Repair of broken grill

[Randy G.]

Not long after I bought the 240 I noticed that all three tabs on the
bottom side of the grill assembly had been broken off, and the center
one replaced with a screw and self-locking nut- it was the only thing
holding the grill in place on the bottom edge. WIth used grills
selling for $50 to $100 on eBay I figured it was worth a shot to
repair this once seeing that from the outside it looked fine.

To fix it, I removed the screw. I examined the mount area from under
the car and saw that all thee mounting holes (two outboard slots and
the center square hole) were easily accessible.

I took some black 1/4 thick Plexiglas and cut a strip about 3/4" wide
(just a bit narrower than the mounting slots). I cleaned the bottom of
the grill where the tabs use to be, then mounted the grill in place on
the car- centered, and aligned fore and aft.

I cut two tabs from the Plexiglas strip, then cut it into two tabs
about 1" long. I sanded one edge clean, and coated it with superglue
for plastic. If you haven't used this stuff before, it is amazing. I
got under the car and stuck the tab through the slot and onto the
grill. I held it for about five seconds, then repeated it with the
other tab.

For the center I glued two pieces of the tab material stacked for
added thickness, then glued that onto the grill in much the same way.

I gave the a chance to harden for a few minutes, then I removed the
grill from the car. I mixed some plastic epoxy (this is epoxy
specifically made for plastic repairs) and formed a fillet around the
base of each of the three tabs where they met the grill for
reinforcement. if your grill is missing large pieces, you can use a
floppy disk case or similar plastic stick and use this epoxy to reform
the missing areas. When it hardens (it only takes about fifteen
minutes before it is read to work) you can file, sand, and drill this
stuff.

I have repaired a lot of plastic parts on the 960 as well with these
two products. They are available at all the home supply stores
(Lowes, Home Depot, etc.). I have even used the super glue and floppy
casing to recreate broken speaker grill tabs on the 960.


__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"

 

[Robert Lutwak]

When this happened on my 240s, I just drilled holes in the bottom of the
grill, where the tabs had been, and put in 10-32 machine screws in their
place (with retaining nuts on the backside), allowing them to stick out the
bottom and do the job the tabs used to do. Worked great and I never had to
revisit the problem.

 

[Randy G.]

That's what the PO had done with the center tab, but this can cause
problems. The screws allow the grill to move around since they are
smaller that the slots in the bodywork, and this can wear the paint in
the slots and can lead to rust. It also creates a hole in the
grillwork and puts a lot of stress there which, if the grill is
struck, can break parts off of the grill off making further repair
more difficult.

When this happened on my 240s, I just drilled holes in the bottom of the
grill, where the tabs had been, and put in 10-32 machine screws in their
place (with retaining nuts on the backside), allowing them to stick out the
bottom and do the job the tabs used to do. Worked great and I never had to
revisit the problem.

__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"