When my F-Type arrived a few weeks ago, it was nearly perfect. The most glaring flaw was the damage on the grill beam due to a front license plate installation which happened at the dealer. If you intend on taking on this project, budget a few hours as there's absolutely no way to replace the grill beam without removing the front bumper cover. And as if that wasn't time consuming enough, removing the grill beam itself was quite difficult even after removing all the screws holding it onto the rest of the grill. I think the inside section of the grill must have been painted gloss black after the beam was installed, because the fastening tabs had base/clear coat on them which made them very difficult to press through the fastener slots. I finally ended up cutting the tabs off of the old grill beam because they simply wouldn't detach properly.

Here are some photos in case anyone is interested.

P/N: T2R2828

Before:


Oh, and pulling the bumper cover was also the only way to reach this little bag of trash!










All done!



posted image

 

does the grill beam serve any other purpose beside holding the parking sensors? Would love to actually completely remove the beam/bar and just have a cleaner front grill.

 

Nice. Is it easy to get the front bumper off and then aligned correctly when putting it back on?

My front bumper alignment looks like sh$% because the dealer replaced the outer bezel and didn't align it right. I've been hesitant to take it back out of fear more problems would be created.

 

Wouldn't it be much simpler to fill in the holes, sand, and respray?

 

The only problem with all that gloss black plastic is it's starting to show little dings and marks from tiny rocks and debris being thrown off of other cars...and I am trying to stay as far back as I can.

 

I don't think this is possible, because the beam covers the foam bumper which is attached to a metal plate. I suppose if you wanted to remove the foam, you could and then fabricate a mesh section to run the length of where the beam was...but you'd still see a metal plate behind the mesh rather than radiators/heat exchangers as are seen through other mesh sections.

 

I wrapped mine gloss black and will rewrap when it starts looking bad.

 

Realignment of the bumper cover shouldn't be very difficult. Since my alignment wasn't off to begin with, I just used the dirt marks from the washers to put it right back where it was.

 

I don't think so, as either procedure would take a few hours to complete. Furthermore, you'd have to blend the paint around the curvature of the beam since you couldn't get a good angle on the sides...potentially making it a noticeable patch job. I'm happy to invest $280 and an afternoon to make it like new.

 

True. I'll probably add clear bra across the beam for this very reason.

 

Arden made a prototype grille with no bar but I haven't seen it available yet. Definitely looks better without the bar. When the Project 7 comes out maybe that grill will fit. See attachments.

 

Can't wait until the first Project 7 hits the US. A Jaguar guy during Monterey Car week suggested that the US Project 7 will have the cross beam for US regulation

 

Sorry to see the damage - pretty unforgivable really.

When the front and rear sections are removed from the F, it looks like a Beemer Z4!

You can, I believe unbolt the crossbeam. It serves no purpose than to get the car through EU red tape and stop small children and animals from being sucked into the radiator I believe.
I don't think the car will fall in two parts if it is removed.

A picture speaks a thousand words....




The two PD sensors would have to remounted in the fresh grille if you wanted to keep this functionality. Horns would need to be relocated also.
The look is much better without it, and I was thinking of a stick on number plate for the bonnet, similar to some of the E-Types.

 

The size of the grille opening on the Project 7 in the pic above looks smaller than the opening in the Arden pic. Seems that the whole nosecone is different.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll take it in for an "alignment". It's really been bugging me the way it is now.

 

No luck on that Arden grille pictured. Arden notified me that it was just a prototype and will not be produced without the bar/beam due to safety regulations. And yes that grille on the Project 7 does look smaller and will probably have a bar/beam by the time it gets here. Oh well.