Factory grille fitment issues

[1500z71]

Maybe the fenders are aftermarket then?

They’re factory

 

[1500z71]

All great answers guys thank you. Had another thought - it is a ‘93 with a ‘96 grille, so I wonder if it could have something to do with the radiator core? Long shot but aren’t the 88-93’s slightly different, and no one’s ever picked up on this issue when they do the swap?

 

[1500z71]

I swapped out my work truck grille to the chrome grille and came across the same issue. I used an aftermarket grille too, and I think there just molded terrible. The bottom tabs didn't want to snap in place so I took a small screw and drilled it through the tabs while pushing into the grille and it helped suck it in a little but there's still somewhat of a noticeable gab between the fender and grille.

How did you that screw? Do you have pictures? I was thinking of pulling the parking light out and running a couple zip tips from the grille tab to the filler piece or to the core to fix my one broken tab

 

[someotherguy]

All great answers guys thank you. Had another thought - it is a ‘93 with a ‘96 grille, so I wonder if it could have something to do with the radiator core? Long shot but aren’t the 88-93’s slightly different, and no one’s ever picked up on this issue when they do the swap?

I have a '98 GMC grille on my '93 GMC with the original core support. I changed the parts. It fits correctly, with a fairly uniform gap all the way around, that is only slightly wider than the gap to the hood.

On yours, it appears different from driver to passenger in the pics - as well as the driver side pokes out more at the bottom, than the top. It sure looks to me like it's not clicked in to the filler strip correctly, but that would only explain part of the fitment issue. Note it has to click into the three retaining tabs but also there are other tabs that aren't retainers but simply guides; it can be easy to miss getting it correctly aligned into all of them.

Something is likely interfering with yours fitting properly; you're gonna have to do some really good inspection and see what it is. The molding of the aftermarket grilles and OEM grilles definitely differ in a lot of areas, so what may not have "hit" on the aftermarket, may be in the way with the OEM.

When changing between the two different grille designs on these trucks (88-93, 94-98) there are a lot of parts to consider to make everything fit correctly, but the core support is not one of them - other than the early supports don't have the slots for the "hooks" on the 94-98 filler strip, and the holes in the correct spots for some of the screws.

Something I will mention that I really haven't seen discussed before is the 88-93 grille often seems to fit slightly closer to the body than 94-98. This results in a "bugged-out" headlight appearance. Can vouch for this with all OEM parts including headlights, on my '93, before I changed it to '98. That doesn't explain what's going on in your situation, but I say this so you don't go crazy trying to replicate the near-zero gap the older setup can have. There will be *some* gap with the 94-98 setup - but only about 5/16", uniform top to bottom.

Richard

 

[1500z71]

I have a '98 GMC grille on my '93 GMC with the original core support. I changed the parts. It fits correctly, with a fairly uniform gap all the way around, that is only slightly wider than the gap to the hood.

On yours, it appears different from driver to passenger in the pics - as well as the driver side pokes out more at the bottom, than the top. It sure looks to me like it's not clicked in to the filler strip correctly, but that would only explain part of the fitment issue. Note it has to click into the three retaining tabs but also there are other tabs that aren't retainers but simply guides; it can be easy to miss getting it correctly aligned into all of them.

Something is likely interfering with yours fitting properly; you're gonna have to do some really good inspection and see what it is. The molding of the aftermarket grilles and OEM grilles definitely differ in a lot of areas, so what may not have "hit" on the aftermarket, may be in the way with the OEM.

When changing between the two different grille designs on these trucks (88-93, 94-98) there are a lot of parts to consider to make everything fit correctly, but the core support is not one of them - other than the early supports don't have the slots for the "hooks" on the 94-98 filler strip, and the holes in the correct spots for some of the screws.

Something I will mention that I really haven't seen discussed before is the 88-93 grille often seems to fit slightly closer to the body than 94-98. This results in a "bugged-out" headlight appearance. Can vouch for this with all OEM parts including headlights, on my '93, before I changed it to '98. That doesn't explain what's going on in your situation, but I say this so you don't go crazy trying to replicate the near-zero gap the older setup can have. There will be *some* gap with the 94-98 setup - but only about 5/16", uniform top to bottom.

Richard

Yes - the larger gap on the driver side is from a broken tab on that side. All headlights, parking, and corners are aftermarket and have been since the swap. I bet the issue may lie there somewhere. They're Spyder and Anzo, so "name" brand as one might get... but looking at it again, the upper part of the grille seems to contact first as I have paint worn down at that upper most corner on the inner tab of the fender.