Hey, guys.
Today we're gonna be taking a look at and installing the Cervini C-Series Upper Grille
for 2018 GT and EcoBoost Mustangs.
You're gonna wanna be checking this grille out if you're looking for a way to change
up the front end looks of your 2018.
You'll be eliminating the running pony and the honeycomb design in the grille.
You'll be getting a completely new grille surround and black fine wire mesh.
This grille costs about $290 which currently makes it one of the more budget friendly options
on the website.
The install's easy but I will call it a two out of three wrenches in the difficulty meter
because you do need to pull your front bumper in order to get the grille installed.
The grille surround does have a matte black finish and it is textured so it will match
your other factory trim pieces.
This grille is a direct replacement for your factory grille.
There is a little bit of assembly required with it but Cervini's gives you everything
you need to install it right in the box.
And just so you guys know, you can pick up a lower grille separately or you can opt to
pick up an upper grille with a lower grille so you have a complete matching set.
With all that being said, let's go ahead and show you how we got the upper grille installed.
Okay, guys.
To complete this install you do need to remove your front bumper.
So we're gonna go ahead and do that and start by removing the plastic cover up here first.
There are eight push pins holding it in place so I'm gonna go ahead, use this little pry
tool and get those push pins out.
All right.
At this point you can go ahead and lift the cover off.
Next there are six eight millimeter bolts up here and we're just gonna go ahead and
undo those too.
Next there are two 7/32nd size bolts right in the corners by the headlight.
We're also gonna do undo those.
Now I need to remove some of the push pins that are in the wheel well here.
I did raise the car up a little bit for this and you are gonna wanna cut the wheel all
the way to the inside to give yourself enough room.
So there are two push pins down here on the bottom and then there are two more up here
in the wheel well that we're gonna grab as well.
So there are 2 10 millimeter nuts down here in this little corner kind of right behind
the corner of the headlight that we're gonna undo.
You might be able to get to them if you peel back the inner wheel well liner, but we're
gonna go down through this little triangle right here in the frame and grab those.
I have a 10 millimeter right here with the universal on a quarter inch drive ratchet.
So we're gonna do the exact same thing on the other side.
We're gonna reach down, grab the two 10 millimeter nuts here.
Then we'll raise the car up a little bit and get the push pins out from the wheel well.
At this point we're getting ready to take our splash shield down from the car.
There are two push pins right here that are holding splash shield to the frame of the
car.
Then there are 19 7 millimeter bolts that we'll also remove.
Next we're gonna unplug our side marker lights here.
So we're gonna reach up through.
There's a tab on the top of the electrical connection.
We'll push down on that tab and the harness will release.
At this point you're ready to remove the bumper and you will need a second set of hands to
do this.
What you're gonna do is you're gonna pull down on each corner.
So we already removed those two nuts but there is a Christmas tree clip that's holding this
in place.
Once you pull down on the corner and get it released here, you're gonna have to lift up
and over the dowels on the front end.
At this point with the bumper cover off it is gonna make a difference whether you have
a performance pack car or a non-performance pack car.
If you have a performance pack car like we do here you're actually gonna skip ahead a
couple steps.
If you have a non-performance pack car there will be some shutters that you guys are gonna
have to remove.
Don't worry.
Cervini's gives you a really nice instruction guide and they'll walk you through step by
step on what you have to do.
At this point you also have something else that you might wanna consider.
Your new grille is gonna open up airflow but it's also gonna open up a little bit of visibility
to things that you normally wouldn't see behind your factory grille.
If you have a light colored car like we do, this is something that might concern you.
If you have a black car maybe you don't necessarily have to worry about this.
You have two options at this point.
You can either go ahead and paint your bumper reinforcement here so you won't see it through
your grille, or Cervini's actually gives you a couple of pieces of vinyl that you can use
to black this out.
You also have the option of eliminating these gray clips right here that are holding your
factory wire harness in place.
Cervini's gives you some nice new small black zip ties that you won't be able to see through
the grille.
We're gonna go ahead and install the vinyl here just so we won't see your bumper reinforcement
through our new grille.
So at this point this is gonna be just like any other vinyl install.
You're gonna wanna make sure your surface is as clean as possible.
We have three vinyl pieces here.
We're actually only gonna install the main piece on our car.
You have two pieces here for the right side frame rail as well.
That's if you guys wanna install them.
So what I'm gonna do is I have a soap and water mixture here.
I'm going to spray my surface here.
This is where we're gonna be installing the vinyl.
And then I'm gonna spray the adhesive side of the vinyl as well.
I do have a heat gun handy too just in case I need help molding it to some of these crevasses
here.
So we're gonna go ahead, spray your surface.
We'll peel our vinyl.
I'm gonna spray that too.
I'm gonna go ahead and lay this on our bumper reinforcement.
All right.
So at this point we are working on squeezing out the soap and water mixture from behind
the vinyl.
Once again, this is just an option.
If you guys don't mind seeing some of this bumper reinforcement behind your grille, you
don't necessarily have to do this.
All right.
So once we get some of the moisture out, we can use the heat gun to help us conform the
vinyl a little bit and make sure that it adheres.
Obviously this isn't gonna look smooth and perfect just because the surface that we're
installing it on.
The whole point of this is to help us black out the bumper reinforcement though, so we
aren't seeing the paint through the grille.
Now we have our bumper laying face down on a nice surface.
Obviously you're gonna wanna put it somewhere where you can work here and not scratch your
bumper.
The first thing that we're gonna do before we remove our factory grille is we're gonna
remove our plastic crash bar here.
For that you are gonna need a flathead screwdriver.
There are six tabs holding this in place.
So we're gonna take the flathead screwdriver.
We're gonna push the tab forward.
Then we're gonna pull this little plastic piece towards us and up.
And that will unlock it.
And with all the tabs released we can go ahead and pull this out.
All right.
So now we're gonna pull our factory grille.
It's actually held in by the same locking tabs that we just removed with our bumper
reinforcement here.
One thing I will say is you guys are definitely gonna need a flathead screwdriver and a second
set of hands here because you're actually gonna wanna try to undo two clips at one time.
This grille is in here really tightly so it's gonna be really difficult to do by yourself.
All right.
So we will press back on our tabs at the same time and then we're going to pull up on the
grille to get it to release from the tabs.
Not gonna get a whole lot of movement here just yet but you guys can see that the grille's
released from the tab in these two locations.
All right.
So you guys are just gonna wanna work your way around the grille then.
So we'll move on to the next tab.
At this point you can go ahead and lift your grille out.
So you're gonna slide the Cervini's grille surround in through the front of the bumper
cover.
You'll see if you look really closely that there's a little ledge on the back of the
grille surround.
It's gonna line up really well with the factory clip.
Then you'll install the Cervini's brackets with the supplied hardware that they give
you and that's what's gonna hold the grille surround in place.
So our bracket's gonna sit like this and it's gonna hold the grille surround in place.
So we'll take the bracket and then we're going to loosely install our hardware for now.
I don't wanna make it too tight yet because I want a little wiggle room in case I need
it to align the grille surround properly.
All right.
So we'll grab another bracket.
I am going to skip around here just so I can get this lined up a little bit better.
And once again I'm just loosely installing these for now until I get everything in place.
Then I'll go ahead and tighten them down.
All right.
So now we have all of our brackets in place.
We're gonna go ahead and tighten them down.
All right, guys.
Next we're gonna install the screens on the grille.
So you are gonna use the exact same hardware that you just used to install the screens.
We're gonna start with the two corner pieces here.
One thing I will say before you do this is we're only gonna install each screw half way.
We're not gonna tighten them all down just yet.
These are a little bit difficult to line up but we just have to get them in a position
where it's gonna grab on all three sides.
All right, guys.
So the next thing we're gonna do is we're actually gonna take our plastic impact bar
and we're gonna take the supplied 3M tape and apply some 3M tape to this.
This is no longer gonna clip into our bumper cover.
We're actually gonna install this right onto the car.
So we are going to take some 3M tape.
We're going to put some here on the center and here on the outsides as well.
With the tape in place we're gonna go ahead and peel the backing off.
So now we're gonna go ahead and get this pressed into place.
We're simply gonna put it right back in its original location.
At this point you're ready to reinstall your bumper cover.
The first thing you're gonna wanna do is slide over your dowels on the top and then click
it into place on the corners of the headlights.
So now we're gonna reinstall the 2 10 millimeter nuts that are holding the corner of the bumper
in on each side.
Once again if you guys can't reach down through the hole here like I'm doing, you can reach
in through the side behind the wheel well liner.
All right.
Now we're gonna go ahead and put the bolts back in on the top of the bumper here.
Keep in mind that your eight millimeter bolts are gonna go in the middle and your two smaller
7/32nds are gonna go on either side.
Now I am gonna use the impact gun for this but I do have it on the lowest power setting.
You guys really don't wanna hammer these bolts home.
You don't wanna break off the little tabs on your bumper here.
Just keep that in mind.
So once again I'm putting the smaller bolt over here on the corner of the headlight.
I'm gonna go over to the other side and put the other small bolt in on that side.
Then our larger eight millimeter bolts are gonna go in.
Now we can go ahead and get our cover back in place too.
Next you're gonna wanna plug in your turn signals or your front marker lights.
At this point we're gonna get our splash shield up and into place.
So it kinda slides right up and under your front lip.
So we'll just get it in the general vicinity.
All right.
So I'm just gonna get the two main bolts in for now and then I'll work my way around and
get this 100% centered.
So all we have left under here are two push pins to install and then we'll move up to
the wheel wells.
All right.
Now we're gonna get our push pins in the wheel well back in place.
All right, guys.
That's gonna wrap up this review and install.
Keep in mind that you can always check this grille out more online.
I'm Stephanie, and for all things Mustang keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.