Mesh in front of radiators DIY

[GC9911]

I promised Redman & Niko some photos of the DIY mesh install on the 991.

• You need mesh from Supercheap or some other supplier, mesh is about $29 if you pick it up or $39??? delivered. It comes in silver or black, sheet is 1200mm x 300mm aluminum, cuts with tin snips,
• Small black zip ties, approx 22 off or about 4 for each mesh,
• Some masking tape,
• Cardboard, preferably something like a manilla folder, soft enough to be manipulated but stiff enough to hold its shape & a pencil & scissors,
• A couple of hooks made from light duty coat hanger wire, bend one end to make the hook small enough to pass through a single opening in the mesh,
• 2 flat blade screwdrivers, one small with a blade width approx 2mm & one about 4mm,
• some band aids for when the mesh cuts your hands,
• a bit of patience,
• and some skill in operating your hands when you cant really see what your doing .

1. Make the cardboard templates of the openings, do this by cutting a rough approximation of the size (bigger than the opening) of the template from the outside,
2. Put the rough template behind the opening then draw the shape more accurately, you may benefit by cutting a small hole in the centre of the template so you can hold it through the centre with your finger or use one of the hooks,
3. Continue to trim the template until its near perfect, i have found the template/mesh needs to be slightly bigger than the opening so it sits behind the opening rather than sitting completely inside the opening  (see the second photo below, you dont want to see the cut edges of the mesh),
4. You only need to make templates for one side as the other side is mirror reverse so you just turn the template over for the other side,
5. Cut the mesh to the template size, the easiest way to do this is to put the template on the mesh & draw around the template with a paint pencil or white marker pen, you may need to do a couple of trim cuts to get it perfect,
6. The mesh has a grain to it, if you look at the 3rd photo below the grain (direction) of the mesh in the centre grille is different from the grain of the side grilles, i did this on purpose as i think it looks better. But if you dont have a centre grille make sure you cut the mesh from the same side so the grain will remain the same on both sides,,
7. Now fixing the mesh in place for the outer grilles, if you look at the 2nd & 4th photos you can see the zip ties have been fed under the plastic insert of the opening. Before you put the mesh in if you feel  around at the back of the plastic insert & you can feel where there is a plastic tab molded into the insert which basically clips onto the bar itself (there's about 4), where the tabs are there is a slot that allows the zip tie to pass through,
8. To get the zip ties to pass through put some masking tape in front of the plastic tab location (so you dont scratch the paint with the screwdriver) then get the smallest screwdriver & lever the front edge of the insert up away from the bar (see the second photo) then feed the pointy end of the zip tie through the gap (this might take a couple of goes & may need the bigger screwdriver to make more room),
9. Now you should have 4 zip ties sitting with the pointy end inside the opening & the knob end (no, not you) outside,
10. Position the mesh inside the opening, this is where the coat hanger hooks come into play, use one of the the hooks to hold the mesh in the correct place, f#$k around with it until you are completely happy with its position, once you do the zips up its set in stone,
11. Now with the mesh in place use the second hook to pull the pointy end of the zip tie back through the mesh & complete the zip tie.

 

  A couple of notes:

• 997's have a removable cover skin on the horizontal bars in front of the radiators, if you grab these & apply a little force they will unclip & reveal the horizontal supports behind. You can zip tie to these in the corners & then clip the cover skin back on & hide the zip ties, I think Cayman/Boxters are the same,
• 997's 991 Carreras (not GTS) have a vertical bar in the grilles, you may need to split the mesh horizontally into two pieces to get it in behind the grille as the working space becomes very tight.
• In the photos where the surround looks to sit up around the zip tie this settles back down with a little time & weathering,
• Good luck.

 

[Stew F]

Your 911 has a radiator?  WTF... 

Seriously, that looks good.  What was in the openings before?  I've been telling my lad he needs to do that to cover the hole in front of the intercooler on his Nissan.

BTW, you left out the step where you mashed your fingers and applied the bandaid.

[GC9911]

Your 911 has a radiator?  WTF... 

Seriously, that looks good.  What was in the openings before?  I've been telling my lad he needs to do that to cover the hole in front of the intercooler on his Nissan.

BTW, you left out the step where you mashed your fingers and applied the bandaid.

Its got three radiators, if your going water cooled then go all the way, there was nothing in the openings before & the cuts stopped bleeding before I got to the band aids.

[RedMan]

Thanks Greg, looks good. Garry

[DJM]

Cheap & Neat job.

 It's inexcusable that they don't install mesh from the factory.  Without it, you'd have a high speed street sweeper, hoovering up leaves which then rot and rust out your radiators.