3rd Gen 4Runner Raptor Grille Complete!
- Thread starter Unner
- Start date
kishanSR5
New member
Hey everyone, I've been waiting to post this thread since back in November of last year when I started doing my custom grille, but parts were on back-order so I had to wait. Anyway, here is my 3rd Gen Raptor grille finally finished. This is similar to the Raptor grille that the 2nd Gen Tacoma guys do on their trucks. It's basically a Satoshi grille, but instead of the old FJ emblem, I used the letters cut by Jerry at BAMF and a kinda square mesh for the grille. They were on backorder for a while, but were well worth the wait.
Anyway here's a few pictures of the finished grille, and a few of it on the truck, but it's wet and dark out right now so they aren't very good. I'll get some better ones tomorrow and post them up as well. I've never seen this type of grille done on a 3rd Gen 4Runner so I thought I would start a thread and show mine off! I've seen a lot of Tacomas like this and a few 5th Gen 4Runners with a similar grille, so I used them for inspiration on mine. I'm super happy with how it came out and think I've got one of the cleanest looking grilles on a 3rd Gen now. I've seen some of the Tacoma guys at 3 orange LEDS to the top of the grille, and I'm thinking about doing the same possibly. Other than that it's all finished finally. Any comments or questions are welcome.
Letters in their bare state as soon as I got them.
Please excuse the awful pictures of it installed on the truck. I'll get some better ones tomorrow. I was just too excited to wait haha!
Haha ah man you beat me to it! It looks freaking great though! You should definitely add the 3 amber leds in the center to make the whole package complete!
MillerPKA
New member
Is there a way you guys can disable the img tags when quoting? This is a prime example of why
Unner
New member
I asked when I ordered and he said they are 22" by 3". I didn't measure mine to confirm, but this seems about right considering how much of the grille they take up.
Thanks! I'm definitely considering adding the lights, I just don't want to drill in my freshly painted grille... If I had seen the light mod before I painted it I would have done it then...
I believe if you upload the pictures through the forum it automatically doesn't quote them. I uploaded mine through photobucket though, so for them to not be quoted you need to delete the links to the pictures when quoting.
Android_02
New member
Hey Unner your grill looks slick. Here's one I saw in another thread that looks good as well<a href="http://s33.photobucket.com/user/Sacpballer06/media/A7A1FB94-041C-468D-B821-FE408A2F2D80_zpsnz9prdhb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d68/Sacpballer06/A7A1FB94-041C-468D-B821-FE408A2F2D80_zpsnz9prdhb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo A7A1FB94-041C-468D-B821-FE408A2F2D80_zpsnz9prdhb.jpg"/></a>
That's actually my grill now which I am making some changes to. I picked it up from another forum member.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves when people quote 2342 pictures then comment, "sick" and that's it.
Do-boy
New member
Yea, this forum is pretty terrible on quotation responsibility hahaha
macshemi57
New member
This looks awesome! Great job, is there a 3rd gen grill master thread?
MillerPKA
New member
Holy guacamole haven't seen you in ages
Unner
New member
Your grille looks good too! I like the mesh, looks familiar haha
Thanks!
I think there is a thread here titled "Satoshi Mod pics" or something along those lines for 3rd gens.
Almost done with converting my stock '97 limited grill!!
I got my letters in the 4runner size from Jerry at BAMF the other day and they were a little rough so I took the dremel to them and cleaned them up a bit. Hit them with a coupe coats of self etching primer front and back, and then sprayed satin black to finish them off.
I got my mesh from the same place as Unner, customcargrills.com and was happy to find a 6" x 48" flat black powder coated in the scrap bin. 6" fit perfect with just a few tab cut outs so it would lay flat. Very pleased with the quality and their shipping was awesome, packaged extremely well.
I'm using the same mounting technique as well. Tried a test fit today and worked perfect! Great idea guys!
I still have to fill in the sides with bondo, which I haven't ever used, so doing some YouTube research today so i don't screw it up.
My only issue now is that I have to peal all my original chrome off the grill in prep for some gloss black paint to match my truck color. I've tried researching and nothing else seems to work but peeling. I could sand it off, but then it will mess up the perfectly smooth plastic. You can see in the pics that I started and the plastic underneath is perfect.
Any one have any tips for getting the chrome off easily?
I got my letters in the 4runner size from Jerry at BAMF the other day and they were a little rough so I took the dremel to them and cleaned them up a bit. Hit them with a coupe coats of self etching primer front and back, and then sprayed satin black to finish them off.
I got my mesh from the same place as Unner, customcargrills.com and was happy to find a 6" x 48" flat black powder coated in the scrap bin. 6" fit perfect with just a few tab cut outs so it would lay flat. Very pleased with the quality and their shipping was awesome, packaged extremely well.
I'm using the same mounting technique as well. Tried a test fit today and worked perfect! Great idea guys!
I still have to fill in the sides with bondo, which I haven't ever used, so doing some YouTube research today so i don't screw it up.
My only issue now is that I have to peal all my original chrome off the grill in prep for some gloss black paint to match my truck color. I've tried researching and nothing else seems to work but peeling. I could sand it off, but then it will mess up the perfectly smooth plastic. You can see in the pics that I started and the plastic underneath is perfect.
Any one have any tips for getting the chrome off easily?
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kammando808
New member
Looking good bro, I've actually started mines a while back sadly Im kinda holding off getting the toyota letters done, I couldnt see myself paying that much for those so I made my own stencil, mean while I'm rocking the grill with just the mesh, hopefully soon I can get my letters done
Unner
New member
Thanks! Your's is looking good too. I thought about making my own, but I didn't have a way to so I figured the $45 for the BAMF ones wasn't too bad. I ran mine without the letters for months while they were on backorder. It looked good, but I'm even happier now that I have the letters on there.
Yeah I saw that on google searching, but most of the people had very mixed success.
I ended up peeling mine off to reveal the plastic underneath. A MAJOR pain, but it does leave a nice smooth plastic underneath.
I tried to leave the small bar of chrome at the bottom alone and just scratched it up with some course sand paper.
I used self etching primer (about 3 light coats) and then sprayed the gloss black.
After i was all done I was trying to hang it up to dry and i dropped it!! And of course it fell face down and slid across the floor.
I touched it up, but am very unhappy with the final paint. I was frustrated so i just put it back on for now and will deal with it later.
I'll probably just remove the mesh, and sand the whole thing a bit more, then respray the gloss black on the frame.
I love the look though!
