Fitting a 76’ Grille in my 79’?

[79dentside]

Got a lead on the 76 brackets, in the mean time I restored the grille and holy smokes did it turn out good! I used some left over duplicolor metallic silver from a 98 accord project. Prepped, primed and painted. Also repainted the GMC emblem by hand.

Before:

You must be registered for see images attach

After:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Preston Tucker]

I tried a similar thing with the grille swap, but it was a 79 grille into my 74 and i realized that even the core support is different and had extra mounting points!
So thats out and need a 74 gmc grille.
Figured i would put that our for you all in similar situations and spare you the trouble!

 

[Grit dog]

^That looks great!

 

[scwaters]

Just finished a restoration and installing a 76 grille on my 76 K10

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[OldBlueDually]

Looks beautiful!!! SCwaters, nice rig!!!!

Dentisde, I still think you should ship that grill my way

 

[79dentside]

Finally got some time/courage to rip this all apart again. I am able to rig it in... whether I want to leave it that way or not is undetermined. I wasn’t able to snag the 1976 mount, so I decided to beat the devil out of the mount that was already on the truck and then relocate the trans cooler. The stock mount can no longer mount in all of the stock mounting holes, but can mount in most. Working on corner brackets for the grille still, but the clearance is there. So until I find a 76 bracket, I can run this set up. The grille is just laid in the opening, that’s why it looks funny at the bottom.

You must be registered for see images attach

Had to notch the grille for the hood latch.

You must be registered for see images attach

Trans cooler is awful close, that’s as far back as I could mount it.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[79dentside]

Picked up the headlight bezels as a pair for $29 from LMC Truck, what a score. The Honda Accord paint that I painted the grille with matches the new bezels nicely.

1979 set up (current set up)

You must be registered for see images attach

1976 set up (New, what I am putting in)

You must be registered for see images attach

I’m almost there.

 

[bluex]

I used just the center an end pieces (out by the headlight) to put a 73/74 grill in my 78. You need the same parts for that grill.

I have a new set of the 73/74 brackets for $68 plus shipping.

 

[79dentside]

I used just the center an end pieces (out by the headlight) to put a 73/74 grill in my 78. You need the same parts for that grill.

I have a new set of the 73/74 brackets for $68 plus shipping.

I ended up making some brackets out of steel that I am super pleased with. I was able to set the depth that I wanted. I am possibly looking for the center support. Mine is beat up (from me), but I may be interested one day getting a better one that actually bolts up 100%.

I did get it on. Project is finally done.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[chiefburns]

Did I see a "250" grill emblem in one of the previous pics? If so, I would love to take that off of your hand$ for you.

 

[79dentside]

Did I see a "250" grill emblem in one of the previous pics? If so, I would love to take that off of your hand$ for you.

Good eye, yes you did haha. My truck was always a 350 but had a 250 grille. Heck I’ll Just send it to you if you want it.

 

[chiefburns]

That would be awesome! I’ll send you my address, just let me know what the shipping is and I’ll pay for it.

 

[bluex]

Looks great in there man. I have several 73/74 gmc grills in good shape. Can't seem to get a good 75/76 one though...

 

[79dentside]

Looks great in there man. I have several 73/74 gmc grills in good shape. Can't seem to get a good 75/76 one though...

Thanks. I’m not sure I like the contrast with the white hood and the grille... I painted the hood white because it was yellow when I bought the truck. Paint on my truck is like a 3/10, so I played around with some rattle cans and came up with this in about 5 minutes On some scrap metal. I think a fake patina would look good with the factory matched green mixed in. I think I will do the following on the hood, then clear coat it.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Grit dog]

Not a bad looking faux Tina!