PT Turbo GT Grille

[sohmer]

As far as needing those openings for a GT- I would say YES, you need them. ANother Q- do you have the LOWER damn??? On the GTs, that is removed in lieu of larger lower openings, so if you have lost BOTH the air dam and a more open grill, then I would not be too happy.

Just to be clear because I don't know if I am explaining what happened very well. My car is an '03 GT. When we bought it there was another PT on the lot that had the chrome pkg. Wife wanted it. Dealer said no problem. Spears, filler door, upper grille no problems parts swap out directly. No diffs. The grille evidently comes as a two piece kit, already painted/chromed. Dealer used the template, cut out the old lower, installed the new lower using a single fastener that you can sort of see in my pictures. It is directly above the center vertical rib on the lower grill. They used tape on the perimeter of the grill and stuck it directly to the fascia, covering the cut out portion. I personally thought it looked pretty good until I got down ther close while zainoing, saw how it was mounted, etc.

The question now is the opening wide enough. The dealer said they called the "STAR Hotline" and were told it would be fine, that the wider opening was really just to show off the entire inter-cooler. I'm a bit skeptical. OK, I'm a lot skeptical. I'm going to try and get ahold of someone at Chrysler and figure this thing out.

[PT_Sean]

Originally Posted by sohmer

The grille evidently comes as a two piece kit, already painted/chromed. ....

The upper grill IS indeed one piece, and easily replaceable. The lower grill is ALL ONE PIECE with the lower fascia. Reading your story, and looking at those pics closer, it looks like the dealer took a PT fascia, painted with DC2 colours, and cut it out so that it fit over the lower fascia of a GT. Great idea, but you have lost air-flow.

Do you have the LOWER air dam? It probably is NOT there being a 2003 turbo, and it is NOT part of the lower fascia. That lower dam assists in engine cooling (low pressure area at the tip of the dam creates a SUCK effect thus pulling hot air down out of the engine compartment.)


Saying all that- watch your guages, if it starts to creep up (temp), ask the dealer for a lower air-damn!! (7 screws, it too can be painted. )

S

[SpeedyFarrar]

All chrome package lower grilles are installed by cutting out the lower fascia grille. That way DC only has to make two types of the bumper/fascias, regular and turbo/dream. The turbo fascia has a built-in air dam so you dont have to worry about that. As for the lower grille, I wouldn't think the smaller non-turbo openings would affect the cooling. The turbo openings are only slighty larger.

[sohmer]

Originally Posted by SpeedyFarrar

As for the lower grille, I wouldn't think the smaller non-turbo openings would affect the cooling. The turbo openings are only slighty larger.

The people my dealer talked to at Chrysler and the people I talked to at Chrysler agree with you. This was a dealer installed, pre-delivery option so I think if I have problems I'll be covered except for inconvenience.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Dave

[03GTCruiser]

Originally Posted by sohmer

I disagee with you about the number of seperations. Mine only has four.

The GT grille is 4 sections top to bottom and 6 sections left to right.

[PT_Sean]

Originally Posted by SpeedyFarrar

The turbo fascia has a built-in air dam

???

See post 8:

removing plastic Air Dam?

[OklaCityCruiser]

Perhaps some of the aftermarket companies will begin making a chrome grille to fit the Turbo GT (without cutting, trimming, etc.). So, aftermarket companies, what do you say?

Scott

[StOnEwHiTePt]

thats cool how the dealer modified it