SATOSHI MOD --- 1st gen. write-up (lots of pics)

Damn you went overkill on zipties??
I got about 16 all around and in most spots have more than 1
Also to open the hood instead of reaching down to pull up on that piece you bent you can just push the "hook" part of the latch over, thats how ive been doing it, seems a bit easier. Now hurry up and get those lights behind there!

Tackleberry: Ive done 2 and the first one took me a weekend (sat-sun) but i was real anal about it, the next one i did it took me about a day but i ran the fiberglass resin and bono hot so it would dry faster, you just have to work faster with it...If its your first time messing with the stuff then i would give yourself at least a whole weekend (fri-sun)...but its a pretty easy-intermediate project id say on a scale of 1-10 its a 5. Its more time consuming than anything

 

it took me about 3 days total. most of the time you are waiting for things to dry.

im not sure what you are talking about with the latch but with the zipties i have 12 and 3 screws along the bottom

i believe i went above and beyond with the install on the mounting of it because iv seen come that wiggle around are not snug as they should

 

hmmmmmmmm, should i do this or should i pay you to do it.... hmmmm

 

I can't tell for certain from your pics, but did you eliminate the top two center thingies that extend back from the grill & clip into the truck?

(see red areas in this image)



I started my own project yesterday & I'm trying to retain these for stability, just wondering what you did.

 

Not sure what he did, but most grille installs you kinda cut around them. On mine I cut the vertical bar out while leaving both of those supports in it. I then trimmed the support way down so it wouldn't be visible. It'll make sense once you're actually cutting it but I'd say definitely DO NOT remove those supports all together.

 

the picture shown above is strictly there to show you how to remove the whole grill off the truck. the squares show where the grill connects to the truck

in now way are you suppose to CUT in those areas shown.

Although. during the process of cutting out the middle section, for this mod, you will sacrifice the two RED square areas because they are directly connected to the middle section

 

Oh so you don't have those 2 clips holding the grille in anymore? I left mine cause I figured two less anchors would severely compromise how stable the grille is. I suppose with the recessed nature of a satoshi you'd need the space those take up to put it in as opposed to the billet grille I put in.

 

it is still very sturdy when the two red anchor points are lost.

it doesn't effect the stability at all.

 

yes you can,

the only reason why i removed the triangles was because i originally wanted to put the mesh where it would cover the area without the plastic inserts so i cut out that area.

i ran into a problem and i didnt have enough mesh to cover the entire area without the plastic inserts SO i had to put them back in so it would be a smaller area to cover. and i luckily had just enough mesh to make it work

does that make sense?

 

haha alright awesome!

post pictures when your done!

 

.

 

I was able to leave those two anchor points in tact when I cut out the center portion of my grill, and I'm racking my brain trying to come up with a way to KEEP them. I have 1/2 an idea, just need to think it through.

I'll post pics if I come up with something decent.

 

what you ment to say there was you are trying to come up with an idea? right? or you already were able to?

 

^ yes

Here are some pics:




I used an oscillating multifunction tool to do my rough cutting,
and a small cutting bit on my rotary tool to get in close.





I was able to save the two upper middle pieces but they're only hanging on by the corners (as you can see in this pic ^).
I hope to be able to re-inforce them with fiberglass eventually.

 

Good start man, it's getting there

 

Just a tip for anyone else looking to make their own, a very easy and clean way to get close cuts of the bars on the grille is to heat a putty knife and just cut them with the putty knife.

 

Yea screw trying to keep those 2 towers, ita plenty sturdy enough without them plus half my little clips either broke or got lost and actualy i think i only have 2 clipped on now as it is haha. But goodluck and you should have nobproblem being able to reinforce them with fiberglass

 

HAHAAAAAAAAA nope, fuck that shit. Way too much work. Can I have your bumper btw

 

dood its easy