How my friend installed a 78 grill on an 80's truck.

My friend Brett & I traded trucks last summer. He had just finished a frame off rebuild on his truck and was looking for his next project. He always liked my 1980 crew cab and ask me if I would like to trade trucks. Long story short I could not pass up a truck with a 37" tires, a 440 motor and fresh paint. This truck started with a 2wd body and a 4x4 frame he got from me.

Brett never liked the 80's grills as much as the 78 so when he told me he was thinking of cutting the front end off a 78 and welding it on his truck I thought he was nuts.lol Just kidding, if Brett says he's going to do something it will be done and done right. As you can see this was no small job.

I'm posting this a 2am so I may not get all the pictures up to night.

This is before he started on the body work. It was a good looking truck even before the new grill & paint.

First he had to find a 78 cradle and a set of 70's fenders that had good fronts on them. Then mark the truck for surgery.

Remove the front of the fenders with a cut off wheel.

Then cutting and test fitting the 70's fender parts.

Making sure everything lines up right and then the welding.

Last one tonight.

I have never looked very close at the 80 and newer truck fenders. The flat spot at the front isn't compatible with the back side of the grille? I'm sure that he didn't just cut and weld for fun. Without seeing both models of fenders up close I wonder why the stock black fenders couldn't have had brackets added instead of the cut and patch tactic. This is no way a form of criticism, just curious about the method here.

A Lot of things are different, 78 cradle won't fit the 81 and up fenders and if you don't use the 70's cradle headlights are in the wrong place and the hood & valance won't work. He is a welder by trade but this was the first real body work he has tried. It only took him two afternoons to cut and weld up the fenders.

By cradle are you referring to the radiator/core support?
If so, I can see that the square headlight design would clash with the 72-78 round style.

Funny, This is just about what I had in mind to do up mine. I am not positive, but I believe you can get away with not going up the entire side of the fender. I believe the area where the lower filler panel fits does indeed to be spliced in, but from what I can tell, the upper outside corner of the fender just needs to be massaged to fit the grill.

And again, I haven't test fitted my core support in the truck yet, But I do not beleive there was any huge differences in the mounting flanges to the fenders when I laid an '89 core support on top of a '78 core support. I think at most it was maybe some trimming and relocation of fender bolt holes either in the fender or core support.

I should really write this stuff down when I do things like this as I am much more forgetful as time marches on, LOL

We call them rad cradles (must be a Canadian thing.lol). I'm sure there are many different ways to make this fit. I'm just showing you how he did it. He loves welding and it's easy for him. What Brett wanted to do was make the truck look like it rolled out of the factory with that gill, and it does.

The Birdbath hood will fit 81-93 trucks. Only thing that needs addressed is the hood latch.

Looks a hundred times better with that grill, very cool. Now just get him to add pre 80 bumpers to it.

It's my truck now and I like the bigger bumpers on a big truck. I tried a 70's ramcharger bumper on the back but it made the truck look to small. It looked like a pea on a drum.lol

I tried to run a birdbath on one of my trucks and ran into that latch problem. I like the birdbath hoods but I'm more of a hood scoop guy.

It looks sharp.....nice

Ready for primer and blocking

In the booth for the first color

Wow, seriously, that's a nice truck you have there!

Mask the silver and spray the burgundy

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I tried to run a birdbath on one of my trucks and ran into that latch problem. I like the birdbath hoods but I'm more of a hood scoop guy.

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beautiful truck! I have a Bird Bath on my '88, and had one on my '85 and '87. I agre on the smaller pre '80 front bumper. Love mine.