[1st gen] Darrell Waltrip / FMS grille info dump

Throwing this out there as a small info dump with some retainers, now I've dug through and restored one of these things. Info is scattered all over, so I'm making this thread to basically catalog the info I've been able to dig up about these grilles.

I'm dropping a few placeholders in here to help with that, so I can fill in details later, and I'll update this with info I've got as I get time to work on it.

 

First off, what the hell is a "Waltrip grille"?

A misnomer. The correct name would probably be "Sports Grille" or "FMS Sports Grille", which was an add-on you could get from your dealer as parts & accessories catalog item, similar to how Toyota partnered with OBS to make stainless pedal covers and shift knobs for sale in the accessory catalogs, they partnered with FMS, aka Foam Molders & Specialties (link), to make this custom grille that's essentially a standard double-bar grille, with one bar missing, and a stainless mesh across. I believe I've seen it in one of the accessory catalogs, if/when I can dig it up, I'll post pics. I did find this over on the TS forums which was essentially what it looked like, though I have no clue where this was posted, I think the original parts number was something like 00012-T0400-XX for DC and 00012-T0300-XX for AC/RC where XX is a two-digit number, maybe to designate color?:

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I personally believe the grille came to people's attention when it was featured on the "Waltrip" branded 1st Gen Tundras, which were one of a few special edition 1st gens Toyota released. They did a few similar one-offs with the Terminator/T3 trucks, and the Ivan Stewart trucks, or if you're in The Great North, one Canadian variant was the Yamaha Edition. The Waltrip looked like this, either in blue or in silver, with a custom grille, no fender flares, custom graphics, special 18" BBS alloy wheels, and a few other customizations. I've only seen the Waltrip in DC body type, here's an example of each color.

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For fun, thanks to @bfunke for pointing this out, here's the Yamaha Edition 1st Gen from the Canada market. It had a red "YAMAHA" decal on the rear of the bed where TRD Offroad stickers were installed, roughly the same location as the Waltrip graphics, between tail light and rear fender well, and the grille had a TRD emblem on it.

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Maybe they just created this special edition truck because the grilles weren't selling, and they needed to eat through inventory? Who the hell knows... but they did advertise it in magazines, here's one advert that shows the truck in action, with a pic of Waltrip, and the custom graphic that's at the end of the tailgate.

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Anyway, as you can see in the first picture above, they sold the grille for all trucks with the newer plastic bumper style, 2003+. There was one version for access and regular cab trucks, another version for double cabs. What's the difference? Notice the legs on the grille. DC have a longer leg to it than the AC. See the circled part, carefully.

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When buying, you need to be careful to order the correct type for your cab. Like, if you have a DC truck and you buy the AC/RC version of this FMS grille, you'll have a gap at the bottom, like this, note the gap you can't un-see at the bottom of the leg

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Installation of the grille is pretty straightforward. It's a bolt-in affair, pop your opening hardware off the OEM grille, mount it onto the sports grille, and bolt the sports grille in.

 

Anatomy and teardown of a Waltrip/FMS sports grille.

I had a wild experience picking mine up. It started when I saw this on FB Marketplace while trolling one night, and it was in Access Cab format, so I figured, "Ah, what the hell, never see these in AC format, I'll give it a go" and I shot the seller a message within minutes of it going up.

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Then I heard nothing. For days. I just assumed dude got rid of it, but he reached a week later saying, "There are many people who are messaging offering a hundred for it, but I haven't had the time to deal with it, since you were the first one to ask for it, I want to let you know if you can pay 100, let me know." Wasn't sure if dude was being honest about the claim or not, but I usually see them going for anywhere from $150-400 so I was down with $100.

Then I got it in my hands and ... what the hell?! I suddenly understood the weird angles in the sale pics. Someone basically drilled into and all the way through the top bar, then used some kind of extremely rigid cement or epoxy to affix a light bar onto the damn thing. Or at least, that's what the seller told me "his buddy" did. Alright, bud. The dude was super nice though, was glad I speak Spanish, gave him the cash and rolled off into the sunset (literally).

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Other than the obvious damage, there were a few chips and other imperfections to deal with. I didn't really want to, but ... fuck it.

First thing I did was attack that glue. Nothing was cutting through it. I still don't know what it was, it acted almost like mastic. Grinding it was making a mess. I ended up taking a boxcutter with a brand new blade and essentially chipping it off. Came off fairly clean on one side. The other, which is where it was thickest, not so great. I knew I'd need to use some filler on it, so I wasn't ultra concerned about cutting into the grille itself, but I did more damage than I wanted to in this 3rd pic. The heart of the grille is some kind of yellow plastic, and this grey metallic apears to've had a black basecoat on top of a light grey primer. You can really see down into the layers here.

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Next thing I did was tear it down.

The grille itself is pretty rigid, even without the mesh insert. The anatomy is pretty simple. There are 11 stainless screws holding the mesh in (blue circles). There are 6 studs with an inset hex allen key (4mm or 5mm) to tighten the studs in to the grille, and those studs (red circles) are how you bolt it into the hood. There's a hood latch support bracket with two screws holding it in place (yellow box). Note the FMS Automotive logo, confirming this is, in fact - or we'd hope - a legit sports grille.

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Once you get the mesh insert off, something important to note here. First, there there are two foams installed on the back of the unit which were worn to hell. The first one, with red outline, is an 8mm wide foam, they cut triangle reliefs at the corners to it'll transition more smoothly around the corner, I'd guess. This foam protects you from the grille rubbing out paint on your hood. Second one, with blue outline, is a 5mm wide foam, which protects the stainless mesh from rubbing against the grille. Finally, note the yellow circle. In typical manufactured part fashion, the dials in that circle tell you what year and month the part was cast, which may be interesting to some people. Close-up of that from mine follows this pic showing the foams.

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Close-up of those gaskets. The one for the grille insert was obliterated.

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After teardown, I pulled the foams and tediously removed all the bullshit they left behind. I cleaned it up the piece. I took a round rasp and deburred the holes. I also did a little spot scuffsanding to clean up some a few places and see more of what I'm dealing with, and at least get the edges prepped for filler. Still wasn't sure what to use on filler though ...

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I sat on it for a few days, then saw this really interesting (to me, at least) video on Youtube of a guy using JB Weld on his vintage metal textured parts to smooth them out. Or, on parts that'd been rusted to the point the smooth finish was gone, he'd sandblast, and apply multiple layers of JB Weld, smoothing each layer with a wet finger after to get it to lay down smooth as glass. Looked interesting. I knew I needed something rigid that could be sanded, and body filler doesn't handle depths well, so ... you only live once, right?

I used the old trick of mixing the JB weld together in a sandwich baggie, then cut the corner to pipe the mixture into a baby medicine syringe, and injected it into the part from both sides. I laid tape on the rear side of the holes to flatten it out nicely, then laid the JBW pretty high on front, to mound it up, because I knew it'd be way easier to knock down high spots on the front versus the back.

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I let this dry for a week, which is super excessive, but I wanted to give at least 2-3 days for the epoxy to harden deep into the holes an didn't want any surprises. Got distracted for a few more days. Then I finally got to it. I made a quick custom form to fit the curve and went to town with 120 to knock it down, and when I got it flat, 120, 220, 320, 400 across the part. End result was pretty good. But I guess in the process, I somehow ended up with air bubbles in my mix, which I haven't had happen with the baggie method before. Close-up after to show my f-up, you can see 4 bubbles on the left light grey blocb and one in the right-hand grey blob. But hey, it's done. And I got to move on to paint.

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Refurb/buildup of a Waltrip/FMS sports grille.

In the spirit of using JB Weld as cheap filler on this thing versus my normal Rage lightweight filler, I decided to try out a new primer also. I've passed by this Rustoleum "pro grade" Ultimate Bonding primer at a couple of stores (Tractor Supply, Advance, Auto Zone, etc.) and figured what the hell, eh.

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The crescent tip on these pro cans is pretty cool, super solid vertical want. Rustoleum has been working on a few different kinds of tips on their cans, I've seen this fan style, and I saw another 5-6 way selectable tip Stacey David was showing on his YouTube channel. But man does that tip dump paint!

I used wax/oil remover with a tack cloth (prep is everything!), then tossed a cyclone fan in the garage and started to shoot. I dropped 6 light coats on to hit full coverage. Managed to lay down with no major defects or runs. Here's shots immediately after coat 3 and coat 6, before things were fully dried. I waited 7-9 minutes between coats per instructions (I think they said 5-10min recoat) I was just doing primer, so wasn't about to hang the part, and I knew I'd be scuffsanding with 600 once this dried for several days, so I wasn't worried about issues.

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I waited a good solid week or more, then scuffsanded with 600 grit. I strung up some wire for drop ceiling tile between my garage door supports, taped off the 6 mount studs on the rear, and hung the part from the wire for final shooting.

For shooting, I had a rattle can of Toyota Natural White 056 paint basecoat I'd bought from AutomotiveTouchup.com, and they'd sent a full rattle can of one-part clear topcoat with it. I'd had it for a couple years, so I figured I probably need to use it eventually, and not was as good a time as any. So, without further adieu, I wet the floor of the garage to cut down on dust and shit, and started shooting.

I didn't take a lot of shooting pics, but again, I hit 5-6 coats total, and recoat window was 10-15 minutes so I was timing roughly 12 mins between light coats. This was roughly 3-4 coats in:

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I threw the fan on between coats to move paint out of my garage. After laying down the basecoat, I let it dry for 30 minutes per can instructions before topcoating (probably closer to 45), and laid down multiple coats of clear which had similar recoat window. 1 hour of dry time after the last coat per can instructions, and I was in this for 3-4 hours already, I carefully pulled it down maybe 90mins later and moved it to my shop bench. This is a close-up of the end result, before it fully laid down and cured.

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Once again, waited several days to give extra cure time. I did end up with a run on the right-hand inner side, but it actually laid fairly flat when all was said and done. I was happy enough with the end result, it matches my fender flares close enough that I was thinking I can get away with skipping wetsand and cutting.

I replaced the 5mm foams on the rear for the mesh after cure. Then test-fitted the mesh, and the support bracket. I still need to plop on the 8mm foams around the edge where the grille meets the hood, just to get it back to from-factory spec.









And a larger close-up on that last one, which wouldn't be complete without somehow getting doghairs on the damn part! Thankfully the paint is totally dry, so they brushed right off.

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Overall, pretty happy with how this is turning out. Glad I had the time to spend on it, and took the time and patience to do it.

I picked up a Red TRD logo for the bottom driver side corner from a local dealership, but not 100% certain how I'll mount it. The ATS grilles Toyota had made for the Ivan Stewart edition trucks had one there and I like the look of it, I think it could look great on this.

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With the inner foams which protect the grille paint from the mesh done, I took a minute to finish the outer 8mm foams that protect the hood from the edge of the grille. I also refinished the latch bracket, some brass wool, a few coats of Rustoleum satin black rattle can followed by 1wk cure time.

For the 8mm outer foams, I measured out the length I needed edge to edge plus 2" extra. With the foam paper backing still on, I laid the foams down on the grille and marked start/end of the curve, approximately 3" at each curve. I then took an exacto knife and cut triangles so I could install around the arch without buckling, as you can see here. With the cutouts, the 8mm foams wrapped around and laid down perfectly.

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Overall backside of the finished product, TRD badge installed, and a shot of the front on the ground next to the truck.

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Here are some installed shots. Paint match from AutomotiveTouchup.com was petty solid, and their clear was a nice match, indistinguishable from my factory grille which was also slightly off-white compared to the body, which may be due to the body using true single-stage and the plastics using two stage (base+clear). I did ZERO wetsand and cut/polish on this, it would probably loom more OEM+ if I took time to, but when I sat it beside my factory grille, the finish was close enough IDGAF honestly.

Installation is a breeze. On the newer face style, all you need to do is pop off the two fasteners holding the latch assembly in place. Then loosen the 6 nuts holding the grille on. I found it easiest to leave the two top/center nuts on, and remove from the outer edges into the middle. Install is reverse of removal.

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[Future placeholder]

 

i like it

 

i would love to find one of these for my truck. but man... i cant find shit for tundras right now since the mr2 is like... all im getting deals on

 

I mean, you see above ... it literally fell in my lap, I just happened to be browsing FB Marketplace and *poof* it appeared. I have seen two for sale since, one was outrageously priced, the other was gone within 3 hours. I've seen a couple yards with Waltrips, and I saw the Marketplace here had a couple over the years. Tough part is, I don't think anyone necessarily knows what these are called.

Pics updated above showing final install. I think your RCLB would look awesome with this grille. I think the TRD badge makes it pop too, I just hope the adhesive on the badge holds. It seems to be VERY aggressive adhesive, but I may pull it off later and thread the backside so I could use a backing plate with fasteners could hold the TRD badge in place.

Doubt I'll be updating this thread again later, but wanted to put it out there for future reference, in case anyone needs it.

 

You could make a small aluminum backing piece that also has foam double sided adhesive to sandwich the grill for a better hold.

 

That came out excellent . . . nice work Sir !
Truck looks great !
I flip-flop on looking for a set of the Waltrip BBS wheels . . . I've always really liked them.

 

I've got a set of the BBS wheels with decently new tires (they were on when I purchased it, not exactly sure how many miles but tread it still in great condition) that have TRD logo centers and a Waltrip grille I'd be willing to part with. I'm new to this site so please forgive me if I need to post in the marketplace. I can get more photos, this is just what I had on my phone.

 

I'm actually curious about the center caps on those. I want to say the center cap hole measure on my Rocktrix are ~67mm. I'd like to find a different center cap than the one Rocktrix ships with their wheels.

 

Here is a close-up.

 

Is that the long leg version for a double cab?

 

Yes for a DC

 

I really like the look! Anyone modified their stock grille to look like this?

 

I've seen it. Effectively, they cut out the top bar from the grille, used filler on the crescent where the bar intersected with the sides, then threw mesh behind it. Not quite the same, but close. It's doable. But you'd need some patience and some minor experience with filling plastics properly.

 

Someone's selling a set of the wheels local to me, really like how they look, but not the $1K they're asking for them.

 

I was able to get a set with decent tires for $500. Had some baked on brake dust inside the wheel and some curb damage, but they came around with some TLC.

They show up quite frequently in the $500-800 range around the South East on FB Marketplace. Hopefully you can find a set. They're one of the best looking wheels on these trucks.

 

How much for the grille? I’m in league city.

 

https://denver.craigslist.org/pts/d/dupont-2006-toyota-tundra-double-cab-sr5/7800159996.html
Waltrip double cab grille if anyone is near Denver: