Satoshi GrillCraft *How To* w/ pics

Such a rad idea. I will be doing this soon. I already have a front emblem milled out for the grill.

 

How did I miss this thread?

Great way to do this Kevin. I have done lots of fiberglass before, but was NOT looking forward to doing more. Thanks for sparing me

As soon as I get some mesh, i will be doing this....

 

Ended up clamping the inserts in a large vise with just what I wanted to heat and bend exposed, about 5/8" maybe. Just enough heat to make them pliable but not soft. Had to bend them a couple times to get 'em right. When inserted into the grill, I could epoxy all the way around the insert, and less sanding of the plastic. The epoxy and putty is hands down a better method than the fiberglass and bondo. You get a gold star. Thank You for your write up

Should be able to see the heated bends


Added some pieces of the cut up grill center for reinforcement


1st coat of putty (many thin coats works best)


Not far to go

 

wow!

great job jack. looks like you got it pretty flush right from the start. good idea using the clamps and heat to get it just right. i bet you didn't have to sand nearly as much as i did!

you're a pro

 

Wow! great thread...I've been hesitant to even think about trying the satoshi as I have never tried anything like this. Now that it makes much more sense and seems a lot easier than the other method...looks like ill be looking for a used grille so that i dont have to damage my original (Just in case). BTW. i might have missed it as there are already 9 pages on this thread but how long did the whole process take?

 

^give yourself the weekend and you should be fine. the time it takes depends on how good you want the finished product to look.

 

Looks great, and great idea.

I'd really like to see some more pics of lights mounted behind the satoshi grill. My lights and grillcraft just came in, and my new grille will be here on Wednesday. I'm just trying to lay everything out right now, and pics of the "lights behind grille" would really help me along with the process.

Thanks, and great work!

 

thanks!

don't know if you caught this other thread i made; if not, read through it and let me know if you still need more pics.

kevin

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/li...nversion-mount-behind-satoshi-how-w-pics.html

 

I did find your thread, just after writing my last post (sorry!)

However, I am going to need to modify it slightly, as I have a set of IPF 968s. These lights are 7" from mounting base to top of light, so I think they're a bit bigger than the Hellas. (Edit: Scratch that, the IPFs are only 2mm larger, mounting bracket to top!)

Unfortunately, I don't have many tools at my disposal right now. That being said, I have a feeling this might take me a couple of tries to get it right.

One question that I did have is what you did with the metal shell below the hood latch assembly... just ditch it?

Also, are you able to space the lights appart further, or does the tranny cooler get in the way?

 

^yeah, i just removed that little metal guard in front of the hood latch.

i'll check the spacing as far as the lights clearing the tranny cooler and let you know

 

Im subscribing for future reference. Great job guys.

 

nice write up; I will do my grill this way instead of the fiberglass method...thanks for sharing.

 

Does anyone know where to find color match paint for tacomas? I want to paint the inside White instead of black

 

I'm about half way through this... although it's been a bit of a PITA since my grille had the gunmetal paint on the insert. Quite a bit more sanding than what you had to do on the black plastic insert.

Hopefully it turns out good. I'm far from a professional autobody man, but so far so good. It always looks good until paint is applied, so I'll be puckered up a bit until I'm finished.

 

so i checked and you could space them a little farther apart than mine are set, but not much. the driver side is limited by the tranny cooler hose coming out the top. i'm sure you could adjust the light bracket / tranny cooler mount and position them wherever you want, but i haven't tried

 

Ok, you guys who have used this method - what brand of adhesive have you used to do your grill. I cannot find Klipp's brand of adhesive ANYWHERE - so what have you used?

Thanks.

 

I wouldn't get too hung up on which brand... I've found that a lot of plastic epoxys work just fine. I am currently using Loctite Plastic Bonder which is a 20min epoxy. After an hour, it felt just as strong as the plastic itself. It's now been set for about 3hrs and it feels very strong.

Just make sure that whatever you pick up will do ABS plastic, and you're good to go!

 

x2

 

Thanks guys...

 

swwwwwweeet this worked perfectly!