Don;
Where have I been to miss this entire thread !@##$% I had come here to start a new thread on fender welting
Your latest is correct. If the center molding is in its proper place in the slots it will NOT act as a spacer to raise your upper grill. There should be 11 slots for the molding, one centered over each of the grill bars that are attached to that wide flat piece that is supposed to be painted.
Seems that I agree with all of the guys and your findings about the grill bar spacing. I eventually found that one of my upper grill bars had been rewelded about 3/8” too low. However I do not know if it will entirely correct my problem as the whole front end is currently off. I do have the upper grill with me here at the computer and am going to try to measure something on the bar spacing.
At the outside edges the grill bars are welded to the mounting bracket only in there center web. This means spacing between the bars at the outside edge is also a function of how straight the top and bottom flanges are. Mine very between ¾” to 7/8” spaces between the bars.
In the grill center the bottom 3 grill bars are welded to the center support only on the under side of the top flange. So this means spacing between the bars at the center is also dependent on how straight the bottom flanges are. The space between the weld tabs on the center support on mine is 2 1/16”. The upper bar is attached by its bottom flange and I can not measure this for you as that is where mine was broken.
Currently the spacing between my grill bars at the center is fairly close to 7/8
