I think your plan will work and look pretty decent. Although I like the grill mod in the blue truck shown in post 2 along with the black truck I don't like seeing the radiator and other sheet show up so obvious behind the great looking grill treatment. You loose focus on the grill mods themselves.
My 1.98 grill in my 71 GMC got started originally because my aunt wrecked the truck and I couldn't find a GMC nose in good shape to fix it for her. The tube grill started out chromed that got pretty rusty over the years. The emblem was in a broken grill I found next to my mailbox one day. I was going to put in a billet grill but the more I think about it I might just get this one powder coated and keep it.
And I need to do something about the white plastic jug showing through it.