XcelR8

Nice job on the screens, but watch out for the curbs....looks like your hitting it.

Zoom2X

Yeah, it missed by about 1/8 inch. LOL

MadDashRX8

They make a pet barrier for screen doors. Found it at a local Ace Hardware-type store. $20. It is powder coated, expanded steel. It was large enough to do the entire thing. Because it's expanded, it looks thicker when you look down upon it, rather than from a head-on view. What do ya'll think?

#1

MadDashRX8

#2

MadDashRX8

Notice the hollow rotor? :D

#3

MadDashRX8

I cut it to fit against the coolers (much like seikx8
), so I didn't have to fiddle with cutting around the foglights, which turned out to be MUCH easier. Safety wired it to the outsides of the cooler.

#4

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

It doesn't look too bad. If you had it powder coated in black it would look pretty good I reckon.

Although I can't get the word "Cheese-grater" out of my mind :p

BTW - did you weigh it all?

Cheers,
Hymee.

MadDashRX8

Guessing it didn't weigh more than a pound or two; not a concern of mine, though. BTW, I like cheddar...

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

OK - that is light. I was imagining a much heavier grade mesh from the description and looks.

Spin9k

For the oil cooler area, the weave is not small enough to stop bugs or the small stones that are what mush into them and flatten the fins and potentially damage the tubes. At least that is what started the thread.

Or was this for appearance only? Here is a pic from earlier in the thread so you can see the problem, and grill size that fixes it, in case you hadn't noticed it (as the thread is so long).

Irish_in_a_RX8

iTrader: (1)

Did you have to remove the front bumper to do this? I was looking for a method to protect an oil cooler without removing the bumper. The lower damn was quite easy to do...

Thanks
Wayne

Zoom2X

Yes, I did remove the front bumper. It reallly isn't very hard, it will take you 15 mins if you can handle tools at all.

Mike

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Lots of 8 owners have ventured to taking their front bumper off. Many to install their grill kits.

Here is a link that has the details:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...bumper+removal

And why did I do that? 'Cause I had a rock put a hole in my air conditioning condensor.

Cheers,
Hymee.

Rupes

Just put some wire mesh on my oil coolers and radiator. Looks great, as I don't have fog lights and that opening isn't so empty now. It looks so good, in fact, that I'm thinking about replacing the factory grill with this mesh so its all one color /style.

Thanks for all the posts here and on the DIY bumper removal. I can't tell you how much of a newbie I am to taking apart cars, but this wasn't really hard at all.

-Rupes

XcelR8

Ha Rupes....you don't have PM option turned on, but are you in BG now or LA? PM me, I live just north of Toledo.

2PIPES

hey guys, nice job with the instals. just an fyi. if you are considering using just normal aluminum window screen, think again. air passing through a screen at any speed is cut to 50% of what it would be if it were an open area. this is why firemen take out entire windows instead of just breaking glass. smoke won't clear fast enough. now the larger the holes in the screen get, the better the air flow. so your best bet might be some aluminum mesh found at places like autozone or a hardware store. good luck and thanks for all your input.

SpinninAgain!

Hi folks,
Just a huge THANK YOU to everyone who's posted their ideas for oil cooler/radiator protection on this thread. Special thanks to Hymee for leading the way by sacrificing his AC condenser.

I went with 1/4" hardware cloth for now, Rustoleumed black. It's sturdy enough to stop a stone, fine enough to shred any insect that's big enough to do damage and open enough not to impede air flow very much. $5 at Home Depot for a roll big enough to do all three openings with plenty to spare.

I pulled the bumper and screwed all three pieces on from the back, using the existing screw holes molded on the back of the bumper. A dozen #10 self-tapping screws + washers plus four black cable ties. That mesh ain't going anywhere.

I protected the fog light enclosures from the rough screen with lengths of black door edge guard, as pictured in several photos on previous pages. $1.99 from Pep Boys.

The whole project cost me less than $10 and the car is much more secure. Removing the front bumper on a five day old car is something I would never have imagined doing. You guys made it easy.

Mogi

Just finished my install of the oil and ac condenser protectors. It took me about 4 hours from start to finish because I've never removed a bumber from a car before and second I wanted to take my time and do things right.

I did what most of you that have added the mesh screen on your 8s, used 1/4 inch galvanized wire mesh. Painted them with rustoleum flat black paint b/c I didn't want the original silver-ish color of the wire mesh to show. And a little elbow grease...voila!

BTW...Mazda does sell OEM oil condenser protectors (apologies if this has already been mentioned). My dealer sells them for $20 each but charges $267 for the install. I asked them if they have a similar but larger protector for the AC condenser and they said no.

Hmmm...1/4 inch wire mesh roll $6, black paint $5, DIY....priceless (or doesn't cost anything extra) = $11.00

Versus $307 for parts and labor from Mazda...and it doesn't even protect the AC condenser. I saved $296!!!

D MENAC 7

Well, I am finally getting round to posting what I came up with here in this thread.

I was looking for functionality and asthetics. From what I have seen of all of these, there are only one or two that really came close to what I thought were very decent. No offense to anyone but to have square holes on the front makes it look like looking through a screen door. The pattern in the front grille is diamond shaped, not square or any of the many other different patterns.

With that in mind I set out to produce a Screen/Grille that looked as well as it works. Here are the pics of this final installation.

The third pic shows where the original cover for the auto RX-8 cover in the missing oil cooler side on the right hand side of the rear of the bumper cover. Mazda mirrored these same mounting stanchions on both sides.

The second picture shows the frames I built to stiffen the aluminum material so that it sets right up against the rear of the bumper cover. It is also pop riveted with aluminum rivets. They are painted with a spray on synthetic rubber compound named Plasti Dip on one side and left bright aluminum on the other side. The production models will have the ability to change the sides from black to bright aluminum for those who wish to have the bright side out.

These are mounted with small brackets which are then screwed to the frame using stainless steel screws. The upper and outer most mount the mounting screw is directly through the frame and no bracket is used at that point.

I used three brackets to hold the frame in place. The first one has to be in place before mounting the frame in the upper outside corner.

The 4th and final mounting stanchion is shared with the fog light housing it's self.

D MENAC 7

The final look is also enhanced with the fog light accent strakes that are in front of the Oil Cooler Grill.

D MENAC 7

This all was designed with the help of the Mazda Service Manual.

ezrider55

Very nice job.

SpinninAgain!

D Menac 7,
That's a nicely finished look, not only from the outside but also from the back. I like your point of how a diamond shaped mesh echoes the grille, whereas a square mesh (like mine) echoes, umm, a Honda Element!

I used the same mounting holes you did, but instead of framing the screen and making the curved clamps for the bottom holes, I bent the screen down to reach them. Your way looks cleaner and is probably much easier to install.

Couple of questions:
1. You're planning/hoping to offer these for sale at some point, right? Will you post here or...?

2. Any problem spray painting the screen material black?

3. Any plans for the big hole in the center that exposes the AC condensor? IMO any screen there ought to cover not only the wide opening just above the air dam but also the holes in the lower part of the RX-8 grille as well. A stone big enough to do damage could fit through the grille holes.

D MENAC 7

The answers to your questions are yes yes and yes.

They can be ordered from RX8Fun on the vendor's forum located here: https://www.rx8club.com/dls-customs-closed-89/rx8fun-products-pricing-37845/

If you use just plain black paint, or any other color for that matter, you first need to use a primer. Also, if there is any debris that hits the screen, it will chip the paint. I put a coat of Adhesion promoter on these before they get sprayed with 4 coats of the synthetic black rubber compound. This compound resists chipping and the elements as well as chemicals.

I have plans but haven't worked up a frame as of yet. I know there are two more stanchions that can hold screws there. My guess they have something to do with the non US models that have head light washers and hold something relative to them. There are also other mounting points and I have some ideas as to how to do this but have not had the chance to put it into a final design. I did receive some diamond shaped aluminum material that has a larger weave than this material where as the diamond openings are two to the smallers three per inch. This means that something wouuld have to be approximately 1/3" or smaller to make it's way through. I will be looking at this in the near future.

SpinninAgain!

Thanks!