Front grille alterations.

[RalphBlair]

The 1992 grille with the Toyota T emblem rather than the letters has always annoyed me, no idea why, I just prefer the look of the older Toyota badged cars. So I wanted to change it. Ordered a new chrome grille from RoughTrax and used the fins from the old grille to debadge the new grille. Went fairly smoothly, I’ll include some photos.

Step 1.
Cut out fins from old grille. I used a Bahco hacksaw for this and a metal cutting blade on the jigsaw.

[RalphBlair]

Posted too early.

The 1992 grille with the Toyota T emblem rather than the letters has always annoyed me, no idea why, I just prefer the look of the older Toyota badged cars. So I wanted to change it. Ordered a new chrome grille from RoughTrax and used the fins from the old grille to debadge the new grille. Went fairly smoothly, I’ll include some photos.

Step 1.
Cut out fins from old grille. I used a Bahco hacksaw for this and a metal cutting blade on the jigsaw.

Step 2.
Cut out centre of new grille where the emblem is, using the donor pieces as a template. I sat the new Toyota badge on the grille to make sure that my joints would be covered by a letter in the badge, just in case I made a bad job of it.

Step 3.
Glue in donor pieces using Mitre Fast or similar instant super glue.

Step 4.
Fill gaps with a 2 part plastic filler or body filler.

Step 5.
Reinforce the joint from behind using dowel or rod. I used some chopsticks from the sushi takeaway, it seemed apt. Again Mitre Fast glue to fix. This should give some strength to the butt joint.

Step 6.
Sand filler.

Step 7.
Mask off and spray paint the flattened filler. I did the whole grille just so it all matched. If I was doing this job again I would mask off the chrome from the start as I made a couple of little micro scratches during the work. Very annoying.

Step 8.
Fit back on car.

[RalphBlair]

[RalphBlair]

[RalphBlair]

[RalphBlair]

If anyone has any recommendations for where to find the stickers for the lettering in the bull bar I’d be very grateful.