i was looking through some posts about the satoshi grille and decided that i would post some close up pics of mine for future reference if anyone would like to use what i did. i did things a little easier and lazy that may or may not appeal to some but i thought i'd throw out another way to finish it off with some different products.

i followed the write up closely up to the fiberglass part. i decided just to fill it in with some bondo, sanded it smooth and that was good enough. i bought some gutter gaurd from home depot and wrapped it around the inside part of the grille and drilled holes at various points and anchored it with some of those carriage bolts, nuts, and washers. also bought a long piece of flat iron, right next to some angle iron at home depot for a reinforcing piece and for mounting the TOYOTA to. cut it, bent it at the correct angles with a mallet and the end of a work table and secured it to the grille with some larger carriage bolts. i taped off the chrome, sanded everything down nice and gritty, and used my new best friend: Duplicolor SprayOn Bedliner! this coated everything in a matte black textured layer front and back. drilled holes for my emblem, mounted, and i'm all done. some one else on here used the carriage bolts and the large piece of iron or aluminum on theirs as well, can't remember who, but i just wanted to say that i'm NOT taking credit for that and also thanks to that person for the suggestion, it worked wonderfully. don't know if anyone has used that spray on bedliner stuff on theirs, i've seen the Hurculiner put on the grilles but not for the satoshi yet. i think it's easy and looks good, not great or perfect or show winning but good enough for me, and saves me some polishing time when washing the ride since it's not painted.

here are some close up pics of mine, hope this helps all potential satoshi modders.

patrick

oops, forgot a pic of the whole thing! here she is:

 

Looks real nice man.

 

nice job. where did you get the "toyota" emblem?

where you live near Cedar Rapids?

 

i got the emblem at my local toyota dealer that i get stuff at cost cuz i got a buddy in parts there. i tried ebay, kept getting outbid and then found one for $25 on jtoutfitters.com but i don't see it listed there anymore, maybe you could call them and see? i think list at toyota is only about $30 anyway. i'll get a part # tomorrow when i find my receipt.

i live in cedar rapids, iowa. why, are you familiar with this patch of corn?

 

thanks.

patch of corn.....LOL. That's what my buddy said whom works for Rockwell Collin (sp?) in cedar rapids. He said its hard to conform to the city since he came from Houston-TX, a big city.

 

Nice work pattycakes! This is a mod that I'd love to do someday...just looks awesome!

I live in Spencer, IA but our company's corporate office is in CR (NRG Media). Mary Quass is the CEO. Ever heard of us? BTW: have you found any decent places to wheel around CR?

 

Looks great! Doesn't herculiner fade and look a bit oxidized after time? I like the look a lot!

 

Mmmmm... PattyC, not to send the thread OT, but how come you ain't got no curbs, there, in Ceder Rapids? Zat so you don't have to look down when you step off 'em?? :cry:

S: help:

 

yeah, you'll have to ask the city about that. we used to have curbs on my street but they kept paving it every couple years until it built up to the height of the top of the curb. not like that on every street but it makes for a smooth transition on to my driveway

 

i'll have to look into NRG Media, haven't heard of them but CR is small enough that i could find them easily. mostly big ole Rockwell Collins.

as far as places to wheel... i haven't really looked around much on that either. i've heard of a big mud bog called 600 acres or something but there's also a lot of hilly roads around that there could be some good places just outside CR or in the country a bit, no rocks though. once spring hits i'm going to look around and see where i could test some things out and get my baby dirty, not too dirty though

 

i don't know how similar the Duplicolor product is to Hurculiner, but you could probably use that Huculiner UV topcoat stuff to keep it looking nice.

 

love the look. I'm considering it for my next weekend project.

 

Nice grille, that's something you don't see to often.

 

i did the same thing with the bondo (no fiberglass) and its still fine after a year. i also cut out the tabs in the bottom left and right corners. the grille still fits tight and i think it gives it a cleaner look:

 

I love that mod...I'll probably wait til I by an FJ in a few years to get it tho...

 

i checked with my local toyota dealer, and they wanted $300 for the grill and didn't seem to be able to get just the letters, is there a part#

 

check out www.sor.com, search for fj40 and then there will be a link for fj40 emblems