"El Cheapo" Front Side Intake Grill Mesh

I have been trollling the various threads that have been posted on the installation of mesh on the open front intake grills. They had merit but the cost of the mesh material and its difficulty of installing them without removal of the bumper bothered me. So, I looked around the garage and found a cheap alternative (my wife called me "Mr. Squeaky") to the prefab (expensive) and hard to bend/hard on the hands metal ones - plastic gutter mesh. It comes in a roll and can be found in most hardware stores. The first pic shows the mesh, small 4" zip ties (you'll need 18 - 9 per side) and "sergical" instruments (small needle nose pliers and sizzors). You need to cut two mesh screens - they are approximately the same only mirrors (flipped) of each other. The 2nd pic shows the left side mesh installed before cutting the "tails" off the zip ties and the 3rd pic is of the right side grill with the zip tie connectors pushed around behind the grill. The mesh folds and slides in easily. You need to cut the mesh a bit oversized and, once inserted, position it, zip tie at one end so that the mesh is centered and then use the sizzors to clip away the excess material. Installation is similar to "ttsakai"s but the mesh folds for easy insertion, is easily cut to fit once inserted and bends to conform to the grill's framework. Sergio

Doesn't look bad when finished.

I commend your efforts... BUT... It is a Porsche ... not some Chevy beater. IMO, do it right, or don't do it.

"IMO, do it right, or don't do it." What is "wrong" with the way that I did it? It protects the radiators, is easily removed to clean up any crud that builds up and was "economic". Oh, I get it's for a Porsche so it needs to cost a lot. WRONG. I've had Porsches for over 25 years and you don't need to spend a lot to get "correct", effective solutions. I also use "cheap" Shell Rotella T diesel oil in my 911 's 2.8 twin plugged engine.

I, for one, like the way you think.:cheers:

Great job, I like it!

Looks good to me too.

For the price you paid for the materials and non-prefabrication, I'd say it's good. Should serve its purpose. Not a 10/10, but looks alright.

Nicely done. :cheers:

I'll let you guys know when I catch someone on their hands and knees looking at my grills saying "Hey wait a minute....". ;>)

I did the exact same thing, right down to "finding" the gutter guard in my shed. If blew off during the last wind storm. It does a good job of keeping the leaves out of the radiators and from a few feet away looks OK. Periodically the mesh will need to be removed for cleaning and this setup is very easy to take out and replace.

looks great....and you didn't have to pay some exorbitant amount for a logo. Didn't people do this exact same thing with their side vents?

Yesterday I snapped off the passenger side grill to try to do the same plastic mesh on it. It's a bit different in that the snap out grill has upper and lower horizontals with slots in then that snap the grill onto the support structure on the car. So, the mesh would need long horizontal slits to accommodate this sloy on structure. Maybe someone else can help with an "economic" mesh solution for the side vents.

I think it looks great, is economical (or cheap, as you wish), and effective. I think with a little thought and imagination it could even be installed without the zip ties holding it on, but as you say, nobody's gonna get on their knees to inspect it for 'correctness', and if they do, more power to them. Nothing wrong with saving some money, you can use the savings on something that really ought to cost big bucks.

It looks good to me. Hey why not solve the problem yourself, and save some money to boot? Good work!

You got any of that mesh in your garage? I'm out, but I have the zip ties. :cheers:

I was considering doing this with my 2007 2.7l cayman 5 speed manual. But I have a question. What do the the two front side and front center intakes do on the manual. Do they actually go to a radiator. I have seen some reference (ttsakai article) that the manual vehicles don't get air to the radiator via these vents. Or maybe there isn't a radiator(excuse my ignorance). Would this mod just be done for looks on a manual trans 2.7l? Where do the intakes go on this car? thanks

I believe from what I've seen of diagrams, there are two radiators, one at each front corner, and the intakes are for these radiators, so the screen would be very helpful in preventing debris from blocking the flow.

The center opening is a blank. Goes nowhere on a manual trans car. The front side openings each go to a radiator at the end of a short chute. This configuration tends to collect leaves and other road debris at a very high rate. Clean out often.

Good looking, effective, easy to do and cheap. What else do we want ? :cheers: I'll do mine when spring comes more to protect the radiators from flying rocks/debris. I think someone said $1,000 each for parts and labor. I usually vaccum out the leaves and cig. butts.

I think the beater opinion is not regarding the mesh itself but the tie straps, which IMO look tacky and I would not be happy with this arrangement on any of my cars. You can say other won't notice, but I would always know and I wouldn't like that. However if you're happy then what does it matter what anyone else thinks.

Pictures not showing up. I've wanted to get some kind of mesh material behind these grill vents to keep the rocks/leaves out. They chip seal the roads here in Idaho and these grills fill up with rocks! Not so good on the paint either...:wall: