I bought a grille off ebay the person said was a honeycomb grille off a 2002 f150. When I got it it wasnt an actual honeycomb one, it was a grid pattern. And I was pretty sure the grilles were the same from '99 on, but this one defenatly has a different shape on the sides. The angles are slighty off and I dont think it would even fit in the shell opening properly. So is this maybe an expedition grille? Or was I incorrect in assuming the '99s and '02s were interchangable?

 

I bought an expedition grille off of ebay too, and mine fit perfectly. It was the honeycomb style, though.

 

Fit what, an F150?

It is very close, close enough I dont see why they would have changed it so little, but different enough that it doesnt look like it would fit properly. Guess I'll have to upload a picture, that will show the difference. Will take me till tomaro atleast to ge a pic though....

 

It should fit your truck, expy's and f-150's have the exact same grill bezel so the grills are completely interchangable.

 

Sorry, 99 F150.

 

Ok, I got some pics up. It might not look like much difference in the pics but usually these type of things have to be 100% or they dont line up and fit. I held the new grille (sold as honeycomb-dont think so) over top of my existing one.

Top picture: I slid it slightly to the left so you can see the angle of the sides lookes to be different. Notice the much larger atleast 1 inch wider gap near the top corner compared to bottom corner.



Bottom picture: I lined the grille up perfectly centered. You can see there is actually a small gap top right corner and the the new grille would fit in the opening of the shell. But at the bottom corner the grille overlaps the shell.


It is possibly maybe it will still fit despite the obvious differences. But due to the swap being a PITA I have not actually tried it yet.

Here is the code printed on the back of the grille:

It appears the bumps start in 98 and go through jan of 02.

Also the stainless steel tubular grille follows the contours of my original grille and shell. With this different grille it has a gap area in the bottom corners. So does anyone know why this is different? Its got me kinda perplexed.

 

No one has any ideas why this grille is slightly different or what this grille would have come off from?

 

I owned an Eddie Bauer 2000 Expedition and the honey comb grille looked honey comb.. that grille does not. I would say it is not the correct grille at all.

 

Well I mostly interested in trying to figure out what it is correct for. I dont think I will go through the trouble of seing if it will fit since its not exactly what I want anyhow, and questionable to fit properly. I would like to find out what it would fit though because I'll probably sell it back on ebay. Any ideas?

 

Well, to revise my question...

Its pretty clear based on the markings that it is a 99 & up. But for what?

The only vehicles I know that had a grille like this for 99 & up are F150's and Expeditions. And it seems like from the comments above that this isnt from a common version of these. Is there a chance that there was a particular model that was slightly different? Like a Lighting or Harley? Or a 2WD/4WD version that was different? I dont beleive there was a Lincoln that had this type of grille was there?

I am guessing no one on here has swapped to/from a grille that looks like this one?

 

When I put the 99 up frt end on my truck, I put a billet grill in. The one I took out looks exactly like the one you have. Mine came off an Expy. There MAY be slight differences w/ the Lightning. I've heard there are and I've heard there aren't. The Lightning block style grill is black though.

 

Hmm, are you saying that the dark color one I have looks like a pre-99? I thought they were a bit shorter in height? That an according to the date stamp info it looks to be a 99&up.

Well I rigged up my stainless steel tubular insert over top of my bar style grille. I had to do some slight modification to mount it but it works. In bright lighting though the silver color of my grille kinda shows through the new grill cover though, I wish I had the black honeycomb grille that the insert is designed to cover. But I can always swap it later.

 

pre 99 is shorter in height. The grill I replaced w/ a billet was a post 99. You can paint yours black so it won't show up as well.

 

I'll just keep my eyes open on ebay for honeycomb grilles and I can swap it later. I dont want to paint it, knowing me it will flake off and look worse with silver underneath black paint.

I am still kinda stumped with the slight differences in the grid style grille I got. I figured here someone would atleast know what the grid style was used on? Or did it come with everything (expedition, 150, 2wd/4wd, certain package like eddie buer, lariat...etc..)?

 

That grid style was used on Expy's only, I've never heard of or seen a difference on the 99-03s (other than MAYBE on the Lightning). I know on the 97-98 grills, the base model grill was different than the Lariat grill. The base model was 1 piece w/ the surround while the Lariat grill snapped into the surround, the opening was also slightly smaller.