When you get a new car, you always have the tendency to want to do things, even little things, to make the car better in some way, shape, or form. In the case of the Scion, those improvements are for all intents, restoring certain parts of the car back to how they were when the car was new. Since this car has varying states of body degradation from normal use and wear/tear, we decided to do what we can to fix those little flaws. Case in point is replacing the lower valance grille that was missing from the car when we got it.
The car technically comes with two grilles, the primary grille where the emblem is that is sandwiched between the headlights, and a lower grille that is in what we normally know of as a valance panel. The lower grille again, is what's missing. This piece from what I figured would be a plastic piece since the way the valance/bumper is made, the grille piece snaps in. We did find a replacement on Ebay, well more accurately the ole lady found it. It's an aluminum grille that I later learned when I attempted to install it that its really a decorative grille that is installed over the stock grille to give the front end a different look. The aluminum grille isn't a replacement grille. Since it didn't make sense to try and send the grille back for a refund as a good chunk of the refund will be eaten up in return shipping I decided to make this grille work.. The grille is held in by four bolts and special clips that secure the metal grille to the stock grille. After looking at everything and doing some thinking, the only option I could really come up with was to attach some angle braces at four different spots at the top and bottom of the opening in the bumper to secure the grille. In order to do this I had to line the angle braces up with where the bolt holes in the grille were, then drill a hole for each angle brace. Afterward I used a screw and nut/washer to secure the angle brace to the plastic bumper around the opening. The screw heads are indeed visible but not standing out. A little paint would further cover that up. With the angle braces in place I was able to use the screws and nuts that came with the grille to secure the unit to the angle braces using the bolt holes that were made into the unit. This worked out nicely, securing the grille nice and tight in the opening of the plastic bumper. With that, I was able to accomplish the goal of replacing this body art without having to go through the hassle of returning and trying to find a stock grille. We can now check off another box in the list of different things that we wanted to do to improve the Scion.
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