Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
The RRS Grill MOD - Definitive Guide
As promised, here is the info, with as many piccies as possible to enable you to make your very own Range Rover Sport “Narpy†Grill to fit your D3.
You'll be able to turn this:
Into this:
Tools required:
Old chisel
12 inch hacksaw blade.
Rough file or rasp.
Smoothing file.
Fine grade sanding block.
Remember to keep all off cuts as you'll need to make a few packers for the gluing stage.
Prep Work For RRS Grill
Firstly you're going to need a Range Rover Sport donor grill. These are available used from E-Bay. There are a few different colours of "mesh" available so choose the one that best suits your vehicles colour, I'm going to demonstrate with a silver one.
The RRS grill comes in two distinct pieces that are plastic spot welded together and you're going to need to seperate the two parts but it's relatively straight forward.
The back of the RRS grill looks like this:
There are two channels at either end that need removing, they're held in place with torqs screws, remove them.
Next step is to chisel off all the plastic spot welds. They look like this and there's about twenty of them:
Cut them all off using an old chisel or flat screwdriver. The welds are quite soft.
A firm shove of the chisel will cut them off.
Once they're all cut off, the front colour coded body part of the grill should detach from the mesh part and you'll be left with this:
Now you've got to remove all the outer plastic. You're aiming to reduce the above item to this:
The best approach I found at this stage is to use a 12 inch hacksaw blade without a frame. I used a 24tpi blade as this seemed to cut the plastic well. I know others recommend a Dremel too for this. Firstly, I'll show you how to remove the bottom section.
You'll need to make a number of saw cuts but slowly but surely you'll get there.
Make the first cut horizontal here, same on the other side:
Give yourself some clearance so don't cut too close to the mesh bars. You can always remove the excess later with a file. Now you'll notice there are 5 support legs holding the bottom strip in place.
Cut through all of them, again you don't have to be too accurate at this stage, and the bottom half will be free to fall away:
You should now be able to see that only the two sides need cutting away. Carefully cut them off making sure to leave plenty of clearance, again it can all be tidied up later so go carefully and take your time.
Here's a shot with half of one side removed:
All removed:
Once you've cut away both ends, you need to remove the lugs left from the five legs you cut off:
To this:
Your RRS Grill prep work is nearly complete. You now need to remove all the upstands at the top of the grill:
From this:
To this:
Go round and fettle everything up with a file now. I found a rasp was best for smoothing everything down but once done your RRS Grill ( or rather, what's now left of it ) is ready to marry up with your D3 grill.
Prep Work For D3 Grill
Firstly you need to turn this:
Into this:
To achieve this you need your trusty hacksaw blade or Dremel again. Cut the lower side of the central strut like this:
Then up over the central strut:
And cut down the top of the central strut:
Add another cut as shown here but leave the last section in place to ensure there's plenty of strength for the final bit.
Where the top strut joins the middle strut, cut the support triangles:
You then need to put a series of cuts into the underside of the lower triangles:
Using your hacksaw blade again, cut the underside away as shown:
You should now have released all the lower triangles so to finally remove the central bar you'll see there's two small areas at either side that you previous left in place, cut these away and the bar will lift out.
Voila:
With the central portion removed you must now turn your attention to the upper most bar. You have to be quite accurate with this bit because it will be on show. Ok then, working on the upper bar, stick a strip of masking tape 35mm from the lower edge going right across the top. This will form your cut line.
I offered up my saw blade as a straight edge and measured from that. Check the 35mm at plenty of places along the front of the grill to ensure your masking tape runs straight. The grill is curved so its essential to check. I also checked how it looked by rack oth’ eye and it was fine.
Ok, everything below the masking tape has now got to be removed. At both sides put this saw cut in:
Now with a steady hand, cut along the 35mm masking tape line. You don't have to be exactly tight up to the tape as you'll be fettling with a file back to the 35mm line later. Here I'm half way across and 1-2 mm from the tape:
Keep going until you meet up with the end cuts and the piece will be free:
Now get your rasp or file and fettle the upper edge back to the masking tape line.
Moving into the final furlong now, your sides should look something like this:
The sides are currently too high for the RRS bars to fit, you must trim off a 20mm piece from both sides:
Once you've cut off the 20mm piece, you can tidy up the sides with a file. Should now look like this:
You can now offer up the RRS bars to check for fitment. I like to clamp everything together at this point so I can see how it all looks:
The only bit now remaining is to "sharpen" all the lower support triangles. You must file a taper on the end of each one so they'll drop in to the long channel on the back of the RRS bars. I think these pictures explain it:
You're now very close to completion. At this stage, it's always good to smooth everything down and fettle anything that needs just a bit more working.
Gluing it all together.
Make sure you have a suitable glue that'll stick plastic well. There's lots available but you may be better off with an adhesive that has a quick cure time. I used Tiger Seal, it's available from E-Bay and is a bodyshop favourite for adhering panels and spoilers etc.:
The first step is to make yourself a couple of packers to support the upper RRS bar. I'll show one side but you need to repeat the process for the other side. Using some of the off cuts, make yourself a couple of packers, they're going to go here:
Glue it in place and clamp up:
Once both sides have cured, remove the clamps and fill the gap between the RRS bar and the packer with adhesive. YOU MUST ENSURE THE RRS BARS ARE CENTRAL TO THE D3 GRILL AT THIS POINT. You are now final fitting everything so make sure it looks good from the front before gluing.
Glue both sides the same. Check again the grill looks central. Once happy, set aside to fully cure.
Next up, you need to glue all the lower triangles into the long channel:
From this:
To this, at all 6 places:
Lastly, you need to glue the middle of the upper bar to the D3 grill. The best way is to fabricated a bit of the scrap into a little angle:
Fit the little angle here:
Looks like this from further out:
That little angle holds the top bar forward, so glue it and keep it clamped up until cured.
I then go round and fill any gaps or put a little more adhesive where I think it needs it:
That's just about it, your grill should hopefully be ready for fitting.
I hope this helps somebody. Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
Last edited by Narpy on 13th Jan 2014 1:22 pm. Edited 10 times in total
Member Since: 05 Aug 2009
Location: Stockport
Posts: 667
Looks great, have you done this for someone else, thought yours is blue?
29th Dec 2012 5:00 pm
paddymax
Member Since: 16 Aug 2007
Location: Blackburn
Posts: 183
Im ready......
29th Dec 2012 5:21 pm
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
++UPDATE++
As I now make the packers differently from the above how to, I thought I'd share this extra info.
Packers + the little angle can be made easily from the long top off cut.
Click image to enlarge
You can easily see how I made these, from the above picture:
Click image to enlarge
Tidy them up with a file:
Click image to enlarge
Place your packers here, one on each side:
Click image to enlarge
And stick them with plenty of adhesive:
Click image to enlarge
You can clamp them up as in the How To.Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
Last edited by Narpy on 13th Apr 2014 12:12 am. Edited 4 times in total
29th Dec 2012 5:57 pm
yogi972
Member Since: 05 Jun 2011
Location: Kineton
Posts: 3372
First dibs then subject to ££
29th Dec 2012 6:05 pm
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
PM Yogi.
Also, has anyone close to me got a Stornoway D3 I could do a trial fit on? Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
29th Dec 2012 6:33 pm
radders89
Member Since: 30 Aug 2010
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1051
Good work Narpy. Makes it all very clear now.
Top man. MY15 D4 SDV6 HSE Corris Grey - Gone
MY05 D3 TDV6 SE Zambezi silver Auto Alpaca leather - Gone
MY02' Seat Leon 1.6s Metallic Black cloth trim with a hint of mould
Club Sandwich
Women... Can't live with em, can't kill em...
29th Dec 2012 9:50 pm
Rid the gent
Member Since: 21 Jul 2011
Location: Newcastle
Posts: 94
Great write up.
This will be my next mod..
This is what this forum is all about,
Paul..2005 manual se
black badges
side steps
Interior LEDs from hids4u
Piano black interior
Silver gear and cup holders
smoked indicators
Smooth steering wheel off TLO mmmmm smooth
29th Dec 2012 10:52 pm
Hess
Member Since: 07 Mar 2011
Location: Highlands
Posts: 1533
First class write up Narpy
If I wasn't doing the ABar with 4 Lightforce , then I'd be doing your mod
29th Dec 2012 11:03 pm
yogi972
Member Since: 05 Jun 2011
Location: Kineton
Posts: 3372
Due to Narpys write up I will not be doing this mod.
I'm gonna cheat and purchase Narpys handy work
30th Dec 2012 12:27 am
ron3005
Member Since: 15 Mar 2010
Location: Feltham
Posts: 314
yogi972 wrote:
Due to Narpys write up I will not be doing this mod.
IID Pro MV License - D3, D4 & RRS - Enabling, Updates, D4 & RRS Timed / Remote Climate, D4 Bluetooth fitting
PM me for details
Owner of the original "Beanie" grille
D4 & RRS style D3 grilles made to order
30th Dec 2012 10:07 am
Hess
Member Since: 07 Mar 2011
Location: Highlands
Posts: 1533
Had that for ages, had 2 sets even in case I messed up the first one
30th Dec 2012 10:53 am
Narpy
Member Since: 18 Jul 2011
Location: Stockport
Posts: 7830
Are you up for the challenge beanie???
You've been planning it for a while, you should be nearly finished now. Mods:
Front Fogs + Halos
FBH Remote Control
The 1st Ever RRS Modded Grill
Garmin Nuvi + D4 Surround + Reversing Camera.
D4 Steering Wheel.
Rear Boot Spoiler.
Twin Brake Lights.
Wing Mirror Indicator Repeaters.
Long Roof Rails
Make your own Narpy grill thread
I'm not scared, I'm outta here.
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