TiN's '03-'05 Mesh Grille Build

[TiN]

I've been wanting to make a mesh grille for a couple of years now, however, the difficulty of fabbing one for the '03-'05 body style has kept me at bay. I finally secured a special Hilux grille off of another member that makes it much easier to build a mesh grille. Using that as my backbone, I began to put something together...

The Hilux Grille right after I picked it up

I went ahead and shot it with some satin black fusion paint to cover up some of the wear. I'll be having the lower cross bar either wrapped or painted to match my natural white paint, so I wasn't concerned with making that part look perfect.

 

[LOSTR4]

^^ Do you have it installed yet?!

 

[TiN]

^^ Do you have it installed yet?!

Nope, still have to get the bottom part color matched and cut the mesh. Should be done by Christmas hopefully.

 

[TiN]

Just finished cutting out the mesh. Did most of it with a dremel w/ cutoff wheel and a bench grinder. Brushed some Plasti-dip on the exposed metal to protect it and help it blend in.

 

[SSt4r]

What year is the grille from & does it fit with no modifications?
Looks good so far, anxious to see it installed!

 

[Inv4drZm]

So when are you going to 3D print us one? JK, but they seem to be hard to find unfortunately. From the website japanparts.com two grilles seem to come close:

Ptr#118-002-004
Ptr#118-005-036

But they are expensive.
Group buy anyone?

 

[TiN]

What year is the grille from & does it fit with no modifications?
Looks good so far, anxious to see it installed!

From what I can tell, the part listed in the above post is the correct part.

It fits without modification. Just unbolt the center portion, cut/mount your mesh and you're ready to go.

 

[S p a r k y]

What jacka$$ did you get that from?

 

[SSt4r]

So when are you going to 3D print us one? JK, but they seem to be hard to find unfortunately. From the website japanparts.com two grilles seem to come close:

Ptr#118-002-004
Ptr#118-005-036

But they are expensive.
Group buy anyone?

So from the japanparts site it looks like $318 + shipping. If someone can put together a group buy for a reasonable price, I'm in.

 

[doubleduece]

Tin,,,

Your like a lyrical genuis, but diffrent.......

Since installing my backup light cube mod(aka "TIN" mod), I smile everytime I back up at night!!!!!!


Keep the mods coming!!!!!!

 

[TiN]

Got the grille mesh mounting all sorted out, so I decided to mock everything up and throw it on the truck. I'm really liking the look. Now it's off to get painted.

 

[TiN]

Quick Photoshop to show how it's going to look after being painted.

 

[S p a r k y]

Ha! It was "mocked up" on mine for two years! Looks good!

 

[Frostythe4Runner]

I was giving up hope for one to look that good but it has been done. Now I want one like that! Great work!

Any issues so far with the hood latch?

 

[S p a r k y]

I was giving up hope for one to look that good but it has been done. Now I want one like that! Great work!

Any issues so far with the hood latch?

That grill has holes and all for the hood latch already, since it is a Hilux grill. No issues at all with me for the length I had it.

 

[TiN]

I was giving up hope for one to look that good but it has been done. Now I want one like that! Great work!

Any issues so far with the hood latch?

Thanks! As Sparky said, the grille is a direct bolt-on: no modification required to get the grille itself fit/function correctly.

 

[TiN]

Ha! It was "mocked up" on mine for two years! Looks good!

Haha thanks man. I was able to 3D print some mounts so now the mesh is all bolted up with M3 socket cap screws. Zip-ties no more :lmao:

 

[kevinpt]

looks good. i need to take the time to do my satoshi grill. its been sitting in my room for over a month


any plans to put lights behind it?

 

[TiN]

looks good. i need to take the time to do my satoshi grill. its been sitting in my room for over a month


any plans to put lights behind it?

I don't think I'll end up mounting any serious lights behind it, but I may end up doing the triple amber marker lights (Ford Raptor-esque) depending on how it looks.

 

[TiN]

Mounted some amber LED marker lights today; now they're ready to get wired up. I still need to get the thing painted though; waiting on my paint guy to contact me back. layball: