I tried to search here, google, etc for the past few days with no solid results. I'm building an 84 and want to purchase a full phantom billet but can't find one anywhere. Does anyone know if they still sell them? This is my first older Toyota I've built so I've never had trouble finding parts.
I say just make your own. The way toyota grilles mount is pretty simple, and there isn't a lot of curve to the nose. 3/16x3/4" aluminum flat stock is about the right size. Figure out how many bars you want, or your spacing...then figure out the other. Measure the width from corner light to corner light without a grille, add about an inch. Find the center point and drill an 1/8" hole through all layers and bolt them together. do the same at the ends. Now you can match any curve you need to the front edge of the hood. If you need a little curve, make a small pie cut on the back side through all layers about half way to the front face. Just needs to be saw cut width. You should be able to do that to make it curve along with the hood edge. Once the cuts are bent shut you wont hardly see them. You can fill them later with epoxy or glue and sand it out for paint. When its all shaped, add a few more vertical holes through all layers to run bolts. Now take it apart, and use some small spacers to space the layers apart. The hardware store usually has something that will work, or use small washers. Once the whole thing is built as a unit, you can figure out where the mounts need to be. Make some small metal tabs and sandwich them into the spacer stacks where they need to be. You can now paint the entire thing satin black. When the paint dries, take 180 grit to the bar faces and sand the paint off to expose the metal. You can apply some mothers polish if you want to keep it shiny. This is how I learned to make them from an OG mini trucker. Before the days of catalogs having everything.
Thanks man I had just started thinking about doing that, ill probably end up doing it because 350 is a little ridiculous
My advice is make a mod into a profit. Instead of spending 350, you could make a few and sell them for 150 each or so. Make a few bucks. I've done that before when I make one off parts.
You could also buy one for a fullsize c10 and cut it done. Did this when I had my mighty max, and they're like $80 on ebay.
yea i thought about that too, i figured the c10 or something big like that would work. i think my buddy actually has one for a c10 in his garage i may use it for my test dummy. lol
Keep us posted. I always liked phantoms. Kinda old school but they look clean. Lots of space to hide extra fog lights and LED markers and stuff too.
