Front Plate Mod

Good morning,

What were they thinking? They design a good looking truckand then realize that some states require a front plate. So just put some dimples in the front bumperand let the good old boys slap on the plate. Maybe they can get it right on the next update. In the meantime here is a mod for a Tacoma. Use it if you like. When I finish I will explain what I would do different.



I elected to use a crayon type marker. It is easy to remove if I chicken out at thispoint. Next I measured the lines and checked if it was centered. It was not and I corrected the location and rubbed off the incorrect line.



After making and marking the correction I used the plate to draw the final lines. I also marked the grill above the lower bar.



I decided to use a medium cut blade on a multi tool. I wanted to avoid cutting into the aluminumbar behind the cover.



Notice that the corners are round to match the plate. And I missed taking the photo of the exposed aluminum bar. I cut a piece of .25 inch black delrin to the ½ inch greater than the width of the plate and about oneinch more than the height. The materialis very ridged and machines with woodworking equipment. I had used it for several other projects and my only reservation was if I could find an adhesive to attach it to the bumper material. Cut a notch in the back plateto fit ¼ inch for the sides to fit intothe bumper. (I cut the notch way to big,but it is covered by the license plate.) Next was to place the back on the bumper bar and attach with three rivets. I hope that three is enough as I did not want to weaken the bar by drilling lots of holes. Pushing the plate up against the bottom of the bar that frames the radiator opening I checked it for straight. I used three 1/8 by ½ inch pop rivets to secure it in place. The back plate was solid and in place.




Next came the bottom of the frame. Placing the license plate on the back plate I marked the location of the pilot holes for the screws. Pilot holes were drilled and the plate was put in place. Now I had a guide for the bottom piece. Measure very carefully from the back plate to the inside of the cut bumper on both sides to determinethe width of the bottom piece. Check on how the bumper is sagging from the loss of support of the part that was cut out as the bumper will sag out and give an incorrect width in the center. Cut the bottom part about two inches longerthan the opening. The sides will need to set on the bottom piece. To hold the center of the bumper cover against the bottom piece I used a three foot stick with a spacer against the cover in the center of the opening. The ends of the stick were secured with zip ties to provide pressure on the cover as the black silicone set up. I knew the silicone would hold the delrin together, but I was just a little apprehensive about the bumper shell. After seven thousand miles of highway and dirt roads the bond has not cracked or shownother signs of failure.
Next came the side pieces. Each side was custom trimmed to fit between the back and bottom piece. I placed a screw in each piece to provide a handle during fitting. When both ends fit I applied black silicone to the parts. I used a pair of zip ties to clamp the pieces into place. A small square was used to insure the angles were right. When the silicon was set, I used a razor blade scraper to remove the excess.



With the silicone cured, the excess bumper cover was trimmed to the delrin parts. I started using a file, but the texture was rough and sanding with 200 grit wet dry paper did not smooth it to the finish I desired. NextI tried a utility knife with a fresh blade. The cut was smooth and the delrin parts severed as guides. Therefore the round corners became square.

Next time I would not cut the grill portion out. The back plate when attached to the aluminum bar did not touch the grill. I could have left the grill and improved the support of the cover. I did consider fabricating the plate box and cutting the cover to fit the box then trimming the excess box to match the bumper. That may be a better way, but I tried the Johnny Cash method, one piece at time.



I could have quit with the recessed or Frenched plate, but I had seen a mod done on someone’s truck on this forum and wanted to use it. So with the zip ties removed I sanded the lower bar with a 200 grit sanding sponge, taped of the area I wanted to remain white and used Duplicoat bumper flat black paint on the lower bumper shell and Frenched plate.

The entire process took a long afternoon. I recommend a stool to relive you back. Total expense is estimated at less than 50$, but I do not know as I already had everything on hand. The Delrin was left over from another project as I paid 65$ for a 2 foot by 3 foot piece of the material. As for a tools and technique list, I worked with the tools and material that I understand best. Bondo and fiberglass could be used if they are the materials you are most competent with. As for the good old boys just slapping a plate on the bumper, I consider it just as disrespectful as slapping their girlfriend on the behind in front of his mother or her mother or anybody.



To this date only one person has noticed it and made mention. So it may not be one of the mods that just rolls people over. But he did take photos on his phone.

 

Props for hacking your front end. But I could never do that much damage for a license plate mount.

 

Finished product doesn't look too bad, good job.

 

You have a close up pic of the finished product?

 

This also. It is a clean looking install!

 

That looks great , but I could never chop up my front bumper

 

So you did this because the license plate bolts were drilled off center from factory?

I probably would have epoxied some plastic piece behind the holes and bondoed over it and painted it to match then redrilled the holes.

A+ for ingenuity though

 

I had asked the dealer not to install the front plate. I had planed to inset the plate before I bought the Tacoma. It was from out of state and did not have the front plate installed so there were no holes in the bumper. "It is required by the state to display a plate." were his words, so his minion installed the plate. Your suggestion to bondo and paint may be the next afternoon project. Thanks for the reply.

 

You could have covered the holes on the bumper with bumper plugs and they make them colored matched. Why hack the front bumper for a license plate? Damn that was harsh on your part. With all the effort you spent on cutting I'm sure you could have come up with some sort of bracket. Overkill way overkill IMO.

 

^I've seen brackets sold that I believe mount to the crash bar.

 

Ignore the haters, i think it looks good.

 

Or the 06 dodge bracket mod, which i want to get around to doing someday

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/6...dge-ram-1500-front-license-plate-bracket.html

 

If OP doesn't opinions on his hack job well don't even start a thread. Watching the pics was like watching those Iraqi videos of people getting their heads chopped off. This hack job was brutal. I would just get an off road type bumper and zip tie then plate to it.

 

Maybe someone will find his posts useful, unlike yours.

 

That hack job is not useful

 

Not liking it for my taste but thats just me.

Your truck your style if you like it , thats all that matters.
Any close up pics of finished product

 

Thanks for the Positive comments about the front plate mod. In states that do not require the front plate, this is a no brainer not to do. As for the value of the mod, I have been out of state for over 5,000 miles since I last sat at this computer and no one removed my plate. The screws were so conveniently placed on the bumper that the plate was removed not once, but twice when I was out of state. I even used a fancy not to be removed screw that looked bad before I installed it. Did not like the colorful plates anyway.

As I said in the original post, if you like, feel free to use it. If you don't like it, turn your head away and don't look. Maybe I can prevent someone else from doing a "hack job" or help someone create a cool mod by sharing. If I had known the foul comments that were to come with sharing, I might have not bothered with the mod write up. But I am old enough to weather the fog of negative for the shower of good messages that have come. I selected the TW site because the membership was providing good information for the Tacoma enthusiast. So it was my first post. And I am still learning the rules of the forum. So thanks to all who like it, respect it, or are just glad someone tried it before they did it and found they did not like it.

Family Mission Trip - Driving 667 miles one way to replace a water heater that got struck by lighting for a family member who can not afford a plumber.

 

You da man..!!

keep doing good and helping your neighbour my man....!

Have a safe trip....

 

Good on ya' for trying something different. It may not be the best way for everyone to mount a front plate, but if it works for you then eff the DB's that give you hell for it.

 

I had a Honda dealership try this on my 09' Civic Si. It came from a non front plate state and I noticed there were no holes in the bumper cover while looking at the car. I told them to mount the plate to a new plate mount ( because the care didn't have one ) and put it in the trunk. The salesman said
" it is the law " I told him I wouldn't buy the car if they drilled holes into my perfect bumper cover. They mounted the plate on the bracket and put it in the trunk where it rode until I traded it in for the Tacoma.