The Ultimate Opel GT Grille Installation Thread

[JohnD]

There have been a lot of questions about the Opel GT front-end badge of late. Where do I get it? How much does it cost? How do you install it? How does it look when complete?

This thread will answer all of those questions, and more - complete with photos. In order to do this mod you only need a 10mm socket and ratchet and an X-Acto knife. That's it! Total time required is about 30 minutes or less.

So here we go!

The part number is 15774146, and it lists for $227.60 but they sell it at GMpartsdirect.com for $139.65 as of today.

Below are photos of the Saturn badge and the Opel badge.

[JohnD]

To remove the original badge, you need to remove four nuts on silver plastic pins behind the badge. Use a 10mm socket to do this.

[JohnD]

Once the four nuts are removed, you simply pull the badge off from the front.

Once it is removed you will see the diamond mesh and a plastic "pedestal" prodruding through the front of the mesh. You will have to cut the pedestal away, and this is easiest to do if you remove the mesh.

There are no tools required to remove the mesh. It is a flexible rubber piece held in place with a few large tabs on the top and a couple of smaller tabs on the bottom. Simply work the tabs through to the front with your fingers and it comes right off.

Below are photos of the mesh and the pedestal with the badge removed.

[JohnD]

Once the mesh is removed you can cut away the pedestal with an X-Acto knife or other such cutting tool. Take your time and work slowly. (With an X-Acto, several shallow cuts work better than trying to force the knife through all at once with a lot of pressure.) Work all the way around the perimeter and the pedestal is then easily removed leaving a hole in the plastic bumper. (It's okay - it will be completely covered up by the badge.)

In the photos below you can see the plastic bumper with the mesh removed, and the process of cutting away the pedestal.

[JohnD]

You may now re-install the mesh. You will see taht the hole in the mesh for the pedestal now lines up with the hole in the bumper where the pedestal used to be.

[JohnD]

Now let's take a brief time out from the how-to to show why you need to remove the pedestal.

Looking at the underside of the badges we can see that the Saturn badge (bottom in the first photo) has a large recess, whereas the Opel badge has a backing where it provides its own diamond mesh behind the lightning bolt.

The pedestal fits nicely into the cavity on the Saturn badge as shown in the third and fourth photos, but interferes with the backing in the Opel badge. The Opel bumper must be molded without this pedestal in place... In the final photo we can see the Opel badge (left/top) placed alonside the Saturn badge (right/bottom) with the now-removed pedestal in the Saturn badge.

[JohnD]

In this photo we see the Opel badge on the top, the Saturn badge in the middle, and the diamond mesh rubber piece on the bottom. The diamond mesh is compatible with both badges and doesn't need to be modified in any way...

[JohnD]

To put it all together, simply place the rubber mesh back in place using the same tabs, and then install the new Opel badge using the same four nuts on the plastic posts on the badge. Note that the posts are not threaded... They are soft plastic and the nuts are designed to cut their own threads as you install them. A little bit of pressure is required to get the threads started on the plastic posts. But since the posts are plastic, the threads form easily.

Below are photos of the Opel badge in place on SPIRIT. Notice that there is no evidence of the missing pedestal or the hole where the pedestal used to be!

[Barry]

You did a great job posting this...the best I've ever seen

[WishfulThinking]

Is it my imagination, or is the upper grill ... mostly decorative? Some of those pictures make it look like a mostly solid barrier that the grill fastens to. I thought the CAI would get tons of fresh air through that grill, but now I'm starting to wonder.

Uh, now it looks like the mesh doesn't even have any holes in it? Wow. I never noticed that before.

Oh, and nice guide. Thanks for posting it.

[Sky_Pilot]

Originally Posted by JohnD

To remove the original badge, you need to remove four nuts on silver plastic pins behind the badge. Use a 10mm socket to do this.

Hmmm, is that a K&N lurking behind the front grill? And what about those aftermarket horns?

[marlboromike]

the one thing u forgot to mention...and this happened to me...if one of those nuts falls down...u will never find it. It simply is a disappearing act...

I had to go back to Saturn and get one of them...UGH.

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by marlboromike

the one thing u forgot to mention...and this happened to me...if one of those nuts falls down...u will never find it. It simply is a disappearing act...

I had to go back to Saturn and get one of them...UGH.

I don't usually do this, but I must totally and completely disagree with you, Mike!

I dropped one of those nuts when I first installed the grille, too. I poked around for it with a magnet for about 20 minutes, and thought for sure it was gone.

Then a few weeks later when I was at KappaSphere for the reBAR work I noticed some small pebbles and junk wedged between the bottom pan vinyl and the side of the front air dam. I released one of the little popper pins on each side and cleared that junk out. And when I did, lo and behold I found the little nut that I had lost during the install. I immediately mounted it before it got away from me again.

So while I will agree that if you drop a nut it is completely out of sight and as good as gone... I will not say that you will never find it. Because I did. Just open up the bottom pan at the front air dam and there it is.

Amazing!



This time, when doing the photo shoot for this post I was extra, extra, extra careful not to drop it again when I took it apart or put it back together.

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by WishfulThinking

Is it my imagination, or is the upper grill ... mostly decorative? Some of those pictures make it look like a mostly solid barrier that the grill fastens to. I thought the CAI would get tons of fresh air through that grill, but now I'm starting to wonder.

Uh, now it looks like the mesh doesn't even have any holes in it? Wow. I never noticed that before.

Oh, and nice guide. Thanks for posting it.

Yep. Solid plastic. No air there.

And you (and everybody else) are very welcome!

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by Sky_Pilot

Hmmm, is that a K&N lurking behind the front grill? And what about those aftermarket horns?

Yep and yep.

KappaSphere/Fujita Red Line Intake and FIAMM High Tone Horn. Read all about it here and here:

Polished Pipes and Red Hoses
Dual Horn Photos

I was noticing today lots of different changes when poking around there. Namely:

• The Opel Badge (the most obvious)
• The non-stock intercooler pipes
• The red intercooler hoses
• Improved intercooler hose clamps
• Removal of the factory airbox
• The appearance of the Cone Filter
• Removal of unnecessary brackets to support the factory airbox and intercooler pipes (I think there were four of these; one is visible in the left photo of Post #3; see the black bracket mounted behind the horn at left that extends in front of the intercooler pipe but doesn't connect to anything; I removed that later in the day after the photos were taken.)
• The HID relay (a small black box visible to the outside of the factory horn)
• Second horn placed to the right to balance the factory horn
• Horn wires and HID relay cables strung through an enlarged black plastic tube up front by the frame

You could have a lot of fun with SPIRIT and a "what's different between these two photos" against pictures taken of a stock Red Line... Of course, you are close enough to get the guided tour in person - just come down to our next SoCal SKYs monthly dinner and you can get the whole show!

[kylem4711]

awesome thread.

do you have the opel badges in the back too?

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by kylem4711

awesome thread.

do you have the opel badges in the back too?

Thanks!

No, I don't have any other Opel badges. I am quite proud of it being a "Saturn SKY" and I am not seeking to make it into an Opel GT. I just like the front badge styling better for the Opel than for for the Saturn. The other badges don't bother me at all.