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Lower Grille Light Mount

LiquidFlame

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Hey y'all-
Wasn't sure which sub forum to post this in, so thought I'd throw it in here for everyone for see.
So I'm a CAD designer, and my company makes bumpers for trucks. Naturally we also make light mounts for our bumpers and chase racks and whatnot. So I had the idea to see if a light would fit in the lower grille of my car. I had someone photoshop a quick image together (see attached. Not my car, but you get the idea) and I thought it looked pretty damned good (no real use I suppose, but it looked cool). So I took it a step farther and set a Rigid 30" RDS bar in the grille, and it fits real good.
And again took it further and designed some mounts to put it all in. No cutting of stock bumper, brackets bolt to existing studs with existing nuts. All seems that it was meant to be hah. Just have to remove the lower grille.
Only problem I can forsee is temperatures. The light effectively blocks 85% of the incoming air down low, which probably means it won't work on FI cars. But once I get around to installing it then I will see what the number say.
Reason for posting this here is to get everyones thoughts, show it off a bit. I haven't yet installed everything because I'm waiting on the light itself to come in, backordered...
Let me know what you think!
Attach0.jpg
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Ron

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Hey, y'all ... Wasn't sure which sub forum to post this in, so thought I'd throw it in here for everyone for see. Reason for posting this is to get everyone's thoughts & show it off a bit. I haven't yet installed everything because I'm waiting on the light itself to come in. Let me know what you think!
Attach0.jpg
Well, I for one believe you can never have too much braking or too much lighting. But, damn, if that don't burn the hair off a chicken's lips @ 100 yards, I don't know what will!!! :sunglasses:

However, the concern you raised about temps is a valid one. Most cars have been "bottom feeders" for a number of years now. Tho things may have changed over time, initially the American consumer did not like having the upper (normal?) grille covered up or deleted so the designers were kinda forced to keep it in place. A perfect example is the later Fox body Mustangs where some models had the entire upper grille closed off. However, w/the intro of the SN95 (1994) ... ta DAH!!! ... the upper opening was back in place. And the upper opening on the SN95 is totally non-functioning. I did some track sessions w/my race car (1998 SN95) & covering the upper grille opening had zero effect on the engine temperature. And the upper opening has remained in place thru the New Edge (1999-2004), S197 & S550.
 
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LiquidFlame

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Yeah we will see what my temps become. I'll be sure to record a running temp before I install it and see what it goes to afterward.
Other than that it seems like an easy install. I could potentially make these if enough of you guys wanted them too.
 

Wine dude

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I suspect that it will block too much air on a GT 350, both for the oil and the transmission cooler radiators
 

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LiquidFlame

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I suspect that it will block too much air on a GT 350, both for the oil and the transmission cooler radiators
Also a likely possibility. Different lights have different heights, so it may be possible that enough air can flow around it. The light in the picture is not to scale, so once I get it installed I'll be sure to post a picture with some measurements.
Note this will probably also not work for adaptive cruise cars.
 

RichBrew

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Hey y'all-
Wasn't sure which sub forum to post this in, so thought I'd throw it in here for everyone for see.
So I'm a CAD designer, and my company makes bumpers for trucks. Naturally we also make light mounts for our bumpers and chase racks and whatnot. So I had the idea to see if a light would fit in the lower grille of my car. I had someone photoshop a quick image together (see attached. Not my car, but you get the idea) and I thought it looked pretty damned good (no real use I suppose, but it looked cool). So I took it a step farther and set a Rigid 30" RDS bar in the grille, and it fits real good.
And again took it further and designed some mounts to put it all in. No cutting of stock bumper, brackets bolt to existing studs with existing nuts. All seems that it was meant to be hah. Just have to remove the lower grille.
Only problem I can forsee is temperatures. The light effectively blocks 85% of the incoming air down low, which probably means it won't work on FI cars. But once I get around to installing it then I will see what the number say.
Reason for posting this here is to get everyones thoughts, show it off a bit. I haven't yet installed everything because I'm waiting on the light itself to come in, backordered...
Let me know what you think!
Attach0.jpg
on the ecoboost, the factory FMIC is pretty weak, and this install location will block most of the airflow to it. This would probably cause problems to turbo'd GTs too. Personally, i'd rather see something that could mount on the upper grill, preferably along the edges, where it would have the least impact on airflow. Recent LEDs should be able to match the light output without the bulk.
 
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LiquidFlame

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Yeah I mentioned that in the original post as well.
I actually tried putting the bar in between the grills (would require bumper to be cut) and it looking a lot like the RTR Spec 5's front bumper. But issue with that was the bar doesn't curve enough for my liking, so the center is flush, but the corners stick out. Otherwise I could make it look clean with a cover of some kind, again much like the Spec 5. Perhaps I'll play around with it at a later time.
I had no intention of this being for light output, purely for visual effect haha. Like the RTR Grille. Can you tell I like RTR? :cwl:
 

RichBrew

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Yeah I mentioned that in the original post as well.
I actually tried putting the bar in between the grills (would require bumper to be cut) and it looking a lot like the RTR Spec 5's front bumper. But issue with that was the bar doesn't curve enough for my liking, so the center is flush, but the corners stick out. Otherwise I could make it look clean with a cover of some kind, again much like the Spec 5. Perhaps I'll play around with it at a later time.
I had no intention of this being for light output, purely for visual effect haha. Like the RTR Grille. Can you tell I like RTR? :cwl:
yeah, too bad it would block crucial airflow on some cars, because it sure looks badass. With the super low mount, it would probably be pretty damn cool to have for late night back road runs too!
 

florida _mel

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Yeah I mentioned that in the original post as well.
I actually tried putting the bar in between the grills (would require bumper to be cut) and it looking a lot like the RTR Spec 5's front bumper. But issue with that was the bar doesn't curve enough for my liking, so the center is flush, but the corners stick out. Otherwise I could make it look clean with a cover of some kind, again much like the Spec 5. Perhaps I'll play around with it at a later time.
I had no intention of this being for light output, purely for visual effect haha. Like the RTR Grille. Can you tell I like RTR? :cwl:

You might want to try below the lower grill.
 

yomamma219

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Some sort of easy mount for various light pods (ideally circular) for behind the upper grill would be clutch. I rigged something up using small kitchen cabinet brackets and some "L" Bar with predrilled holes from Ace Hardware. I have test fitted it all and am pretty happy with the result but a more polished product would have worth a few bucks to me. I do like this lower mount light bar though. Would definitely help alert people to your presence at night. Honestly if there was a way to put a light-bar on the mustang (like bro trucks) but in a temporary way (ie clamps, no drilling) I would probably buy it and do this on occasion just for fun or when I drove somewhere requiring a lot of back roads driving.
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