Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1941 Chev Truck Grille Fitting....

Hello, we are restoring a 1941 Chevrolet 1/2 ton truck and we have run into an issue fitting the lower grille assembly.The truck we are working on suffered front end damage so we are working with parts that were not part of the original assembly package. However, we are working with used original parts. The issue we are having is fitting the bottom part of the grille to valance assembly (the sheet metal part where the bumper brackets extend through). We are not able to easily line up the bottom of the grille with the valance, and we can also see that the mounting holes in the lower grille do not line up with the receiving mounting holes in the valance.
I guess our questions are as follows:

1) Are there any "tricks" or "techniques" necessary to fit the grille assembly on a 1941 style Chevrolet truck?

2) Is it possible that the valance assembly is either for a different year Chevrolet or possibly fits a GMC grille assembly, which would explain why the mounting holes are not lining up?

3) Are lower valances for 1941 GM trucks different between Chevrolet and GMC? And how does one tell the difference?

If you can help us by suggesting a way to solve this mystery without a lot of bending of old metal or needless drilling of more holes, we will be very happy to try it. Sincerely, Charles Evans

Make sure all bolts already in place are loose. Helps to move things around a bit.🛠

I agree with Martin.

Additionally, when I did this step a few months ago on my ‘46 the valance/grill fitting was a hassle as well. We used several tapered punches/drifts to align the holes and placed the bolts as possible. It took a few attempts to get the alignment completed. It helps to have someone “eyeball” the fit as you push and tug the pieces into alignment. Also, to prevent scratches on the painted adjacent parts, I used painters tape to protect the mating surfaces. It was removed afterwards.

Thanks for your responses. We'll keep at it, per your experiences above. I guess they're really isn't a different between the lower valances on Chevrolet vs. GMC? We only have one valance in fair shape, so we will do what it takes to make it fit.

Don’t have any info about the GMC comparison, sorry.

Charles,
You may have to get the grill as close as possible and then drill new holes in the valance to make everything fit. The old holes will not show as they are covered by the grill.
Harold

Thanks for everyone's input and I will post a photo of our project soon.

While the answer didn't come from here, I think I have concluded that the lower valances for Chevrolet and GMC are two different parts. The grille on the Chevrolet forms a "V " at the bottom, and the GMC grille is flat at the bottom. Apparently GM made the two front grilles totally non-interchangeable, which is kind of weird to believe that they would go to the trouble of two sets of tooling for the lower valance. But I do believe that we have a GMC lower valance and it will not fit Chevrolet.

I also found an original 41 GMC 1/2 pickup truck roaming around Reno, and can see that the shape of the two lower grilles, not just the style are different (GMCs are horizontal slats, Chevrolet are vertical). The upper grilles appear interchangeable except that GMC has a GMC badge incorporated into it.

Other signs that this is probably the case comes from the vendors. Filling Station in Oregon offers a fiberglass lower valance and they offer different part numbers to fit either GMC or Chevrolet, also pretty much confirming that the two styles are different.

So, with that said, we were able to fit our grille reasonably well on 3 sides, but the lower part will have to wait until we find a suitable lower valance, either out of original steel or just bite the bullet and buy a fiberglass panel.

Charles,
I think you’re very likely correct. I know that on the AD 47-53 Chevs and GMCs the lower balance on the grilles are very different.

Charles,
Did you get my PM last week?
Harold