Raptor Satoshi Grill Write-Up w/ pics

First, a huge thanks to Craig (homertaco) for the mesh and for shipping it out fast! Great guy to work with!! Also have to thank Jerry from B.A.M.F. for the letters!!

I did my grill a little differently and thought I would share. I took pictures of most of the steps along the way.

Step 1: Cut the center out of the grill and smooth out the edges of the lip. I used a both a dremel too and reciprocating saw to cut out the center section and then an air powered orbital sander to smooth the edges of the lip.




Step 2: Fill in the gaps on the lip. I know many people use fiberglass and bondo for this step, but I decided to use plastic instead. I cut plastic out of the center section to fit in the gaps of the lip. I used a bench grinder to get them to perfectly match up. (before I trimmed the top of them)



To help secure these plastic cutouts in place, I used a section of a rubber bumper cover as a backing for extra support. I got everything in place and clamped it down using 3M Panel Bonding Adhesive. I roughed up both the rubber bumper cover and the back of the lip on the grill to make sure the glue would stick. The 3M glue is strong stuff!



I then used the plastic cutouts to fit into the gaps and match up with the plastic lip. I again used the 3M glue to attach and clamped it in place. I let this dry for half of the day (I believe instructions say 4-5 hours).





Step 3: Sand, paint, and trim the lip of the grill. Once the glue dried and the plastic pieces were in place, I sanded them down and smoothed out the edges. The glue filled in some of the gaps but I still chose to use some bondo to make sure it was smooth.

Here is the lip after the plastic cut outs were in place and sanded down. As you can see from the picture, I left plastic notches to fill in the gaps in the mesh. The raptor mesh is bent and has about a 1 inch indentation. The mesh sits flush with the lip of the grill with these notches. After it is painted, the hard parts are over with.






Step 4: Attach the mesh to the grill. For this I used the same method a lot of users on TW have done by using zip ties and the 3M mounting brackets. I used as many as I could to attach the grill and also drilled two screws into the mesh and grill.




Step 5: Attach the letters to the mesh. Like I mentioned earlier I got these from Jerry at B.A.M.F. They look great! I had them coated with a bedliner to give them a different texture to set them apart from the powder coated mesh grill.



I used 3M automotive attachment tape for emblems and so far it seems to be very sturdy!

It wasn't hard to line up the letters and here is the finished product.




These pictures are from Speedaddiktion. He did a think lip on his homer mesh.

Here is a shot of the the screw he put in to secure the mesh on top of the zip ties.



Here is the tool he used used to trim parts of the mesh to help it fit flush with the grill.





The finished product

 

Looks great, that is a professional job right there.

 

Good job. It turned out great.

 

Thanks! Pretty happy with how it turned out. I might trim the lip a tiny bit. It sits back a little too far I think.

 

Look real nice!

My only question is about those stick zip tie pads. How do you think those will hold up over time?

 

I was a little hesitant about the ties, but have seen a lot of others who use them and have had no problems so far. I was surprised at how strong the 3M brackets were. I looked for metal zip ties but am pretty confident the mesh isn't going anywhere. I also put a few screws through the mesh into the grill to secure it.

 

Instead of making it more flush, I wonder how it would look with some led lighting using small holes through the lip... Would really accentuate the deferred Toyota emblem. Your project though, and it looks fantastic, even if you did nothing else to it.

 

Looks Great!

 

nice work!

 

Excellent work sir

 

Very nice i just did mine with the same mesh from homertaco, and letters from jlee.

I used the same 3m brackets and zip ties, and it ain't going nowhere. Seems really strong

 

Bad azz - nice work! This should be a sticky.

 

That's a great idea!! I didn't think about the raptor style lighting under there. It really would bring out the grill. I will either look into that or making the lip smaller so it sets forward a little bit more. Thanks for the input.

 

Glad to hear! Post pics when you get it done!!

 

Looking good. Nice work man. is that a dart swinger you got there . Had one years ago .

 

Hell yea, I've been waiting for more Raptor pictures. I'm number 20 on the list for Craig, and can't wait to get it. My grill plastic melted due to some weird sun reflections off a window here in Vegas, so super excited to get it replaced finally.

Is this the same process Craig does for attaching the mesh, and the letters? If so, how do you think it will hold up over time, in car washes, etc?

Thanks for the awesome pictures.

 

Thanks! And yes it is my dads dart swinger. I know this isn't the spot for it but I am going to share anyways. 1970 he put in a 440-6 with a 4 speed.

 

that's dope!

 

I think it is very similar to how Craig attaches the mesh. I don't think he puts screws in it like I did. And yes I read they use the 3M mounting tape too. I think it should hold up great. So far it is not going anywhere. I put the power washer up to it to get bugs off the grill and it looks very sturdy.

 

I was going to ask if that was an A-body in the background. I sold off my 1968 Dodge Coronet to generate most of the down payment for my Taco. I was over it, as I don't have time for it any more. With a good tune on the stock-ish 383, I was running mid 14s at Bandimere... not too shabby.

The grill looks great. Nice job!