Project Chevy Tahoe: Front Make-Over

GrillCraft Sport Grilles

Nov. 01, 2004 By Dean Waters

Since our Project Tahoe received the Perma Tech coating over a year ago, we knew the front end had to change. The chrome grill just did not work any longer. Along with turning it black, we wanted to give the front a more custom look.

For help we finally turned to GrillCraft in Hawthorne, CA. GrillCraft makes sport grill inserts for just about any vehicle in black or silver. We ordered up a new black GrillCraft Sport Grill Model #1450.

Now to take care of the rest of the grill. We thought about removing and painting our chrome grill but just could not get too excited about that. We were also questioning how well the paint would stick to the chrome. We then decided to give Ebay a try. We found that for under $100 bucks we could have a nice new shiny black replacement grill delivered to our doorstep. Guess what we chose?

Installation

New black grill (courtesy of Ebay shopping) and GrillCraft Sport Grill
Grillcraft Sport Grill and instructions

Mark and drill one hole on each side.
Install quick nut.

Put the screw in from the back.
The top insert is now done - repeat on the bottom.

Old grill and shiny new black grill with Gillcraft inserts.
Now we needed to remove the old chrome grill. There are about 6-8 screws holding it in place.

The parking lamps need to be removed, so the grill can unsnap out of place.
We needed to move the side marker lights and inserts for the parking lamps from the old grill to new grill.

Black grill ready for install.
The emblem was moved over, also.

Our naked Tahoe.
We needed to re-route the wires to our PIAA lights since they could not come through the grill any longer.

New whole just behind the bumper for the wires.
We ended up with a much cleaner install than the original through the grill route.

Before and .....
...after. Much nicer!

Summary

Sometimes it still amazes me how much of a difference you can make with just a couple hundred bucks and an hour or two. Now I have to wonder why I waited a year to perform this little project. No, we aren't going to make it up the hill any faster or crawl through any deeper mud holes, but it sure does improve the overall look and fit the theme of the transformed Tahoe.

Have Fun!

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