Custom Grille Project

After about 3 months my custom grille project is finished. I have a 2006 Darrell Waltrip Edition and I loved the look of the open grille with the oem+ looking bar like this:
So after I bought the aftermarket tundra grille that everyone buys I really didn’t like that it didn’t have a bar like the Darrell waltrip or like the oem grilles. And the aftermarket grille was super flimsy and flexes when you open and close it.
I started a project to take the aftermarket “TRD Pro” grille and
1. Paint match it
2. Add the OEM feel bar
3. Make it sturdier
4. Add grille lights

Before:

Halfway:

Finished:


I also paint matched the mirrors while I was at this.

I bought a OEM replacement grille for $40, cut off the bottom bar, used plastic adhesive to glue it onto the TRD Pro aftermarket grille, sanded all that down then put bondo onto that bar. Shaped the bondo until I got the lines and bar look that I wanted and then painted it all.

 

Thought it was a ford for a second..

 

Nice work on the grille. Those headlights though...

 

Fancy! Don't lose that metal insert, and if you're not going to use it, I'd take it off your hands. I've been thinking about ways to tweak my sports grille w/o having to paint it again.

 

Mine didn’t come with the metal piece because the Darrell Waltrip grille is one solid piece (minus the grille latch)

 

I’m guessing that means you don’t like them lol

 

Pretty slick bro
Wonder if I could do something similar to my
Stock grill to make it look like the Waltrip grille. Really dig them

 

The Sports Grille is the "Waltrip Grille", I'm talking about this steel insert here, from your pic:

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To pop out that insert, I'm taking this pic from the thread I linked in my last reply, all you need to do is remove the blue circled screws here. I show full disassembly and refurb of the sports grlle in that thread.

If you're not currently using that insert and/or have modified the frame of the Sports Grille to the point it won't accept the mesh any longer, please hit me up. I'd like to take that piece of metal it off your hands at a fair price.

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That's a good guess. But to each, their own.

 

Yes, effectively all FMS did to make the sports grille is this:

• Cut the top bar out of the stock grille
• Fill the half-moon notch where the top bar teed into the plastic on the left/right sides
• Add bosses/inserts on the rear where you see the blue circles in that last pic on my last reply
• Smooth out all corners and edges with bondo, and it looks like they added material in a couple of strategic locations for rigidity
• Add the "FMS" embossed logo you see left of the yellow paint marker "JFL" in my last pic on my last reply
• Make a mold/form of the modified part
• Start casting parts with the mold

I looked at doing this myself waaaay back in 2018/2019 when I bought my Tundra, custom-fabbing my own. I recall finding some posts on how to do it, best materials to use, specifically for the Sports grille, and I saw someone do it with a Sequoia grille also, but hell if I recall where - YouTube? TundraSolutions? TundraTalk? I don't think it was here. Hardest part is properly prepping the grille part itself to fill the half-moon notches.

EDIT: Actually, here's one example. Knew I posted about it. But look carefully at the still of that video - I talk about this in my thread I linked in reply #4 above - AC/RC grille has different "legs" than the DC grille, so make sure your donor grille (I recommend buying a donor to modify) is from the correct cab type. The hoods are the same, not the grille. And see my thread in reply #4 to get the proper foam stripping that will keep the grille from rubbing your paint away. I don't know if the TRD Pro grille comes with that foam or not, but it's needed to keep the plastic grille from rubbing paint.

There's a whole gaggle of modders out there who do this type of stuff. Making the part is not what's difficult IMO. It's sanding/finishing/painting it properly so it doesn't look like garbage that's tough. Lots of tedium involved. @lobar77 did a great job finishing his, based on the shots above. Genuinely unique, and I'd love to see something similar available for our trucks n the aftermarket. I think it could fetch a nice penny, but after seeing how the contractor in China stole the design from the guys at Teq to sell at a cheaper price and make a fortune, I wouldn't trust anyone overseas to make it. I bet FMS (their website is linked in the thread I linked above in reply #4) would be able to make it, but I'm not sure how good their pricing would be.

I personally prefer the way the TRD Pro grille looks on the Sequoia, it's too bad the difficulty of face transplant is difficult between the Sequoia and RC/AC trucks:

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Yeah that’s my fault, I misunderstood. I’ve taken the metal grille part out to plasti dip it black. I thought you were talking about the metal support bar that the oem grilles have to support the grille latch.

 

No worries! But nah, I've been hunting for the metal stamped insert. Now I've got a Cricut and small supply of vinyl, I've got some fun ideas I've been kicking around, but it'd be ideal if I had a spare insert to work with.

I do have spares of that metal latch support though. And I've got both a spare DC and a spare AC OEM grille (albeit both in white, DC with chrome, AC non-chrome). If anyone is looking...

 

Anyone in Colorado looking for a Waltrip grille, dunno how much the guy wants but here it is:
https://denver.craigslist.org/pts/d/dupont-2006-toyota-tundra-double-cab-sr5/7818294553.html