please do!!

First one is a 92-93 SSE
Second is my 95 SE.

With that part you can see the SSE and SSEi grilles stop and go straight across at the headlights, while the SE dips down into the bumper cover. Both the grille, and bumper cover on SSE/i and SE are different. Measurements should concur.

It'* clear that what I'll call the grille surround (the outer portion that'* framing the grille itself) is different, with larger, squarer lower corners on the SSE/SSEi and smaller, rounded corners on the SE, but is that portion removable? Thus you could mix-and-match as needed to replace only the cracked piece, whichever that happens to be.

AAMOF, my white '93 SSEi grille surround is cracked too, a large stress crack on the passenger'* side going out and down at about the eight-o'clock position. Another crack is forming at the opposite (driver'*) end, at about the four-o'clock position, but hasn't broken through to the front yet; it'* only visible in back when the hood is open. Anyone else having this same problem?

Finally, can WillWren or someone post the part number for a white '93 SSEi grille? (and can we clarify whether that includes the surround panel visible in the preceding photos as well, not just the grille itself?) TIA...

I've got the same problem. Loosen the braces that attach the bottom corners of the grill to the hood, reposition so they don't push on the corners, then retighten.

jwikoff99 any measurements yet??

Ummm... I'll need to take a look at it again tonight. I don't recall finding any braces that could put a load on those corners (although I know there were a couple of clip-in support arms); it looked to me more like the upper bolts were putting too much force on the corners, where it bolts to the underside of the front edge of the hood. Once I took it off, glued and clamped it for a day or so, then put it all back together again, only to have it promptly crack open again as soon as I shut the hood.

I can't remember now, but there were two sets of bolts. I loosened the further back ones.

I had difficulty with that. I had my front end rebuilt, and they didn't get the bumper at the correct height. To me it does appear the SE grill would hit the bumper, but the bumper surface has play in it and can move to accomadate. Mine does, anyway.

All right, gang, listen up.

First, scroll back up and take another look at Phish'* photos of the white '93 SSE/SSEi grille and the red '95 SE grille. My '93 is an exact match for the white grille shown in Phish'* photo (except mine has a honkin' big crack in one end; how much you want for that one, Phish? ).

I just went down to the garage and measured mine. The height at front center is 4 7/16"; the width across its widest point (to the outer corners) is 31", and the width across the lower corners is 26 3/4" if you hold a straightedge beneath it, or 27" if you curve a tape measure across the front of it. (For the 31" measurement, I had to bend the tape measure across the curving front of the grille, so that would probably measure a true 30 1/2" or so as the crow flies.)

(I think we can all agree that the hood itself is the same on both models.)

But here'* where things get sticky: the grille surround is molded as one piece with the grille itself. As I said before, the lower corners of the grille surround are different between the SE and the SSE/SSEi, as Phish'* photos show. My '93 SSEi front bumper is flat across the top, right beneath the headlamps, but Phish'* red '95 clearly shows an inset in the bumper cover into which the grille surround descends.

The best comparison would be between an SE and an SSE/SSEi of the same year, although I didn't think the '95 SE had anything changed on its bumper cover, but from what I see of Phish'* photo and my own inspection of the '93 SSEi grille, I don't see how you could interchange the red and white grilles in the photo without also changing the front bumper cover as well.

I need to dig out my factory manuals to see if there'* anything useful in them about this...

Per the '93 manual, that gap between the bottom of the grille and the top of the bumper cover (or "fascia") should be 10mm (15/64"). If adjustment is needed, you should loosen the nuts where the bumper bolts attach the bumper to the front of the energy cylinders (the 5mph compression thingies) and readjust as required.

The '93 SE bumper cover has a wide, shallow inset in it; the '93 SSE/SSEi does not. Thus the '93 SE grille (a large molding with a horizontal crossbar, but apparently the same overall shape as the '95) doesn't look like it will interchange with a '93 SSE/SSEi, because its lower corners are made to meet up with a different shape of front bumper cover.

The attachment of an SE grille to the hood is so similar to that of an SSE/SSEi that the service manual doesn't bother to illustrate both of them; they show the SE grille installation only. But for all other details of the SE and SSE/SSEi front ends, both variants get their own illustrations, because there are many subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the two versions.