha! You'll have one awesome grill that you are proud of.

Looks pretty nice in the picture. I would be interested in one as well.

Well anyone can buy the upper grill for $31. So time invested to cut them, cut the mesh, line up and bend the mesh then adhere the mesh to the grill. I have no idea what the mesh cost you. I am sure it is more than the $5 stuff at Home Depot. But I am going to assume it isn't that costly. Lets guess $10-$15? So parts cost of $45 plus half hour labor each? I think $150 - $179 would be a nice target for the upper.

The lower grill is like $42. If you could do both for $279-$329 I think you would sell quite a few. Bet hey, when your competition is at $400 - $500 for just the upper you can set the price where you want to. That is until the next guy comes along and undercuts you. So you have a couple options. Charge a lot and enjoy it while it lasts. Or make it competitive enough where you make money, mainly on the labor, and no one else will want to try to compete with you to make the same grill kit for slightly less. So do you make the quick money for a short term or decide to go long term with this?


I am interested to see where you go for this. Because I am very interested in one. I can't stand the pony or the honeycomb look of the factory grill.

Your pricing is a little off on the grills. I work for Ford, and cannot get them that cheap. It's the lower grill that is the most expensive.

You'll also have to add a "0" to your figure on what the grill material cost me. You can see it linked above by 2Cool. Literally is the same material and place to order it from. How's that for transparency.

Half hour of sanding after cutting out the grill. That doesn't even count the time taken to tape off the grill surround and cut it. You also have to cut the grill material to size, as well as mount it to the grill surround.

Materials like cutting wheels and epoxy are needed as well.

I'd like to help you create your own, and then hear how much value you believe these grills have. :cheers:

 

[bruinfan17]

Would definitely jump on it if I didnt already have the CF RaceMesh Grille. Looks really clean though. 475-525 would be a good price if it comes powder coated w/ color choice as well.

 

[Project Whitemare]

Would definitely jump on it if I didnt already have the CF RaceMesh Grille. Looks really clean though. 475-525 would be a good price if it comes powder coated w/ color choice as well.

This guy gets it!!!

I was hoping to be able to get these at an affordable $400+ price point. Trying to see if I can keep it under $500 and still worth the efforts.

Truly appreciate the kind words. Love your grill!!

 

[86merc]

Your pricing is a little off on the grills. I work for Ford, and cannot get them that cheap. It's the lower grill that is the most expensive.

You'll also have to add a "0" to your figure on what the grill material cost me. You can see it linked above by 2Cool. Literally is the same material and place to order it from. How's that for transparency.

Half hour of sanding after cutting out the grill. That doesn't even count the time taken to tape off the grill surround and cut it. You also have to cut the grill material to size, as well as mount it to the grill surround.

Materials like cutting wheels and epoxy are needed as well.

I'd like to help you create your own, and then hear how much value you believe these grills have. :cheers:

I got my grill prices from Autonation White Bear (formerly Tousley Ford). So don't know why they would cost you more? Links to the grills here -----> Upper & lower I was mistaken on the lower as I selected the one with the chrome that was cheaper. The one with out the chrome says $62. Or am I incorrect on that? Because I called and Autonation confirmed the part numbers and prices for me.

I did see the link about the mesh and mentioned already that if the mesh you were using was stainless that it would cost much more. I thought it may have been a plastic version. So yes, a stainless mesh is going to add considerably to the cost.

$93 - grills
$125 - mesh
$120 - labor 2 hours for 2 grills (Body shops with overhead get about 45-60 an hour around here)
$20 - Misc materials
$358 - Total cost

So $469 to $499 a pair? That is a 30+% profit on your cost. Plus you are making the $50 an hour in labor as well if you do the labor yourself. Not sure if at that price point you would sell a lot of them or not. I would like to see a pole with 4 or 5 price ranges to see where people on the forum are willing
to spend money. You can buy the Lethal grill delete for $299. Would people pay an additional $169, $199, or more, for a kit with stainless mesh?


I have years of automotive restoration experience, body shop experience and run a company that owns tooling, manufactures and assembles thousands of automotive parts. I am not trying to short change you on the project. Or take away from your efforts by any means. I assumed (my bad) cheaper parts cost because of the grills but mainly because of the stainless mesh. If you can show me the costs I got on the grills is wrong them I can understand and would adjust the cost accordingly.

I do commend you on trying to bring a product to the community at a reasonable cost. But if you do I would be prepared for the onslaught of orders you are going to get if the price is attractive. You may have to outsource that labor to fill orders. haha But good luck with the project! I am excited to see the cost and availability. :cheers:

 

[Project Whitemare]

I got my grill prices from Autonation White Bear (formerly Tousley Ford). So don't know why they would cost you more? Links to the grills here -----> Upper & lower I was mistaken on the lower as I selected the one with the chrome that was cheaper. The one with out the chrome says $62. Or am I incorrect on that? Because I called and Autonation confirmed the part numbers and prices for me.

I did see the link about the mesh and mentioned already that if the mesh you were using was stainless that it would cost much more. I thought it may have been a plastic version. So yes, a stainless mesh is going to add considerably to the cost.

$93 - grills
$125 - mesh
$120 - labor 2 hours for 2 grills (Body shops with overhead get about 45-60 an hour around here)
$20 - Misc materials
$358 - Total cost

So $469 to $499 a pair? That is a 30+% profit on your cost. Plus you are making the $50 an hour in labor as well if you do the labor yourself. Not sure if at that price point you would sell a lot of them or not. I would like to see a pole with 4 or 5 price ranges to see where people on the forum are willing
to spend money. You can buy the Lethal grill delete for $299. Would people pay an additional $169, $199, or more, for a kit with stainless mesh?


I have years of automotive restoration experience, body shop experience and run a company that owns tooling, manufactures and assembles thousands of automotive parts. I am not trying to short change you on the project. Or take away from your efforts by any means. I assumed (my bad) cheaper parts cost because of the grills but mainly because of the stainless mesh. If you can show me the costs I got on the grills is wrong them I can understand and would adjust the cost accordingly.

I do commend you on trying to bring a product to the community at a reasonable cost. But if you do I would be prepared for the onslaught of orders you are going to get if the price is attractive. You may have to outsource that labor to fill orders. haha But good luck with the project! I am excited to see the cost and availability. :cheers:

Hey bud, once again, I appreciate the time it took for you to compile this info here.

Pretty close on the costs. Grill material costs a bit more than that. Around $150.

In regards to 2 hours of labor, maybe on a rush job. On my prototype, I built it as close to perfection as I could. Came out 99.9% flawless. But in doing so, it took considerably longer. The more I did these, the quicker they would get done, naturally. But in an effort to not cut corners (no pun intended), I'd account for a little more in labor maybe another half hour to another hour. I do value my time, so $50/hr is not unreasonable.

When you account for my corrections, can you see how I wanted to land on a price point in the range of $400-499.

I'm still not quite sure if that would be worth the time associated in making these, shipping them, dealing with customer service concerns, shipping damages, etc....

At this point, the idea is to hook up the buddies, and hopefully help others tackle the same project.

Paying $679 is too much! $500 seems just right. That's coming from the guy who paid $679, and also took the time to make his own for a fraction of the cost.

Again, really appreciate your input! All of you guys!

 

[Tofino]

I would be in for a set at 500.

 

[Project Whitemare]

I would be in for a set at 500.

Appreciate it Tofino!!! I really do. Glad you guys like it.

I'll be happy to get much better pics here soon!

I've got a few in line right now for family and friends.

A couple of you guys will be getting DIY support from me as well as you tackle this project!

So stoked you guys like it!

 

[Terminated]

By the way, Nick, grill looks awesome. I'm working on one of my own, and I can say I probably wouldn't want to spend my free time making these and shipping them out. It's fun, and not terribly hard to do, but it does take time and I think it could get a bit time consuming.

 

[Jarstang]

Cleaned up and members warned. Any further personal attacks and arguing will lead to infractions and account suspension.

 

[Nathanbrummer@SCS]

Looks good. I saw these photos on Instagram today. Great job.

 

[plc268]

I'll post it again because my post got deleted for no good reason:

Looks like the customcargrill guys posted a video on how to do the grill mesh yourself:
[ame]

Looks pretty easy to do, and I might give it a go myself.

 

[Project Whitemare]

I'll post it again because my post got deleted for no good reason:

Looks like the customcargrill guys posted a video on how to do the grill mesh yourself:


Looks pretty easy to do, and I might give it a go myself.

Where was this video when I did mine?!?! Hahaha!!

We don't take the same approach to cutting the grill. I'd say his way is a bit more, "caveman" whereas mine is a bit more careful. I tape the grill first and don't go nearly as fast. The plastic starts to get hot and melt a bit when you go fast, so I take my time and try to get as clean as possible.

The grill material I prefer is much stronger than this mesh in the video. You can bow it a bit in and out, but certainly couldn't bend it by hand. At least not this easily.

Great video, shows how you can do it. I've also seen someone do the grill delete by cutting from the front of the honeycomb versus the rear, while on the car!

I prefer to do it my way, even though it's more time consuming, it'll hopefully have better results.

 

[Project Whitemare]

By the way, Nick, grill looks awesome. I'm working on one of my own, and I can say I probably wouldn't want to spend my free time making these and shipping them out. It's fun, and not terribly hard to do, but it does take time and I think it could get a bit time consuming.

Hey Marcus, much appreciated brother! I know exactly what you mean. The entire time I was making it, I said it'd never be worth it. Now that it's done and on his car, I've got a sense of pride with it and feel the pride gained is worth any lack of financial gain.

I really wanted to make one for my buddies 50th, but couldn't imagine cutting the $600 grill.

I know it would look awesome!!!! Too expensive to just cut up IMO. Especially since I'm not sure how long the vertical points go. If they reach both sides of the grill from inside, and also top to bottom on the coral, then I'd say it's doable.

Would love to do one!

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