Honeycomb centre grill - Make your own with one from a toledo?

Hi guys, I've recently fitted some honeycomb grills to my ibiza PD130, and they look great. But now, I'd really like to have a honeycomb centre grill...

As you can't buy one from the factory (stupid really considering you can get all the other grills no problem) I'm looking into making my own.

I've heard someone on here had made one by using the lower grill section from an altea as shown here

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=233114&page=2

But I have just found that some of the toledo drivers can buy this honeycomb section, which fits behind their centre grills. So I'm wondering if I could use this same section to make one for the ibiza...

So does anyone know if the grill section shown in the link below is larger than the ibiza centre grill?

http://www.oemvag.es/en/5p-2004-2009/410-rejilla-frontal-nido-abeja.html

If so, I could cut out the vertical slats part from the ibiza grill, then cut the toledo honeycomb section to fit Hopefully...

Any help would be most appreciated!

AJ FR said:

dont think it will be the same, however you could be the guinea pig and test it for us

Click to expand...

Just as a little update...

I started searching a little more around google to see if I can find out about using a normal Ibiza centre grill, and the honeycomb backing piece from an Altea, and I found on a forum from France that someone had already done this, and it looks like it works! I also then found some references to someone doing the same on a German forum.

Picture I found from the French forum:





Only difference with mine and the above is that I'd like to keep the Seat badge on the grill

So, I've just asked my local Seat dealer for a price on the two parts, so looks like I will be the guinea pig!!

Steve* said:

It has already been done on here. Some guy had it done on his readers ride.
Looks the part with the seat center grille too

Id reccomend Ebay for the parts...should work out much cheaper than dealer price

Click to expand...

Yeah I started looking on ebay. Found the centre grill easy enough, but couldn't find the honeycomb bit from the Altea, or a lower grill from an Altea. Was considering just buying some sheet mesh, but I thought using another Seat panel would look closer to the other honeycomb grills I've got fitted

FR_MATT said:

Zach has done it:

I'm planning to do it on my facelift but it's difficult to get mesh to match, currently looking to buy an Altea lower grill like: (18.50 + p+p from SERE motors)

and I've already bought a slim badge and wrapped it:

Click to expand...

Looks great on Zachs car! And yeah, just what I said above about keeping the mesh panels all looking the same.

Where did you get the slim 'S' badge from? Have you got a link/part number?

Cheers!

FR_MATT said:

I got the badge from Dave @ SERE which is a garage in Ireland it was £10, he can post small stuff abroad I think but not parcels (eg the Altea grill)
Badge Part number: 1M5 853 601D 739 (it's for the boot of a Toledo 99-04)

I asked in the Altea section and they said it was 222mm from the bottom of the grill to the top of the plate, I know plate of the grill is solid not mesh to mount the plate but hopefully there is enough.

Not got a spare centre grill to cut the slats off yet, I can let you know the Altea part number and if it is big enough once I get it

Click to expand...

Ok thats great, thanks for letting me know about the badge, and yeah keep me posted once you get the Altea grill!

As a quick update, I have been to the local Seat dealer today and had a look at the Leon/Altea honeycomb piece, which sits behind the grill (as shown in this link) as they had one on the shelf.

http://www.oemvag.es/en/5p-2004-2009...ido-abeja.html

It is definitely big enough to cover the shape of the centre grill on the Ibiza, so I bought it Part number is 1P0052535.

So now I just need to get another centre grill so I can start making it!!!

Just to show that progress is now underway with the honeycomb grill.



I have so far cut away all the vertical slats from the bottom, and started to sand all the excess material away, where the slats were moulded to the outer frame. So far its looking good, but it may take a little time to get the frame part fully cleaned up...

After I have fully cleaned up the frame, I can start cutting the honeycomb. I really want to try my best to cut the honeycomb so it's a perfect fit for the frame, then I can minimise filler of any sort (or use none at all if possible). Not sure what a good plastic glue would be though, maybe poly cement? Any other thoughts most appreciated!

Cheers for the reply, it's made of ABS so I was hoping poly cement may work, but if the plastic weld stuff is better, I'll try and get that! And yeah you're right about the chemicals you listed, in my previous job I used to use acetone together with small bits of ABS, and that used to make a great glue, but I don't have access to that sort of stuff anymore...

So a little more progress... The slats have been completely cut out of the frame now, and I've started to sand the inside, and hopefully will finish this and be ready to cut out the honeycomb section at the beginning of next week. Exciting stuff!!

Just another quick update...

The plastic frame is finished and ready for the honeycomb section!! Took ages to fully sand and remove all the marks from the grill slats / tags, especially around the inside top edge



So now I can start marking out the honeycomb section. Hopefully this picture below shows how the leon / altea honeycomb insert piece is just big enough for the ibiza grill...



Hopefully I can have the honeycomb piece cut out tomorrow, then I can start the slow process of trimming and sanding so it fits in the frame...