75-76 GMC grill mounting - deeper grill

[Armor]

hey guys, its been a while, i'm stumped as to what i need to do next.

I have had a chevy grill on my truck since i got it, but now that im doing a total rebuild I was hoping to go GMC as the truck actually is one.

i found a mint GMC grill, cleaned it all up, and realized that it is alot deeper than my chevy grill, ~3in thick.
is there a different set of brackets i need to mount this grill? i have never seen any other mounts than the (apparently) 77-80 ones I have.

any info would be great!
thanks

[Armor]

After a bit more searching, i found a forum post on 67-72 where it is mentioned that the 75-76 gmc grill might still use the 73-74 grill mounts. If that is the case, would i still be able to use my current hood latch with in cab cable release? Or would i lose that to use the older 73-74 latch and handle?

[Armor]

ok thanks to EBAY photos of past sales, i found these pics:

looks like the center support is the same as the 73/74, the one that angles back instead of straight up, and the side ones are also alot shorter.... unless i can find a 77-80 gmc grill in great shape, it looks like I'll be stuck with chevy for a while longer.

[bake74]

     That GMC grille does not look 75-76 to me, it looks newer.

[Armor]

i was basing 75-76 because there are 3 "columns" cutting the grill into 3rds  , the 77+ had 5 columns. the guy i got it off of also said it was from his 75 that he switched to a billet grill, but there were no brackets of course.

[Armor]

Bringing this back from the dead in case it interests anyone, i made a set of side brackets as i could not find an OE one. i can also upload the templates and measurements if wanted/needed this weekend. Basically i bent up some sheetmetal in a pie shape, drilled holes for the support, and then marked the screw holes while centering the grill, worked like a charm and is flush with the trim. Looks so much better to me then the 5 column 76-80 grills!

[enaberif]

There are different sets of brackets and center braces depending on if you had a Chevy or GMC.

There are like 3 or 4 variations of the center brace depending on truck brand and if you had external or internal hood release.

[brewster]

If I had to guess I would say that is a 1976 grill because 1973-1974 the grills were farther into the truck, 1977-1980 had 5 vertical columns in the grill, leaving
Only 1975 and 1976, I'm not sure when it comes to gmc but on Chevys in 1975 they had a little emblem in the grill telling you what size motor it was, so I would guess 1976, here is my 1975 Chevy k20, if you look closely you can see the 350 emblem,




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[VileZambonie]

73-74 GMC is standalone. I have two sets of the GMC only brackets. The hood latch and bracket are different as well. That grille is 75-76 GMC and does not use the same inner brackets as the 73-74 GMC.

[LTZ C20]

What year exactly is your truck? Because based on your headlight bezels it looks 79-80 only. Those bezels were only on 79-80 trucks, nothing before or after that 2 years period.

Also your marker/signal lamps are orange housings and clear bulbs, that was on earlier 70s trucks only. If it really is a 79-80 truck, they should be opaque (clear) housings with orange bulbs.

Like this. This bezel-signal lamp combo is correct for 79-80 only.


This bezel-signal lamp combo is correct for early 70's. I want to say 73 or 74 for this truck.


I have a 73 and 79 chevy's and my friend has a 79 gmc. The bezel-signal lamp combo is the same for both mine and his 79's.

(Images borrowed from Google)