So the other day I got bored with my stock grill. Went to home depot and bought some wire mesh crap for 6 bucks (5x4ft roll!). I took my spare 4runner grill and hacked the center part out with a hammer and chisel (couldnt find a dremel). Cut out some mesh, bent it up and gave it a shot of black paint.

Also made some turn signal "protectors". I am going to redo the grill with my nice non peeling 91 pickup grill. Mine do the lower valance too....

thoughts?










I left the v6 badge off since it stuck out way to far. I might cut down a spare emblem and try to blend it in.

Sure flows alot more then stock

 

looks good, nice mod. I like it!

 

it looks nice!.. took me a minute to figure it out what was different..

does anyone else think the badge needs to go over about an inch an a half to the passenger side?

 

it is off a little towards the drivers side, but looks good either way

 

yea it looks great! the badge in my 85's grill is on the drivers side

 

I think it must be the angle of the pic or something, because I'm pretty sure it wasn't off center like that in person...and Jay has the tendency to be kind of anal about such things...

 

im not sure.. that picture looks rather straight on.. everything else seems lined up . i think i might have been hanging around that 'stash spot' thread too much, and caught a contact

only one way to prove it..
hit it with a tape measure

 

the lower valance it the best part. looks great

 

Now that you guys mention it... it does look off.

*goes outside*

 

Well you guys were right, in my haste to re-install I put the emblem on just over an inch to the drivers side. I centered it just now.

I really wanted to make a grill that people would not notice right away. Something only toyota guys would realize and appreciate the small touch.

any thoughts of doing the valance the same? As in, cutting out the horizontal cross bars and putting the same stuff in its place.


*edit* Okay, so I chopped the valance in photoshop, I think it would look pretty damn good.

I also blacked out all my chrome (but my emblem, window trim and handles)

thoughts?

 

wow, I can't believe neither one of us noticed it being off that much...

i was drinking that night though...that's my excuse

 

Pff, always an excuse eh?

 

I like the results in the photoshop....looks clean

 

hey, this gives me an idea for my next couple of days off! I scored some chromed wire grill insert a while ago and never got around to using it on anything; may have to try to find another grill locally and hack it up and insert a peice in to see how it looks. That looks good man; how did you get it to stay over the turn signal lenses?

 

I just bent a little of the wire under each screw head They weigh only a few grams so it doesnt take much to hold them in.

I have tons of extra so I will eventually re make them, have them bend over the lense. This was really only the mock up stage to see if I would like it.

 

Looks good! Looks stock, took me a second to find the difference as well. I like the 'shopped pic w/ the blacked out chrome. I'd say go for it

 

Looks great, I bet it even runs cooler now too.

 

Hehe, I never noticed that the stock grill is quite restrictive. It must flow twice as good now. Im sure the body lift helps with cooling too

 

Could you give me some tips on how you took off your grill. Thinking of doing this too, but I might put my toyota symbol in the corner or something.

 

Like, how I removed it from the truck?

OR how I removed the center peice?

For removing the grill itself, its quite easy. I did rubysrunners when I changed her headlights. Just have to unbolt and remove the side marker lights. Remove all the black clips, a thin flathead screwdriver helps.

I usually end up breaking a few of them, I only put 4 or so back in for ease of removal next time. The grill doesnt need much to keep it in place

As for removing the center part. A dremel or something would work awsume. I just hit it with a hammer and chisle to remove everything. Turned out pretty clean actually