how crazy is this idea?? I want to install a 71-72 grill on my 83 k10

[MannyDantyla]

Cool idea?  An abomination? Even doable??



I know a lot of people like the 81-87 front nose, but I much prefer the older 73-80 style. Mainly the shape of the fenders and the round headlights. But to do a front clip conversion, I would need new fenders, hood, radiator support, inner fenders, hood latch, hood hinges, wiper linkage, headlights, headlight bezels and buckets, turn signals, grill, grill trim....... too much.

So my idea is this: get some fender patch panels from  , weld them onto my current fender (wouldn't even have to cut the old fender!). And I can keep my current hood. Wouldn't have to mess with the latch or hinges. Would still have the pointy grill though. And no way is the older 73-80 grill going to fit because of the shape of the hood.

There's a guy on CL right now with like 8 grill shells from various 67-72 chevy and GMCs for $30-$50, they're all beat up but I might just pic one up and do a little prototyping with it. Would have to do some grinding and welding, buy some new headlights, custom fab the headlight buckets to the radiator support, etc.

If the old grill is too long (my 83 grill shell is 70" long, I've been told that a '72 grill shell is 74" long) then I will have to chop it. If it's has the wrong angle then it probably won't work at all. But, who knows, it just might work!

What do you think??

[zieg85]

Honestly, don't ruin your truck.  My $.02

[MannyDantyla]

Honestly, don't ruin your truck.  My $.02

Then you're not going to like that the pic of the brown truck is not mine, it's just some random image of a POS I found on the internet that had the right perspective for photoshoping.

this is my truck:


It's in pretty good shape, the exterior needs a few touchups but everyone loves the paint color (except for me). It has a good 350 engine with lots of new parts, edelbrock intake, dual exhaust, sm465 tranny, np205 t-case. Weak 10 bolt axles with the wrong gear ratios, however. I would want to lower it and put smaller tires on, paint it, do all the crazy crap to the body. And the interior is pretty rough. I'm trying to tune the engine but it's not running too well right now.

Think I should just sell it and look for something that is more aligned with what I want ??

[zieg85]

I like that truck, color combo is perfect, 4 speed stick.  Love the idea of stock height and 31" tires on it.  You got a keeper IMO

[Stewart G Griffin]

i think someone did this to an s-10 and i think it looked good, but i can't find the pictures.

[Stewart G Griffin]

Until then, enjoy these:
http://newaudicars.blogspot.com/2008/04/japanese-mini-cars-replicating-1970.html

And i think a woman came up with the idea in the above article.

[MannyDantyla]

haha, that's cool

thanks guys

[Stewart G Griffin]

Ok, not exactly an S-10 pickup, but you get the idea:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=382406

i say whatever you're happy with.

[Stewart G Griffin]

P.S.

If you look at the mini-Japanese examples, if the factory made them look like that i think they'd sell a whole lot more of them.......

[Captkaos]

None of the fender lines would match up so it would be a serious undertaking.