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The Victims - A6 to A3 honeycomb grille

84K views 161 replies 31 participants last post by  asal 
#1 · (Edited)


Turning them into one grille that looks factory is going to be a challenge. Anyone have any suggestions for the best way to bond the ABS. The honeycomb from the A6 grill is getting trimmed out and down to fit inside of the A3 Grill after its been hollowed out.

No plate filler in my future. :thumbup:
 
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#4 ·
why not just use this one?

cut the mesh off the ebay one and put A6 one on
I'm looking to get rid of the plate filler completely and then I'm making a carbon fiber surround. It should look pretty good on my Lava gray. I thought about cutting up an RS3 grille but this route is a little more affordable and the extra size of the A6 grill gives me more room to play with.
 
#3 ·
i would say if your car was a faclift A3 just go for the RS3 grill but if not i have seen a couple of people on Audisport.net pull this off it looks pretty aggressive if done right
 
#12 ·
Hey but if you look at the S3 they used the same mesh in the fog light grills so in a way it kinda pairs up, all so i think the mesh is lighter and lets more air in the grill as well i think the mesh looks better in matt black thou
 
#13 · (Edited)
OPINIONS ANYONE? I'm stripping the chrome from an extra set of front and rear rings and am going to have them brush aluminum coated. I'm trying to figure out whether I want to match the grill surround to them (aluminum), go gloss black to match my open sky or go carbon fiber with it since I'll be adding a carbon fiber cupra splitter, mirror covers, B pillars and rear valance. My car is Lava gray.

Not sure when but the plan is to eventually install the S3 front bumper on my car.




I have the grill area cut out of the A3 grill and I'm in the process of sanding it and getting ready for filler. I just took a trip to Taps plastic where they helped me get all of the ABS supplies I need from plastic filler to bonding material to affix the honeycomb from the A6 grill.

The next step is filling the A3 edges so that they are flush and ready to add the honeycomb from the A6 grille which I will cut out and size while the filler on the A3 grill is drying.

More pics to follow.


Keep in mind that while I'm deleting the plate seperator I'm in Washington state so I'm still going to have to install a front plate on there which should break up the mesh somewhat.

 
#15 ·
Really, I thought the S3 grille was the same as the S-Line on the pre 2009 facelift.

Oh, well I'm sure someone will buy this off me in a year if I go that route.
 
#20 ·
If I had a 09 facelift, I'd probably go with the RS3 grill out of simplicity but since they don't make a grill without a filler plate for my car I had no other choice.

My cost so far = $100 for the A3 grill, $150 for the cheapo A6 Ebay grill, $100 in bondo, sandpaper, diamond dremel bit (this is a must the ceramic bits break constantly) and other supplies. Then I'm going to have it professionally sprayed so whatever that costs. Plus the time factor figure about 8 hours with home depot runs at this point - in part because I've never worked with plastic and plastic filler before so there is a learning curve. I'm guessing another 4 hours cutting down the Mesh to fit because I don't want to F it up and have to buy another grille.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Cracked where I put a support bracket that I bonded in the area that I cut out the plate filler sanding last night so I need to go back and refill and sand it. After that I'm ready to cut down the mesh for the A6 grill, weld it in and go to paint.

When I'm done I'll post up a complete wiki. In the mean time these are from a couple nights ago when I was glueing in the support brackets.



 
#27 · (Edited)
OK, got the grill frame filled and sanded but its going to need to be retouched once I get the mesh sized properly - spent about an hour cutting it down last night, its a bit labor intensive because I'm having to go to each end of the mesh and grind a little at a time with a dremel.

Looking for suggestions here. I've heard it's now possible to get ABS powdercoated. I'm looking ot get my emblems powdercoated aluminum and the grill once its done like a polished black aluminum. Anyone know if it's possible to apply this type of finish or what type of shop I should be looking for to get it done?

crappy iphone pics.




 
#31 ·
Are those A4 headlights in an A3 housing?
 
#33 ·
Is there a wiki somewhere around for that mod? I imagine it requires a new wiring harness and some vagcom work as well.

You are a facelift any idea of anyone that's done it on a prefacelift?
 
#35 ·
I only run one additional wire for each high beam. The rest is VAG-Com. That's the easy part. The hardest was to open the halogens, custom cut and fit the A4's. The pre-faselift headlights have different shape. I am not sure if you can fit A4's inside. Overall is a loooooong and risky project.
 
#36 ·
It will still look a lot cleaner even with a plate. Also, I will have the only prefacelift A3 with ABS honeycomb mesh on this side of the Atlantic and I will be able to take the plate off for shows and track days. Plus it's just a fun project and it was an opportunity to learn to work with plastic.
 
#45 · (Edited)
So I had a couple hours yesterday while watching the season premiere of Game of Thrones and got the mesh cut out.

Next steps

1. touch up filler areas that I wrecked while fitting the mesh
2. Epoxy in the mesh to the Grill frame and let cure for 24 hours
3. Puddy Epoxy in the gaps and let cure for 72 hours
4. Sand down any Epoxy spillover
5. Use filler for any final touch ups and sand
6. Paint



Don't knock the gap. Still trying to decide on which coils to get.



Also can't tell in this photo but installed the gloss black mirror covers to match the black of the open sky.
 
#47 ·
Have any links to pics of your car. Would like to see it.

I love the BBS CH wheel. I wish I could get a set of 19s without the motorsport. I've thought about buying a set and having the motorsport filled and repainted to keep the OEM look.

I couldn't find a set of CH 024s (the OEM upgrade wheel for the A3) when I bought my car so I ended up going with the CH 028 (the upgrade wheel for the 2008 S4). They are identical other than the 028 is 18x8 et 43 and the 024 is 18x7.5 et 46. A lot of people think they are BBS CO wheels which were just a poured cast wheel that BBS discontinued but the OEM Audi wheels are in fact true CHs that are gravity poured just like the ones that say motorsport.
 
#49 ·
Love the S3 body kit - looks awesome
 
#53 ·
I will and I'll include a supplies list too.
 
#54 ·
Finally ready for paint



Joints in the middle of setting the epoxy



Joints after sanding

 
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