Step Five:

Paint all bolt heads that you will be using.
Paint all washers that you will be using.


Step Six:

Re-attach the bottom frame grill.
Test fit the painted grill.
If it all fits to your liking bolt the new grill in!


Step Seven:

Re-attach the hood latch release lever.
Remove all the masking.

Step Eight:

Take tons of pics and post on t4r.org, then go joy riding.

link to my picasa web album of this project:

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/tran...background.gif) no-repeat left">

2009

Things I would have done differently;
Selected a spot in the perforated metal where the "grain" ran straight up and down.
Thicker layers of paint, or other type of paint, before I had mounted it.
Manufactured a thin strip of metal to mount between the new grill and bottom frame.


Please feel free to contact me if you have questions, concerns, or need close ups or specifics.

-J

Any pictures of finished product by chance? I will be doing this mod later on but after looking at the existing grill close-up I think about different approach. I will purchase new grill, cut out two middle sections and retain bottom portion since it holds hood latch lever and I dont want to mess with it. Then I use fiberglass & bondo to make grill look de-pressed about 1-1.5" or as much as I could and then wrapped in black painted mesh.
By the way, where you buy that mesh? I checked in Home Depot and Totem and didnt see anything like that.

I found the perforated metal in the roofing supplies, in their building materials part of the store.

Here are some pics of the finished product;

From 2009

From 2009

The way we created this mesh grill we were able to use the stock hood latch. It it bolted to the bottom frame used with the stock grill.

Here are close ups of how we re-attached it;

From 2009

From 2009

From 2009

I hope this helps!

http://www.mcmaster.com/#perforated-metal/=3sh609

if you can't find any metal locally, this site may be worth buying from.
I did not deal with this company. We kept it open as an option during the first stages of this project.

thanks for heads up on material. I'm trying to find something local, I'm in Canada and shipping and customs will kill pretty much any deal. I found some diamond shape mesh which used for welding truck toolboxes etc, but I'm affraid it might be too thick for this project. How is ridgity on yours by the way? This will be my winter project and I'm planning to butcher brand new OE grill to make a new Satoshi one

As it is currently installed, the center part between bottom frame and top of hood is good, i doubt i will have any issues day to day.

the bottom inch of grill that is below the bottom frame can be bent by hand, which is why I plan to reinforce it with a strip of metal

I popped the hood to take those pics and i felt totally comfortable pushing the hood up with my hand on the new grill.

let me know if you would like more pics

Here is mine along with my new BHLM..done it a while back.. not the best job but I was in a hurry.

That looks good man! What kind of mesh did you use and could you post some more pics? Thats what im trying to accomplish with my grille.

I used mesh from home depot or lowes. it was like 8 bucks for a i think 4 or 3x8 ft sheet. same stuff pictured in the pics before.
Its a very simple process. Just takes time, time is something I did not have the day I wanted to do it but I went ahead and done it anyways.

I only have a few other pics of it right now. Here they are:

Bangers, your satoshi mod looks fantastic! A textbook example of what the finished product should look like.

When I started my product I wanted to do exactly what youve done with yours but couldn't justify buying a new grill to cut it up. I have the sr5 03-05 horizontal bars grill, the kind that JAC just painted black.
I am out of pocket $13, the fiberglass and resin to do a classic satoshi was at least double that cost.

I didnt buy a new grill. I started early one day. Got all my materials the day before. I used aprox $70 on the grill. Its still not finished to my likings. I will fine a used one one day and redo it. Maybe fix this one up and sell it.

Your grill looks very nice.....I like it....you did a good job...

They have em' on ebay for almost $300...wayyyy too much!.

Nice work on the grill. My favorite thing about this mod is the ingenuity used by each and every one. Grills from Home Depot, rock quarries, other grills and even the mesh grill companies. Kudos to you for a nice looking grill.

Does the Toyota emblem in your grill angle slightly or is it just how the picture looks?

When I do get around to doing mine, I think I am going to use a "HILUX", "HILUX SURF" or just the "SURF" emblem in place of the stock "Toyota" center piece. It might be kinda lame but my last 4Runner ('92) had a bunch of JDM parts on it and I loved it. Any thoughts?

Hell, maybe I could go with a retro theme on the hood as well...

[QUOTE=bronchogg;456272]Nice work on the grill. My favorite thing about this mod is the ingenuity used by each and every one. Grills from Home Depot, rock quarries, other grills and even the mesh grill companies. Kudos to you for a nice looking grill.

Does the Toyota emblem in your grill angle slightly or is it just how the picture looks?

it actually angles back towards the top. its how the inside of the grill is made from the factory.

Hey all, I was hoping you could give me your opinion on the way I plan on modifying the OE grill to accept the satoshi mod. I haven't started yet, but this is how I plan on modifying the OE grill for the Satoshi mod. I would cut out the middle bar and "T" emblem, which will require some creative repairs to the bottom bar of the OE grill, but it shouldn't be too bad.

OE grill:


Proposed Satoshi:


Thoughts?

Adam