B190 Enthusiasts

Had a real sharp '93 E150 hightop conversion van, blue w/20's. Took it down to my brothers this weekend, I originally bought it from him and sold it back to him for a lot less than what I had in it, but he's my younger bro and can't have two gas guzzling vans, as much as I wanted to. Cheapest and best looking mod I did to it, rims were nice but not cheap, was the billet grille, $60.00, hour install and totally changed the look from the front.
I have looked and looked and looked, nobody makes a custom grille for pre '93. I am looking at taking a billet grille, made for the '90 F350, approximate same width, might have to remove a few bars in height, cutting out the center area of my honey combed style grille and mating the billet grill in it's place. Over the winter I will order the billet grille, 60.00 on EBay, remove my grille,'90, and look at the feasibility of doing such a mod and have it look good.
Any other idea's

Well the grille came in, the only dimensions that I could find, which looked like a perfect fit ended up being packaging measurements, so the grille was 3" short, gave it to my brother for his old F150 and found that at 1990 f150 grille may be the ticket to change the looks of the front, waiting for it to come in.

New grille came in, it's a keeper. Removed the front grille today and I do believe that I can make this work !

I may have to remove a course or two of the bottom horizontal runs but I think it will give it a nice look.

That will look nice! Look forward to the final photo once adjustments are made.

I started on the grille project today, as things of this nature go, this one is going as I expected, It will either work or I will have to purchase another grille.

The pic of the front, minus the grille, on the lower left you see an opening, that is the opening to the air intake for the engine, it was covered by a 6" x6" black piece of plastic adhered to the back of the grille, funny I never noticed it considering the amount of times I looked at the grille, pondering what to do. If this billet/grille project works out I will probably put some kind of mesh/filter over the opening. The billet grill that I got for a '90 F series truck, slightly starts to taper in, a couple of inches from the bottom, time will tell whether it matters to me or not. It also has a bow to it which keeps it from laying flat against the surround frame, it is now sitting between 2 pieces of plywood w/my car tire resting on top of it over night to see if I can flatten it out or break it. bseg Could go either way.
A pic of the center of the grille that I cut out and hope to replace. Damn, the pictures are big. RESIZED BELOW!!

Well, putting my hand over the air intake, hidden behind the grille, w/the engine running and their is quite a bit of suction, will definitely need some type of mesh for it to keep the big stuff out of the filter. I am kind of an appearance guy, I loved the way the billet grille looked on my '93 E150, totally transformed the front, in my eyes, cost less than $70.00 for the grill and an hours worth of work, piece of cake and w/you guys w/'92 and up, not sure how many years, but I think it is a worth while mod, just my opinion.
Now, up to '91, I believe, it is a 1 piece grille, which includes the headlight surround, I looked all over and no one makes anything for the '90, other than stock. Now the '90 series F150 is a different story, much like the '92 and up E150 you can get a billet grille which is what I bought and am adapting to my I piece '90 surround. I am very close to being done, may install it tomorrow and at this time am very happy w/the look. When all is said and done I think it will look very good, take care of the ugly, in my eyes, front grille and put a smile on my face every time I look at it and all for about 10 - 15 hours worth of putzing, would be a lot faster next time, and about $80.00 in materials. If the grille had not worked out I was considering one of the many styles of heavy mesh, chrome or black, w/any number of designs, to fill in the area I removed.

Well it's done, before and after.



Only downside, although not for me because I ran into the same thing w/my '93, you can no longer stick your hand in to unlatch the hood, I carry a 1' piece of wood lathe, under the seat and slide it between the top couple of horizontal bars...

Nice job, Choptop. The custom grill definitely gives it a distinctive look.

Style points earned!

[quote="Choptop"]Well it's done, before and after.



Sure would like to see that “After” shot.

Not sure were it went Chris but their is one in my Gallery.

Choptop wrote:Not sure were it went Chris but their is one in my Gallery.

And it looks great! Nice work.

That Shelter also looks good. How is it holding up?

It's first winter, keeps the snow off and it will be great for the summer. Need to attend to the rubber around my windows and even after that is addressed it will keep the sun and rain off of her, I like it.