Confused....replacing a radiator support out of a 74 C10

[Matt McLeod]

Hi all,
Long time lurker from Australia. Normally successful in finding an answer on the forum.  But not this time.  Have looked at the forum search results for "radiator support" and scanned through 250-something hits.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. My truck is in the body shop after a fender bender.  I have ordered a large shipment of parts from a US-based vendor, waited 3 months to get the shipment from Kansas to Australia, waited another month for the body shop to schedule me in.  Now the truck is in parts and the shop is crying because they think I have ordered the wrong radiator support.

According to my fender decal, she is 1974, delivered with a 350ci but converted to 454 at some point before she was shipped to Australia.

Here is my baby before the collision:


Here is the replacement part I ordered:


Here is what I got (which matches what I ordered):


Now, my problem, is this is what came off the truck.  The body shop is complaining they can't make it work. 






This rad support is clearly different.  But I don't know how to identify it, so I can't order a replacement.  Every website I check for a 73-80 rad support shows me the same as what I have received.

What have I done wrong here?  Can I make the one I ordered work with the grille and headlight parts I have ordered from the same vendor? 

Thankyou in advance

[Jason S]

What have I done wrong here?  Can I make the one I ordered work with the grille and headlight parts I have ordered from the same vendor?

From what I see: You haven't done anything wrong.  The core support you ordered is designed to be used on '73-80 trucks.  However, there were several changes from 1973-1980.

As you have noted these differences, your new core support will need to be modified to accomodate your specific year model. It's not quite a 100% bolt in swap, but close to it.

Specifically, the '73-'74 year model trucks had different grille mounting bracket arrangements than the later years. There were 5 brackets used on the '73-'74 trucks to mount the grille.  Of the 5, two were integral to the core support and are located on either side of the radiator opening; the remainder can be unbolted and swapped to your new support. If you're using an original '73-'74 grille, the center and outer brackets are usually sufficient for support.  It appears that the body shop has already looked at swapping the outer brackets and marked bolt locations.

There were also differences in the way the air conditioner lines ran through the support, which will need modifications to accomodate your specific setup. Additionally, the upper core support panel and hood latch will need to be swapped (which it appears has been done). 

As for the headlights; I'm not sure what you have or the issue they're having- but the headlight parts (buckets, mounts, adjusters) should also swap from your '74 core support to the new support.

Mounting the core support to the rest of the front sheetmetal can be a chore.  All I can say from my experiences is:  have patience, clean the threads in the bolt holes and bolts, lightly oil the bolts and have several alignment tools to help line up the bolt holes.

Looking at the photo of your original core support, it appears that it's rust free and only marginally pushed back. Could the shop simply pull the original back into alignment? 

You may also search the forum for 73 grille or 73 grill and core support.

I'm sure others may have more to offer.

[Captkaos]

All of those can be made to work.  I had to do the same back in 1992 when I had a mishap.  There is no specific 73-74 core support made.  short of the 2 center supports built into your core support everything will swap over.

[Matt McLeod]

Jason and Capt Kaos, thankyou for your responses.  I think the body shop was expecting a simple bolt in solution. Which it is not.  They did not want to try pushing the original support straight - they were concerned the panel gaps would be hard to match.  Maybe these guys are perfectionists, but from what I have read on this forum the panel gaps in 1974 were not that precise anyway. OK, I will have to be more adamant when I speak to them this morning.

I was wondering about the "greyed out" vertical supports shown in the parts book above.  Jason you have confirmed it may not be necessary to run those extra grille supports. 

Thanks again gentlemen.

[Captkaos]

you can live without them, if you want them there, chop them off and weld them back on.