55.2-59 GMC and Chevy mishmash

[Phungki]

i purchase a 56 GMC at the end of last year. I just started digging into to it last weekend for the tear down. The only thing i can see that tells me its a GMC is the Gauge panel,tail gate and serial number badge. someone has previously removed the front clip and hood and replaced with chevy stuff. My plan is to find the chrome bullets, bullet guard,mustache and hood(found this saturday at a swap meet).
My question is what kind of issues am i going to have getting this GMC stuff to fit on that chevy front clip? Is my new hood going to latch? am i just popping in a couple holes in the fender to get the mustache to attach? or am i really opening a can of worms? From what i can tell everything up front, including the rad is chevy. Its not staying anyway, ill find an aftermarket aluminum to replace it. I really want to get it back to what the front end of a 56 GMC should look like. I know i will end up paying out the nose for all that chrome but to me its worth it plus I like the hunt.
i appreciate any of your thoughts and ideas on this

[Phungki]

So from what I can find, the only thing between the fenders that is interchangeable between Chevy and GMC is the hood latch. Anyone have any of those GMC parts fir sale or know who might?

[dsraven]

the gmc front fenders would interchange with the chevy fenders except for the indentation in the grill surround where the mustache bolts to the grill surround. it would be easy enough to make it work by fabbing your own indentation in the right spot. the holes in the front of the fender, where the chevy marker lights go, are simply plugged with rubber plugs. the fender emblem holes are also wrong but that is a fairly easy fix as well. the US models have a different rad support than the Canadian models but, again, if not going to be a numbers matching truck then assemble the parts with what fits. if you have the mustache parts did you also get the grille parts as well? signal marker lights? the hood is also different in that there is a hole in the front with the GMC emblem. again, the chevy hood should work minus the emblem etc.
depends on what you want in the end I guess. might be harder to find actual gmc stuff than it would be to make the chevy stuff work.

[Phungki]

Originally Posted by dsraven

the gmc front fenders would interchange with the chevy fenders except for the indentation in the grill surround where the mustache bolts to the grill surround. it would be easy enough to make it work by fabbing your own indentation in the right spot. the holes in the front of the fender, where the chevy marker lights go, are simply plugged with rubber plugs. the fender emblem holes are also wrong but that is a fairly easy fix as well. the US models have a different rad support than the Canadian models but, again, if not going to be a numbers matching truck then assemble the parts with what fits. if you have the mustache parts did you also get the grille parts as well? signal marker lights? the hood is also different in that there is a hole in the front with the GMC emblem. again, the chevy hood should work minus the emblem etc.
depends on what you want in the end I guess. might be harder to find actual gmc stuff than it would be to make the chevy stuff work.

I actually found the correct hood at a swap meet last Sunday. I’m not too worried about the fenders, as you said, they can be made to work. I do not have any of the GMC specific chrome but I am looking. Just as I’m looking for the radiator support, hood latch panel, splash panel and what ever else I’m not aware of. I have yet to get a good look under the hood of one of these trucks to know what I need. Don’t even know what it looks like if I found it.

[mr48chev]

It was real popular to swap the 55/56 Chevy noses over to the GMC trucks when you were building a semi custom truck in the 70's and early 80's as no one out side of guys who wanted them for work trucks seemed to like the GMC front end then.

[01spirit750]

Which year chevy grille did they swap over to. I am guessing that they used the 1957 Chevy grille.

The 57 chevy fender has the indents to mount the 57 chevy grille. I am pretty sure this is the same as the GMC fender indents.

So 1957 Chevy fender = 1957 GMC fender

Of course the 55 and 56 chevy fenders do not have the indent and would not work with the GMC grille without the sheetmetal rework..

Chris

[dsraven]

here are some pics of thje 57 gmc front fenders showing the indentation for the mustache mount and the rubber filler for the chevy turn signal light. there is also a replacement panel available for the front section of the fender if you want to go that route. depends how deep your pockets are and how good your welding skills are. as far as fitment of a new fender, these trucks didn't have 2 the exact same anyway so pay your money and take your chances on the new part fitting, or, repair what you have to look like you want.

[dsraven]

here are a few pics showing how the rad support fits. this is a Canadian model and they use the chevy rad support. in the last pic you can see the lower filler panel that connects the fenders together at the bottom. if you look on the fender extension you can see the hole there where the grille would bolt to the fender extension. there is also a panel that bolts to the front bumper, behind the big bumper bullets, that goes rearward and covers thje entire area below the grille so you don't see the panel that connects the lower parts of the fenders, side to side.
disregard the engine. not stock.

[Phungki]

Originally Posted by 01spirit750

Which year chevy grille did they swap over to. I am guessing that they used the 1957 Chevy grille.

The 57 chevy fender has the indents to mount the 57 chevy grille. I am pretty sure this is the same as the GMC fender indents.

So 1957 Chevy fender = 1957 GMC fender

Of course the 55 and 56 chevy fenders do not have the indent and would not work with the GMC grille without the sheetmetal rework..

Chris

It has a grill in it. I don’t know what sort of indents you are referring to. I tried uploading a couple pics but got something back about a security token missing.

[dsraven]

in the pics of the fenders, one of the fenders was a chevy fender, the left side, so it has no indentation. sorry, shouldda mentioned that in the post.

[Phungki]

Checking online, it does not resemble the 57 grill. Does look like the 55-56 grill tho

[dsraven]

this is the first day I brought my 57 truck home. it's a 3/4 ton farm truck but the 57 grilles and bumpers are all the same. pretty sure the grille is specific to 57 but the mustache is universal through the early 3 years with a different insert for the grille area. the earlier years had the parts that bolted to the bumper bullets I think.
http://rydellcars.blogspot.com/2013/...mc-trucks.html

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Phungki

It has a grill in it. I don’t know what sort of indents you are referring to. I tried uploading a couple pics but got something back about a security token missing.

On the security token thing, if you have slow internet like I have it won't let you upload more than about 2 photos at a time but you can pick out the picture, up load it pick out another, up load it and so on until you use all five spaces and then post them. I fight that every time I post a batch of photos.

[Phungki]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

On the security token thing, if you have slow internet like I have it won't let you upload more than about 2 photos at a time but you can pick out the picture, up load it pick out another, up load it and so on until you use all five spaces and then post them. I fight that every time I post a batch of photos.

Ahh I’ll try that. Thank you

[Phungki]

Originally Posted by dsraven

this is the first day I brought my 57 truck home. it's a 3/4 ton farm truck but the 57 grilles and bumpers are all the same. pretty sure the grille is specific to 57 but the mustache is universal through the early 3 years with a different insert for the grille area. the earlier years had the parts that bolted to the bumper bullets I think.
http://rydellcars.blogspot.com/2013/...mc-trucks.html

Ok got some pics to load. My goal is to have all the front end chrome for the 56 gmc back on it. Finding usable parts up here in Michigan is pretty tough. Where is that replacement panel available? I’ll convert the fenders if I can’t find one I suppose. I still need the correct latch panel, splash guard and radiator support

[BBPanel]

Here is a comparison of the two radiator supports:

[Phungki]

Originally Posted by BBPanel

Here is a comparison of the two radiator supports:

Great thank you. I’ll take the one on the left 😀

[dsraven]

o, so the rad support on the left is a gmc one for US trucks. it bolts up the same the fenders, roughly, and the part with the hood latch bolts to a coupl of angle iron style brackets on the fenders. easy enough to make yourself. disregard the rad support part in the pic because it is home made

[dsraven]

and it is a set of chevy denders as well, without the indentation. haven't got to that yet

[Phungki]

Yeah looks simple enough to make that part. They left one of the 2 “t” shaped pieces that held the rad support in. But if I can’t find those GMC pieces I’m going to have to make it work with Chevy stuff. It’s too bad they don’t repop that stuff too. I’ve called all the local junk yards. No one keeps vehicles that old around here. At least now I have a couple good pics so that I might identify them at a swap meet.
Thx for everyone’s responses. And if you no of any 56 parts laying around pls point me in that direction

[BBPanel]

Originally Posted by dsraven

here are a few pics showing how the rad support fits. this is a Canadian model and they use the chevy rad support....

I don't seem to have the z-bracket attaching the latch to horizontal bar in your pic - how does your filler panel fit?

[dsraven]

here is a pic of a unit for sale, just found it on google after punching in "57 gmc front clip". maybe scroll across to see the underhood pic with a rad support like yours. I tried to get a copy and then put it in here so we will see what happens.

https://classiccars.com/listings/vie...innesota-56701

[dsraven]

here is an ad for a 57 truck on the kijiji site in Calgary area. it may not last so take a look and copy whatever you may need. a Canadian truck so different but the same as what I have before it came apart.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars...4x4/1423616877

[dsraven]

check this out on post 19, 31, 46. post 54 and 67 shows the filler panel behind the bumper. maybe a pm to old57 would get you some info and pics. he mentions he is converting his gmc to be a chevy. maybe he still has some parts or at least some pics. hope that helps

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=698062