Epic Ed
New member
FINALLY got all the work done on this project that's been in the works since August. I didn't do any of this work myself. Ordered the grille from Custom Car Grills and paid to have the "TOYOTA" emblem added and painted with the salsa red outline.
I could have then used my OEM grill as the frame for mounting the Satoshi mod, but that would have been a lot of sanding and prep work to get it right, then bondo or fiberglass filler to fill in the gaps so the mesh has a solid foundation to attach to. Then painting. Most people will sand off the chrome finish and rattle can paint the frame. I wanted something more durable and that looked factory, so I bought a new aftermarket grill on eBay that was just bare black matte plastic. I sent out the frame to a body shop to have them cut out the middle, sand it smooth, and then painted to color match the body. Got that back and then attached the Satoshi mesh to the frame with JB weld. Raptor lights were added after the JB weld cured, and the whole package was mounted back into the hood.
Sound expensive? It was. I'm embarrassed to say how much I spent for a f*cking grill that most people do as a DIY project for about $100. But I hate doing that kind of work, I'm not good at it, and my first three versions would have looked like shit. As it is, I now have a Satoshi grill mod that looks like it came that way from the factory and I expect the paint to hold up for many years.
<a href="https://imgur.com/DJ9iXEO"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/DJ9iXEO.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/s2sXkMQ"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/s2sXkMQ.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/im2F8qB"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/im2F8qB.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/eJqTuB4"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/eJqTuB4.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/YGCCK6y"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/YGCCK6y.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
I could have then used my OEM grill as the frame for mounting the Satoshi mod, but that would have been a lot of sanding and prep work to get it right, then bondo or fiberglass filler to fill in the gaps so the mesh has a solid foundation to attach to. Then painting. Most people will sand off the chrome finish and rattle can paint the frame. I wanted something more durable and that looked factory, so I bought a new aftermarket grill on eBay that was just bare black matte plastic. I sent out the frame to a body shop to have them cut out the middle, sand it smooth, and then painted to color match the body. Got that back and then attached the Satoshi mesh to the frame with JB weld. Raptor lights were added after the JB weld cured, and the whole package was mounted back into the hood.
Sound expensive? It was. I'm embarrassed to say how much I spent for a f*cking grill that most people do as a DIY project for about $100. But I hate doing that kind of work, I'm not good at it, and my first three versions would have looked like shit. As it is, I now have a Satoshi grill mod that looks like it came that way from the factory and I expect the paint to hold up for many years.
<a href="https://imgur.com/DJ9iXEO"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/DJ9iXEO.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/s2sXkMQ"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/s2sXkMQ.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/im2F8qB"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/im2F8qB.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/eJqTuB4"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/eJqTuB4.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
<a href="https://imgur.com/YGCCK6y"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/YGCCK6y.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
