Why you Can't swap Chevy and GMC Fenders w/Pics

[Sinisterspeed]

I have been a member here a very short time. I was looking through all the posts trying to help where I can, Have some fun, and Most of all learn some more. It seems this is talked about more then anything else on this forum and like myself some people still don't know exactly why you cant use 69-72 fenders on a GMC or why you cant use 69-72 Chevy grills on any GMC fenders. So here goes:

After speaking with Longhorn Man about our trucks I was telling him about what parts I used to build my truck. When the fender subject came up he told me "I don't remember exactly why but I think it's something to do with the leading edge, but they wont work" I told him I thought I still had the old fenders that came on my longhorn I would go get them 40 miles away and find out for sure. Here's some pictures of what I found. It might help some others trying to change around front ends.









Other then the grill they will interchange. They bolt up and align perfectly everywhere else.

Since I got these fenders and doors off of a parts truck with no rust and the body work was already done on them (long story don't ask) I had originally mounted them on another truck that was rusted out in these locations. I kept them when I scrapped the "swiss cheese truck" and mounted them on this truck at the start of assembling the body. Since the truck is 2 weeks from hitting the paint shop this mistake,oversight or lack of knowledge how ever you want to put it cost me: Money spent on the bodywork and jamming of the chev fenders, 175.oo ea for new fenders re jamming the new ones 100.oo and 50.oo in fuel to go get some new ones. all in all this was about a 600.oo mistake that could have been worse if I had not talked to Longhorn Man and took a closer look there by catching it before I got it back from paint.

Thanks Longhorn Man I owe ya!

[Longhorn Man]

naaaa, you don't owe me. I'm book marking your thread and it'll be used for reference for a long time.
Glad we talked before you spent a LOT more money.

[chipflyer]

Well done sinister, very good info.

Jeff

[Sinisterspeed]

Well, yes and no. I overlooked it from the start since I had another 72 GMC that was titled as a 72 Chevy. I thought the grill and core were the only real differences... Owe well hopefully this info will help others not make this mistake as well.



On Paper this was a 2wd 1/2 ton 72 chevy.

[bigsnookmaster]

Aren't the GMC fenders able to work with the 67-68 setup on the Chevy's?Chime in if yiu know.

[Sinisterspeed]

Originally Posted by bigsnookmaster

Aren't the GMC fenders able to work with the 67-68 setup on the Chevy's?Chime in if yiu know.

Yes they can. 67 same Chevy/GMC no marker lights
68 Chev/GMC same
69-72 Chevy Fenders changed to the pictures above
68-72 GMC stayed with the same fenders all the way through once the addition of the marker lights no further changes were made to the GMC fenders.

[michael bustamante]

I have a 68 GMC fender on my 67 Chevy and the difference I noticed was the mounting holes for the front trim that needed to be filled and the mounting holes for the GMC fender emblem were placed lower than my Chevy emblem

[Jim_PA]

So, 67-72 GMC fenders will fit properly on 67-68 chevy?

Your info above makes it sound like no years interchange.

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by Jim_PA

So, 67-72 GMC fenders will fit properly on 67-68 chevy?

Your info above makes it sound like no years interchange.

Yes, this is correct. Of course you have the 67 no marker light issue, but otherwise they fit perfectly and work with the 67/68 Chevy grille or 67-72 GMC grille.

[68_chop_top]

Mine is a 68 chevy with 68 GMC fenders, core support, and grill. Of course I had to put the bowtie on the grill

[thewrai6th]

Well, good thing I only wasted 60 bucks on the pair of fenders. I didn't realize the grill would not fit right. I'm really glad I didn't sand and paint them yet. Great post!

[Palf70Step]

Very cool seeing the up close differences.

Thank you for putting it together.

[sandking]

Nice write up and pics!! Maybe you can shed some light here.... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=273942

[sandking]

That link comes back to this thread?? I just want to use '68 fenders with my '72 hood and grill, will it work? Sorry to hijack.

[Sinisterspeed]

72 Chev grill will not work on 68 Chev fenders, the hood will. You would have to use a 67 or 68 chev grill with those fenders.

Or a 67-72 GMC grill would work also.

The GMC fender pictured above is the same as a 68 Chevy fender that you are talking about. You will run into issues like seen above but the other way around you wont have the indentation where you need one. The hoods are the same size so it will fit just 67-68 has a slant nose while the 69-72 has the more straight up "Bull nose"

[frog trucker]

Thanks for the info! I plan on using '68 G.M.C. fenders to replace the rough ones on my '68 Chevy. I'm glad to know it will work!
____________________

Mark

[Longhorn Man]

actually... the hoods are not interchaingable.

[Sinisterspeed]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

actually... the hoods are not interchaingable.

Humm, Lets break this down as if we WERE planning on using GMC Stuff then go backward.

If you have a 72 GMC and you buy 68 Chevy Fenders.. It will work. Because GMC used the 68 fenders all the way through production of these trucks, that would tell me that if you had a 68 hood or a 72 hood it would be the same. So If you had 68 Chevy Fenders you then could install a 72 hood. When it comes to where the 68 Chevy grill match up and the 72 Chevy grill match up. That might be a difference that I am not aware of.

I am using this information from the GMC standpoint since the fenders are the same no matter what the hood is on a GMC then the only difference in the front end of any GMC is the Marker Lights in 67 and the slanted hood in 67-68. Therefore no mater what year hood you have it should fit.

Onto Chevy, I'm no expert on what interchanges here with hoods so I will leave these up to the guru's of the 2 headlight crowd. I was going off of the fitments of all the GMC stuff and the fact that the fenders do interchange and the hood still fits between slant nose years and bull nose years.

On the Chevy interchangeability as far as hoods from slant nose years to bull nose years. I will leave the exact reasoning if and why to someone who is more familiar to the 2 headlight applications.

Thanks Longhorn Man.

[raggedjim]

The 67-68 GMC grill has a different topbar designed to work with the 67-68 hood. The 69-72 GMC hood will have a heck of a gap if you try to use it with the 67-68 grill and topbar. The 67-68 hood will interfere if you try to use it with the 69-72 GMC topbar. The hood latches are also different from 67-68 to 69-72.

Trust me, I learned the hard way, Rg

[Sinisterspeed]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

The 67-68 GMC grill has a different topbar designed to work with the 67-68 hood. The 69-72 GMC hood will have a heck of a gap if you try to use it with the 67-68 grill and topbar. The 67-68 hood will interfere if you try to use it with the 69-72 GMC topbar. The hood latches are also different from 67-68 to 69-72.

Trust me, I learned the hard way, Rg

AH HA! Someone that could give us the exact reason that those parts do or dont fit! Nice... Thanks Rg!

[raggedjim]

No problem, Rg

[jorgensensc]

On a chevy the 67-68 hood only works on a 67-68. The core support for a 67-68 is also different than the other years (although some have been able to modify the other years to work. It has to do with the headlight stands). The hood releases are different as follows 67-68 69-70 71-72. THey actually put the release in different locations to correspond with the hood release hole in the different year grills. I will see if I can show a pic of the difference on the hood releases later since I have all three.
Shawn

[70cst]

This is an old post but informative ...

[oakstcustomz]

Ah man!!! This thread is so old the pics are not there anymore!! Any chance of getting em back??

[Sinisterspeed]

Originally Posted by oakstcustomz

Ah man!!! This thread is so old the pics are not there anymore!! Any chance of getting em back??

Yeah it's been along time since I posted this. I was just cleaning up my photobucket account and moved them. They're back up there now.