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Grill insert

Droopy76

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tazewell Va.
I had my grill out today installing a tranny cooler. My dad was carrying a ladder through the garage, got his feet tangled in a extension cord, tripped and trashed my grill trying to catch himself. Thats how my luck goes. Anyway it's time to get a new one. I figure if I order a new one it will come black. I really don't want to pay to gat it painted to match the body. Does anybody have any pics of a 97 up XJ with a solid black grill? Would it look better if I painted the headlight bezels black too? My XJ is white so I think the black grill would look alright but I'm not sure. Does anybody have a link to a good place to get body parts?

Thanks

Droopy
 
Search for any SE trim level Cherokees or, 97 Cherokees, they came with black grills.

Go into the adv. fab section to Project Downward Spiral, skip to the last few pages and you'll see what the white with black grill looks like.
 
My sport came with black bezels/grill as well. First couple of returns on googling images "white 97 jeep cherokee".

http://www.governmentauctions.org/uploaded_images/jeep-702456.JPG

http://www.governmentauctions.org/uploaded_images/jeep2-726157.jpg

I hated the black grill/white jeep look, so I bought 2 small Duplicolor rattlecans of Stone White PW1, scuffed it up, masked the cutouts, and painted it. Took maybe 2 hours, spent $30ish on paint and good tape.

If the seller lists the manufacturer and part number, I'll buy parts off ebay. If I can't find it, I use www.rockauto.com, or find a part number and start googling for retailers.
 
I had my grill out today installing a tranny cooler. My dad was carrying a ladder through the garage, got his feet tangled in a extension cord, tripped and trashed my grill trying to catch himself. Thats how my luck goes. Anyway it's time to get a new one. I figure if I order a new one it will come black. I really don't want to pay to gat it painted to match the body. Does anybody have any pics of a 97 up XJ with a solid black grill? Would it look better if I painted the headlight bezels black too? My XJ is white so I think the black grill would look alright but I'm not sure. Does anybody have a link to a good place to get body parts?

Thanks

Droopy
get some krylon fusion paint, stuff works awsome on plastics, no primer required
 
Or spray it first with adhesion promoter, then with any old paint. You can buy it in a rattle can at the parts store or anyplace that sells body work stuff. I used it all over my jeep when I painted it, on chrome, plastic and rubber. That was three years ago and it's held up really well.

Just for example: http://www.amazon.com/Duplicolor-Adhesion-Promoter-oz-CP199/dp/B0007UAXJQ
 
get some krylon fusion paint, stuff works awsome on plastics, no primer required

Thats what i used for painting my white 98 grill and headlight shrouds. I scuffed it up first really well to remove the gloss. It takes forever but prep is more important then the actual painting.
 
White XJs with satin black grill and headlight buckets look awesome! It adds a nice edgy look. If mine was white I'd do that even if I didn't need a new grill.
 
My white 90 has an all black grill. I got a new/junkyard front header panel to repair my MJ project. The MJ had a chrome grill, the "new" grill was painted. I kept the chrome grill for the MJ and painted the new grill Fusion satin black for the XJ. I have a black aftermkt bumper, black n' white KC light covers, black TJ flares (with clear lenses) chrome buckets and clear corners. IMHO it looks great. It's all white or chrome or black.

I just realized I have NO recent pics of the Jeep, just parts and pieces.
 
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