ohnoitsthecops
New member
Thank man I just installed my satoshi without an emblem and with the crome headlight (my black ones are spiderwebing). And it just doesn't look right just yet. Hopefully will be soon 
'03 & '06 Retrofit Satoshi Grille Writeup (Picture Heavy)
- Thread starter gaterose
- Start date
simple
Senior Member
Gater, if you mind, let me know and I'll move this to a new thread, but since yours is so comprehensive I thought I'd leave my post/thoughts here.
I've done both Satoshi grills on my 04. The one using the 03-05 Grill looked like absolute horse****. Literally it was like I made it out of paper mache (sp?). My big mistake with that one was the fiberglass shelf in the middle sagged. So I thought I could load it with bondo as well as the rest of the shelf and use an electric sander. While the electric sander was a good idea, the bondo still came out lumpy, and just looking all sorts of awful. If you're going to satoshi your 4th gen, and you have an 03-05, I highly recommend you buy an 06-09 grill on ebay or wherever and go that route. It took about 10x less time and effort.
For my 06 Grill, there was a few things I didn't understand from Gaterose's thread that only made sense to me after I had passed the line of no return, so I had to do some improvising. For instance, assembling the upper 'U' and bottom shelf bar as I understand it now, was actually done by cutting and reassembling/bolting together the black metal subframe that screws into the grill. I couldn't for the life of me figure that out. So the way I did it was to buy some small door hinges. That allowed me to mount it at an angle and bolt it to the U frame. Once it was attached I mushed a glob of bondo on the hinge to kind of 'lock it' and then I put some fiberglass strips over it when it had dried. While I think I would have liked the metal frame bolt method, this method feels solid to me.
Everything else is pretty standard. I used some metal mesh available at autozone next to the bondo to make a straight support for the fiberglass strips while they dried and then used bondo. I used my dremel to sand and since I used a lot less bondo this time it came out pretty good. It still isn't autobody perfection, but there's 2 things going for you here. 1, My satoshi mesh covers this area, and 2, all the bondo portion is just on the inside. The outside of the grill( the portion that everybody sees) is basically untouched so it looks OEM.
I bought the standard mesh from customcargrills.com, and boy are they expensive. They have some nice patterns though if you want to experiment, but be prepared to shell out cash. I didn't want gloss black so I didn't powdercoat. In hindsight, I would have. I worry about the longetivity of this paint job. I attached the mesh to the grill using small screws and bolts. Home depot had these long brackets with random holes in it so I bought 2, and cut them in half. 2 on bottom, and 2 on top. 2 Large washers on the side. This allowed a pretty nice way of securing the mesh. In the pic below, the mesh is folded back towards the front so its covering part of the metal bracket and other bolt from homedepot.
Lastly, for the emblem. I had no idea there was so many emblems. The one I got was the fj40 emblem. Theres a silver letter one thats made of metal. This one was garbage I thought, and impossible to mount. It also didn't look that good. I got a white plastic one, and this one was a lot easier to mount. I cut off the bolts on the back and glued 5 screws to it. 3 with JB weld, and 2 with epoxy. They all seem solid.
This is a nice emblem. I like A LOT. It looks smaller than gater's, also the white is not as vivid. It almost looks... glow in the dark yellowish, which may or may not be a factor for me later since my runner is white. I'll see if I can post a pic tomorrow when I actually put the grill on.
Hopefully my post is helpful as a supplement to Gaterose's thread.
I've done both Satoshi grills on my 04. The one using the 03-05 Grill looked like absolute horse****. Literally it was like I made it out of paper mache (sp?). My big mistake with that one was the fiberglass shelf in the middle sagged. So I thought I could load it with bondo as well as the rest of the shelf and use an electric sander. While the electric sander was a good idea, the bondo still came out lumpy, and just looking all sorts of awful. If you're going to satoshi your 4th gen, and you have an 03-05, I highly recommend you buy an 06-09 grill on ebay or wherever and go that route. It took about 10x less time and effort.
For my 06 Grill, there was a few things I didn't understand from Gaterose's thread that only made sense to me after I had passed the line of no return, so I had to do some improvising. For instance, assembling the upper 'U' and bottom shelf bar as I understand it now, was actually done by cutting and reassembling/bolting together the black metal subframe that screws into the grill. I couldn't for the life of me figure that out. So the way I did it was to buy some small door hinges. That allowed me to mount it at an angle and bolt it to the U frame. Once it was attached I mushed a glob of bondo on the hinge to kind of 'lock it' and then I put some fiberglass strips over it when it had dried. While I think I would have liked the metal frame bolt method, this method feels solid to me.
Everything else is pretty standard. I used some metal mesh available at autozone next to the bondo to make a straight support for the fiberglass strips while they dried and then used bondo. I used my dremel to sand and since I used a lot less bondo this time it came out pretty good. It still isn't autobody perfection, but there's 2 things going for you here. 1, My satoshi mesh covers this area, and 2, all the bondo portion is just on the inside. The outside of the grill( the portion that everybody sees) is basically untouched so it looks OEM.
I bought the standard mesh from customcargrills.com, and boy are they expensive. They have some nice patterns though if you want to experiment, but be prepared to shell out cash. I didn't want gloss black so I didn't powdercoat. In hindsight, I would have. I worry about the longetivity of this paint job. I attached the mesh to the grill using small screws and bolts. Home depot had these long brackets with random holes in it so I bought 2, and cut them in half. 2 on bottom, and 2 on top. 2 Large washers on the side. This allowed a pretty nice way of securing the mesh. In the pic below, the mesh is folded back towards the front so its covering part of the metal bracket and other bolt from homedepot.
Lastly, for the emblem. I had no idea there was so many emblems. The one I got was the fj40 emblem. Theres a silver letter one thats made of metal. This one was garbage I thought, and impossible to mount. It also didn't look that good. I got a white plastic one, and this one was a lot easier to mount. I cut off the bolts on the back and glued 5 screws to it. 3 with JB weld, and 2 with epoxy. They all seem solid.
This is a nice emblem. I like A LOT. It looks smaller than gater's, also the white is not as vivid. It almost looks... glow in the dark yellowish, which may or may not be a factor for me later since my runner is white. I'll see if I can post a pic tomorrow when I actually put the grill on.
Hopefully my post is helpful as a supplement to Gaterose's thread.
gaterose
Senior Member
Glad to see you finally got yours finished simple. Can't wait to see it mounted up.
Sorry for not being more clear on the instructions, I knew I should've taken more pics!
Yes the metal subframe was trimmed (first into 3 pieces, then trimmed in 4 places to keep the dimensions need) to fit back into the plastic grille, but that was after the entire plastic grille was reconstructed using JB weld, fiberglass, & bondo.
In other words the metal subframe can still be removed from the grille and the grille won't fall apart (most likely). Attaching the subframe to the grille was the last thing I did other than bolting it to the hood and connecting the release.
I need to do some touch ups soon hopefully I can post better pics to explain myself.
Sorry for not being more clear on the instructions, I knew I should've taken more pics!
Yes the metal subframe was trimmed (first into 3 pieces, then trimmed in 4 places to keep the dimensions need) to fit back into the plastic grille, but that was after the entire plastic grille was reconstructed using JB weld, fiberglass, & bondo.
In other words the metal subframe can still be removed from the grille and the grille won't fall apart (most likely). Attaching the subframe to the grille was the last thing I did other than bolting it to the hood and connecting the release.
I need to do some touch ups soon hopefully I can post better pics to explain myself.
futbolking
New member
You can see I preferred the formed grille piece that was "3D" and protrudes from the grille. It can also be done with the mesh flat and recessed behind the grille.
Good choice. Love the way this looks.
Whitebeauty
New member
Hey bud can you get a grill and do one for me?
did my eyelids today. Now its time for that grill. thanks man,
http://www.xr-underground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49124&page=8
did my eyelids today. Now its time for that grill. thanks man,
http://www.xr-underground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49124&page=8
Last edited:
RICE POLICE
New member
are you still doing these grills? I've got an 03 with factory lights but will be doing the 06 conversion.
emelianenkov
New member
Bump for my upcoming 08 satoshi for my 05! I got the 08 grille for free, so I don't mind going to extremes lol
gaterose
Senior Member
No sure how I missed this one, I'm working on one right now but I'm not sure I'm going to keep it up. I just don't have as much time and the lead time is uncomfortable for me. I'm behind on the one now and always feel like I'm behind on the current one.
As I said in the text, the '06 grille could be modified to fit with '03 head lights it would just require more work and test fitting. Either way the width and height of the grille have to be shortened for it to fit with the stock bumper.
emelianenkov
New member
Doesn't even interfere with the inside lip! (Drew on the left headlight) I like this!
Can't wait to get started!
Can't wait to get started!
NJshadow93
New member
Doesn't even interfere with the inside lip! (Drew on the left headlight) I like this!
Can't wait to get started!
I've been working on mine too! Got a free grille also. Cut it yesterday, sanding it today and putting the mesh on. Don't know if this weather will allow me to paint it though :rain:
emelianenkov
New member
That's awesome!
scooter2374
New member
Very nicely done. I wanna put this on my to do list
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