Another pic:

 

I like that placement. Now I know what my 8 project is for this weekend.

 

Thanks Ranger, I appreciate it.

Canzoomer, looks good!

Has anyone tried something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2437702264

Thanks...

 

Canzoomer!

Thx for the pics & the info! That really helps!

 

Looks pretty. But i thinkit may restrict too much air.

I prefer to have it as invisible as possible, both to the eye and to the air.

 

Here is a pic of my solution for this little "oops" Mazda made. I decided to do this after 1100 miles and 3 divits in my coolers!

I had a hard time finding SS screening. Got the screen from Home Depot for $6. You can find it in the building materials area. It's galvanized for rust protection, comes in a big roll, and is labled No 4 (4 openings/inch).

I made a template from cardboard and traced it on the screen and cut it out. The first side took about an hour to get the shape right and the second took about 2 minutes to copy the first.



I was going to screw them into the nose, but couldn't find a good place or way to screw them down. Then I noticed the long length of galvanized wire that is used to hold the roll together on the store shelf. I figured that I could place the screen directly on the cooler and snake the wire through the cooler and twist it on the other side. This has the added benefit of being able to replace or remove them quickly and easily if need be.

I had to remove the enormous plastic shield that covers the underside and inside of the front wheel-wells (3 screws and 6 body clips). Turn the tire out or remove it for added work room. I was going to paint them black, but the wife thought they looked more "purposefull" (sp) being the galvanized color. I thought she was right, so I left them.

Total time was about 3 hours, but this included an hour of trying to decide where to drill into my car. Glad I didn't. Next is the center opening to protect the A/C exchanger. Any ideas??

Here's a pic (in life they don't have the black diagonals):

 

That acually looks very good. I would have painted them black, just for the perpose of looking "STOCK". But very nice job on the custom install. Please post pics of the car further back to see the whole thing.

 

Previous thread about protecting oil coolers from August.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Good work! I wonder why they need to galvanise SS for rust protection?

I made a similar one, and also a protective grille for the lower opening in the front bumper - after a stone took out my A/C condensor. I made both grills out of the same material - 5.3mm aperature, 1.0mm wire diameter - and had them powder coated.

Working out a way to fix in position was the fun bit!

Pics here: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=13442

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

In this whole thread, I missed how the grill is actually mounted for the oil coolers (besides the metal screw in alternative)??

Sorry if I'm an idiot...but, thanks.

 

Here 'tis:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=15204

There are links to pics and others' reviews etc.

I used grade 304 stainless steel woven wire mesh. Aperature is 5.3mm and wire diameter is 1.0mm

I had them powder coated in black - you can hardly see them there.



Man - your not an idiot! That is what is is great about this place; ask a question, get an answer!

I mounted the oil cooler grill to the mounting brackets for the oil coolers. Some intricate work required cutting the mesh etc. I spotwelded the mesh in various positions to help keep it together. See the attached image below.

I attached the main lower grill attaches to the bumper with a combination of stainless steel set-screws and self tapping pan-head screws. Nice and secure.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Oil cooler grill mounting. This is a prototype, but it gives you the general arrangement.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Hymee's solution is much more than most of us have done though. Quite a few people have just tucked the mesh in between the oil coolers and the front bumper, which seems to work ok.

I personally wanted it flush with my bumper opening, as I thought it would look better, and was concerned with the plastic mesh melting into the oil coolers. So I wire tied it to a screw mounted at the top of the oil cooler openings in the grille... see my post about it elsewhere in this thread for more info.

Hope this helps.

 

No kidding!

I did not even tie mine, and I used plastic "gutter guard" mesh for eavestroughs. I just cut pieces to fit,and slipped them in the opening then spread them out so that they are trapped, but do not move. The plastic eavestrough mesh is very flexible and easy to do this with.

I was more concerned with the lower opening in front of the radiator. Used the same stuff and some black plastic zip ties.

Works great, took me a half hour to do.

 

Can anyone suggest a wire mesh that won't melt, but is still plyable like "gutter guard?"

Thanks for all the hard work, creativity, and sharing!

 

For the oil coolers, Hobby Lobby (and similar craft-type stores) sells 6"x6" squares of black, aluminum mesh. Not as flexible as gutter guard, but close.

 

Black aluminum is what i used on mine.. works awesome. It was flexible enough to shape the top and bottom for bolting onto the existing oil cooler tabs. (see earlier photos). Once bolted down, it is quite tight and everything bounces right off!

 

I think I'll do this when it gets warmer out

 

Thanks for the posts. Now I have to decide which fix is for me.

 

CZ -
I couldn't help but notice, but it looks as though your radiator is in a different location than where mine is, as shown in the "second pic" post, did you move it? It appears that it's more forward. Any ideas?
-Doccable

 

When I first saw this post I was reluctant to share the sentiment of a mesh add-on to the front; however, a few weeks ago the craziest thing happened. A truck lost a sheet of thin (thank God) pegboard off the truck bed two cars in front of me. The guy (or girl) in front of me was unable to clear the sheet and ran over it. The suction from that car raised it off the ground for me to hit with the front of my car. It broke the driver's side plastic vertical piece on the lower air dam and marred the body piece between the cneter air dam and the driver's side oil cooler. Although it obviously was too big to fit in the oil cooler slot, shattering could have occured and a worse case scenario would be told. Considering the impact, I like the wire mesh idea. I am also thinking about using the $10 Billet idea like BrotherVoodoo's center grill for the oil cooler slots.

 

When we went in to our dealer today to put down the deposit, I took the time to look at the radiators on the demo 8s on the lot (one had about 3k miles the other 5k).

On both cars, the radiator fins were noticeably damaged by impacts.

We'll be getting some sort of metal screening and paint (if necessary) to provide more protection the weekend we pick up the car.

 

Today, while fine detailing my new RX-8 that I picked up on the 10th, one of my first concerns were these openings on the front. The left front oil radiator had a moth stuck to it and after removing it there was a bit of damage there. That is why I got on here tonight to see what others have been doing about this. I have enjoyed all of everyone's ideas and comments.

Several things came to mind while going through this thread. Attachment: I have yet to do anything to my RX about this but am looking into the aluminum grille material. As some folks are big "duct tape can fix anything" fans I feel the same about Hot Glue. :-) If there is any place to have a surface that can be hidden to glue this material on, I will find it when I go to do this sometime soon. Owning a high quality digital camera, I will take photos of the project and post when finished. I am planning on covering all front acces to the radiators, both left and right oil coolers and center bottom for the radiator. Rocks and insects are thick here in middle Illinois.

I am also going to check out materials for the billets I have read about too. I have some ideas after visiting a couple of local auto parts suppliers.

One other unrelated question I have is about stock spoilers. I have one that is different than any of the others on the lot I bought mine off of and is also different than any of the pictures I have seen during surfing. It is slightly wider in width where as it goes slightly over the trunk lid seams and also wider from front to back. It also has a turned up rear edge. The salesman told me my RX was one of the early arrivals and that afterwards Mazda has changed the spoiler going out now. Has anyone more information on this? (My car was kept at the dealer for their sales manager as he was planning to purchase it but his wife would not give him permission. PW!)

Thanks to everyone!

 

Duct tape,

Hot Melt Glue,

Tie wire....

OMG. Whatever suits your fancy I suppose.

BTW - Stone/Rock perforation is a real issue. For newcomers who may not have read other threads etc, a stone/rock put a hole in my A/C Condensor. $800 repair bill.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

FYI,

I went to Lowe's to get the plastic gutter guard roll (as shown in previous pages) but for some reason they don't have it at least in the store that I went. So I went to Home Depot to see what they have. And Bingo!. They have it. Its the same manufacturer but is diamond shaped instead of hex and its made of aluminum! So I got a roll for $3.59 6" x 20' So, you guys guessed what I will be doing this comming weekend :D