Did a few test fits with the Buick grille bar today, using the original GMC letter hanger to attach it to the truck. Ironically the inboard mounting bosses on the Buick grille were within ¼” of aligning with the GMC “M” holes.
A few file strokes and the grille bar bolted right on.
Years ago when I installed the Plymouth grille bar, I removed the letter hanger from the main grille. When I went back to the GMC letters, I retained the heavy steel mounting plates bolted to the radiator support, and reattached the letter rack via a pair of aluminum angles pop riveted to the ends. This earlier modification made it very easy to mount the Buick bar.
On first installation, the bar was too high and the center hub almost contacted the main grille. Inverting the letter rack lowered the Buick bar to where it is now centered between the bottom of the main grille and the top of the license plate. Once that was dialed in, 90 degree brackets were fitted to the ends of the letter rack to give the outboard grille bosses somewhere to attach. It seemed sensible to attach the Buick bar at all four bosses to eliminate potential vibration cracks:
The GMC letter support was given a good sanding and fresh paint. It’s ready for final installation once the center hub for the grille arrives. While I was at it I went ahead and painted the mounting nuts as well so they won’t show after it’s all put together.
Here’s the last photo taken of the truck with the GMC letters:
And here’s a photo with the Buick bar from a similar angle. I really love how it fills the cavity, and appears to “belong” much better than the letters did:
The fog lights look crooked because I pulled them off to have clearance to fit the grille. They are somewhat loose in the photos. When completed I’m going to raise them back up a tad so they look more centered at the same level of the new floating grille.
Here’s the same shot with the Buick emblem stuffed in the hole just to have some type of emblem showing:
Inspected up close I thought the Buick emblem could have been made to look nice, but standing back and looking at the truck I don’t like it at all. It seems reminiscent of a 52 Ford which I never found all that appealing.
Here are a few more shots showing how well the new bar fits, along with how close it is to everything:
If all goes well I’ll have it in primer tomorrow and final paint by the weekend. If the horn button/hub shows up right away, it may get completed and installed sooner, especially if it fits, works, and looks good. If it looks stupid I’ll have to consider other options for the center cavity.
Here are a couple of head on shots. Even unpainted it looks a lot better than my crappy photoshop mock up. At this point all I really see is how crooked the fog lights look!
This has been such a simple project with such dramatic results I’m really looking forward to getting it done.