calrockx

Well, it's done. Finished. Finally. The satoshi grill mod. I guess I lost the American race to finish this first to Butnut and Bob, but that's okay. I'm actually kinda glad they finished first, it gave me ideas on mine. Both of theirs look great, and now I'm happy to have my own.

I used elements of both their designs. To sum it up, what I did was secure the door trimmed mesh to the grill frame using safety wire. I thread it through the mesh patter then through a drilled hole on the grill frame, and twisted secure. There are 7 of these attachment points, and it holds up very well. I like this mehod becuase it leaves the mesh open and the "TOYOTA" like it's floating in the center. I just cut two small holes in the mesh for the TOYTOA emblem bolt channels to go through, then bolted it on. To keep it from moving around, I used a couple drilled metal straps and bent them down from the bolt against the back of the mesh. You'll see in the pictures. The grill frame was orignially gray and not in the best shape, but I had it professionally prepped and painted black, and it looks great.

I'll get the writeup online on my site in the next couple days.

If you're in the LA area and want to get some similar work done, I highly reccommend Sierra Paint and Body in Canyon Country. Great work, very reasonable price.

Big thanks to Bob (Bob_98SR5) for his advice and George (Skyrat) for his help. :thumbs:


a few process pictures:

the safety wire being put on through the mesh, then threaded through the bottom of the doortrim.


mesh attached, a couple holes for the emblem


a shot of how safety wire was used to secure the mesh


the back of the mesh, and how the toyota emblem stays in place


THE FINISHED PRODUCT:















edit: BTW, if the pictures don't show up, it's cause my site is down. supposedly the current rainstorm affects the...stuff it is that makes the website work. so if down, it'll be back up soon.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I'll wait patiently on the write-up...that looks great on the black rig!

Now I've got to buy ANOTHER grill...

cruizin01

Looks Sweet!! I've thought about doing something similar but Id like to do it with a little bit different style font. Maybe I can find a decal and make some backing peices..hmmm

Vato Loco

looks great!

Mallrat

Any of our vendors or anyone have a line on Satoshi's fender flares???

FirstToy

Dear gawd, please tell me your not wearing a pink sweater!

Emblem mounting is the best! That's one I'll steal, yup. I was actually thinking the same thing except spring steel but that looks good.

I wish you still had the old bumper on so I could compare with my photochop of your truck from long time ago!
Looks great, I like the "floating" look too.

goldtaco9

Super terrific and cool. Looks great with the TJM too.

Tacoma Dude

Dang Charles, your rig is growing up VERY nicely

calrockx

yep, digital cameras will do funny things with colors sometimes. but, that's not me in the pic.

i do too, i kinda wish i could see it with the old bumper. i may just have to photochop something up.

butnut

Looks really great with the all black and heavy duty bumper...mui macho! Seems everyone has their own way of doing this grille which is really kool to see. OK...what's next guys?

Bob_98SR5

chuck,

outstanding work! I have to get my emblem flush w/ my grill. i'll have to do some more trimming.

the daylight pics really do show how well you did this mod.

i liked how you cut the grill material out on the bottom corners. i'll have ot use a very thin screwdriver to release those bottom tabs now.

bob

OicnaiC

Thats cool. Mine says TOYOTA like that too but it was a lot less work (stock).

Totally off topic but I can't help my self: Calrockx, is your avatar from Bad Religion??

Birdman

Looks great man. Very inspirational. Nice clean look.

calrockx

thanks guys.

sorry it's taken me a while for the write up. i've been really busy. i outlined the basic idea for it in this thread, but i'll get to the details in the write up. hopefully monday.

and yeah oicnaic, it's from bad religion. against the grain

CLin9383

calrockx, sorry for the hijack but i noticed you had a YAK fairing. does it get in the way of opening your sunroof? and your setup is exactly what i want to get..do you have more pics than the 2 on your site..thanks! how hard was the install?

calrockx

no problem. nope, it doesn't get in the way. the fairing sits a few inches behind the back of the sunroof. i have a few pictures and i can take a few, but i gotta get some sleep now before boarding tomorrow. pm me if you want some specific shots and i'll send those your way tomorrow.

OicnaiC

Awesome! I can't wait to go and see them again this summer.

fireteacher

anyone see the pics? i am using explorer and cannot see them...just boxes with red x in them

edit...i installed firefix and still cannot see the pics...

calrockx

ha, man this is old.

i guess i no longer have the pictures on my server. pm me and i'll send you some pics once i'm home. promise.