I faced the same issue. You can't change out the oem grill on the 2000-2002 bumpers.
I've seen this on a few cars where they took black vinyl and a heat gun to the inside parts
of the grill. I was thinking about doing that and just having the honda logo showing
anyway. what would you guys be cutting out? just the center bar and the honda logo or would you dremel out that whole edge of what seems to be a 1/4" to 3/8" border.
either way, can this be done clean? I'd be worried about having a hack job of a bumper afterwards.