55 Bad Grill Fitment

[Miller197]

Hey all,

New member and first time poster on here

A few weeks back my dad and I picked up partial project which had just been shipped over to australia from america. Its a series 2 1955 chevy pickup.

So heres how we picked it up:
-Its got a 55 steel cab
-57 steel hood
-Fibreglass reproduction guards (we assume there 55 because is no flat spots inside the gill area)
-the upper grill bar is steel
-The lower grill bar is fibreglass (and is missing the tabs that 55's have)
-And came with a brand new 55 chrome grill

BUT:
When we fit the grill we have terrible gaps either side and its very tight top and bottom (see pics) and we are usure of where the problem lies... Has anyone come across this before?

[capnduane]

Lower bar seems to be correct length, but fender openings seem too wide. Here's a pic of my stock front end, showing how grill fits in opening. Is your grill original equipment?

[Miller197]

Its not the original grill, its a repop one that came along with the truck when we got it.

Im hoping its an issue with a grill and not the guards

[tmoble]

Measure the length of your lower grille surround, post it up here. I think you're calling it a "guard."

I have that same chrome grill, laid it on top of my old painted grill, they looked the same to me.

Seems like we've been through this before on here, but darned if I can find it.

[tmoble]

Also, looks like you've already discovered it's better to the grill in place before nailing up the front fenders. Many guys have scratched their paint.

[capnduane]

My stock grill opening at its widest point is 51 inches. Between the black lines in pic.

[MARTINSR]

What ever is reproduction is what is wrong. If the fenders are OE and the piece under the grille that mounts the fenders together is OE then the problem is of course the reproduction grille.

All I know is trial fitting parts before painting is always a good idea.

"Basics of Basics" Trial fitting parts
By Brian Martin

There are few procedures that give you more ‘Bang for your buck” than trial fitting parts. Sounds simple, just common sense. However, it is something that comes with very hard learned lessons. Even after doing this work for over twenty five years, I still forget once and a while. When I do, there is a good chance I will pay for it dearly.

Like the fabricators motto “If you don’t have a pile of rejects in the trash, you aren’t doing good work”, the time spent on trial fitting is VERY good time spent.

This trial fitting should include nearly every single part of the car.

When installing a weld on part such as a quarter, trial fitting ALL the adjacent panels is not just something you “should” do, you MUST do it. The decklid, door, rear bumper, window mouldings, etc, should ALL installed and fit well BEFORE your welding is done. At this time a little minor tuning can turn an “OK” job into an outstanding one. You may even find the need to serious adjustment.

Trial fitting is not holding the part up and saying “yep it fits”. We are talking FULLY bolting the part on. If this is a moving part such as a door or deck lid, the latch should be installed, hinges FULLY bolted on and adjusted. The rubber seals and bumpers should be installed as well. On an older car this is not so easy because many are glued in, but SOMETHING has to be done to insure the part will fit properly when the rubber is installed later.

If you can’t install the rubber at that time at least spend some time looking at where the rubber fits to for a proper gap. For instance, while fitting a decklid to your new quarter (or the other way around, it makes no difference) get in the trunk and close the lid. Inspect around the channel where the rubber fits. Be sure it is a uniform distance ALL the way around. You can usually find the correct distance right where the hinges are. If the panel fits correctly on the outside then that gap for the rubber is usually going to be correct. If you feel for some reason that there is damage to that area, you need to spend some time there. If you feel the car has been hit on the side piller post (if you were fitting the door) you really need insure that the door fits properly and that you KNOW what that rubber gap should be. This gap is usually a uniform distance all the way around, be sure of it. When you are doing a door, you always have the other side to check to guidance remember. When installing a quarter, rear panel, upper panel, this is very critical. You don’t want to find out later that your gap is too small, the lid won’t close properly or sticks up. You don’t want to find out the gap is too large, the rubber may not seal and the trunk leaks water. A little minor shifting of parts prior to welding could take care of it.
You want ALL gaps perfect PRIOR to welding (a little tack here or there may be needed for fitting the parts) there is NOTHING that will tell you this other than FULLY mounting the adjacent parts.

Mouldings:
When doing any plastic filler work (“bondo”) or straightening metal you need to trail fit the mouldings, trim and adjacent parts as well. This is VERY important with parts like fender extensions. I don’t care if they are new/used or the even the same ones you took off the car, AWAYS trial fit them. Don’t leave you new repro parts in the package to install them after paint, you WILL be sorry.

Prior to paint or even primer you can “tweek” these mouldings against the body. After paint, it is much harder because you can scratch it. If there is plastic filler work or metal being straightened this is VERY important. After you have drilled holes for mouldings (Basics of Basics-Templates) bolt the mouldings on for fit.

The cars weight should be on the “wheels” when making these panel adjustments. NEVER fit panels while the car is on jack stands on the frame or on a rotisserie for something like that. You can have the car on jack stands but be sure they are under the rear axle and front control arms to “replicate” the forces of the car on it’s wheels. I don’t even like the under the control arms at all, I put the car on it’s front wheels. The weight transfer is not the same in the middle of the control arms as it is at the point where the tire hits the ground.

I can not stress this enough, trial fitting parts is not because you are a newbe or something. Every experienced body man does it everyday to some degree. Trial fitting is done throughout the entire repair of the car. Nothing could be worse than getting your car back from the painter only to find parts don’t fit!
Just yesterday I was working on 2002 Honda CR-V with a little dent on the quarter right at the edge by the rear gate. I had finished the plastic filler work and was ready to send it to the paint department. I went ahead and installed the new decklid just to be sure it was right, even though this was a very minor repair that should easily be fine. I found out I was a little on the filler work. Now, it wasn’t the end of the world and could have even stayed that way. But with literally only a few minutes, it was perfect. On a very large job lately I found the need to pull the car back up on the frame rack for a little minor repair to where the rubber fits or the door would have been MUCH too tight. Just this little fine tuning made a world of difference to how the door fit.

The moral of the story is don’t ever “assume” your parts are going to fit. I don’t give a darn if they are new, repro, NOS, original, it really doesn’t matter, they MUST be trial fit.

The final assembly of your car should be fun, and relaxing. It is the best part of the whole project. Don’t make it a nightmare, don’t let someone rush you during the earlier phases of the project. Right from the very beginning you are laying the foundation for the finished project. Take the time to do it right.
If you trial fit the parts properly you will never know the pain you saved yourself, but believe me, it was time very well spent.


Brian

[1project2many]

Optical illusion? It looks like the fender is different where the grille opening is compared to red truck. Measure distance from park light hole to inner edge of grille opening. Maybe someone with stock fenders can do same?

[dwcsr]

I have a NOS 55-56 grille here and it measure 51 inches at the widest point.
The bottom of the chrome one does not flare out as much as the painted one or the NOS one I have here. That may be the issue. I have seen this before on 55-56 re-pop grilles. See If you can find an original grille to try in its place. then you know if its the grille or fenders or both

[bowt1ed]

So who seems to have the best repop grills (fitment, chrome) on the market? Or are they all hit or miss?

Cheers, Jim

[mr48chev]

That is an old issue that no one thought of but you have 57 fenders and they are different than 55/56 fenders and the 55/56 grill doesn't fit in them. We used to see that all the time in the 70's when guys thought the 57 grill was ugly and bought a 55/56 grill and tried to put it in the truck.

When I had a 57 Panel in the 70s I wanted to change the grill and friends in the know pointed out that it wouldn't work without changing the fenders too.

If you scroll down the page 55/56 fenders have 1 part number while 57 fenders have their own part number https://www.premierstreetrod.com/dep...ont+Metal.html

[Daze57]

i know that some repop grills and fenders have ''some'' problems but that is a little much !
i dont know how some of these manufacturers get the dyes for these parts but it seems to me that they could be a better fit -- now i understand that the trucks when built were not perfect at all and we do the best we can on making things fit .. but when you spend good money on parts that really need adjutment .......makes it a v v tough day/night
just sayin

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

That is an old issue that no one thought of but you have 57 fenders and they are different than 55/56 fenders and the 55/56 grill doesn't fit in them. We used to see that all the time in the 70's when guys thought the 57 grill was ugly and bought a 55/56 grill and tried to put it in the truck.

When I had a 57 Panel in the 70s I wanted to change the grill and friends in the know pointed out that it wouldn't work without changing the fenders too.

If you scroll down the page 55/56 fenders have 1 part number while 57 fenders have their own part number https://www.premierstreetrod.com/dep...ont+Metal.html

I'll bet that's it.

[ptc]

Those are 57 fenders.... only take a 57 grill.... yep !!!! 57 parts are all 1 year fitment


EDIT: I Regress -- KIM is right.... (see below)

[Kim57]

Sorry guys but they don't look like 57 fenders to me. 57 fenders have the indentation for the grill which his do not have. That's the only difference between 55/56 and 57. fenders.
Kim

[Miller197]

UPDATE!

Firstly don't worry about the scratches in the paint work, it may look nice and red but we will be sanding the whole thing back to bare metal because it still needs ALOT of body work... it came from the states with a coat or red thrown on it..... we are still in the trial fitting stage

OKAY..
So after studying the pictures from dwcsr and capnduane we realized that the grill needed to be pushed further back... BUT because the bottom fiberglass grill bar (which we think is off a 57 due to no mounting tabs) we physically cannot put it back any further because of the brackets on the grill hitting the bottom bar and gouging into the fibreglass..

So we plan to cut off the top and bottom grill brackets and round off some sharp edges which should allow it to go right back into the recess and mount it using the bolts at the top and bottom of vertical bars on the grill.. if that makes sence

I measured the length from the widest point and we also have 51 inches
With the grill pushed further back it should reduce alot of the gap that we currently have... the gap may not be perfect but atleast i wont be able to get my whole hand in there.. but we will wait and see

Thanks for all the help so far!! We will be attacking this over the weekend so I will post back with how it goes

Chris

[capnduane]

Ya, that makes sense! I didn't notice that you didn't have your grill back in far enough. Now I see, in your pic, that the three air slots in the lower bar, are not exposed yet. When I remove my grill, I take out the top bar to make it easier to remove and replace the grill. Good luck with your project....

[Miller197]

Got around to it this weekend and its looking better.

trimmed the grill quite a bit and its fitting alot better. Ive still got small gaps on each side but i can live with it. The guards are fibreglass so ill just close up the gaps with a bit of glass later down the track.

I might start a build thread to keep everyone in the loop

[Daze57]

looks alot better !!!!!!!........great job