How?

[etg]

I need to take the front clip off of my truck tomorrow to allow for easier placement of the engine and tranny when I drop them in. My buds told me it was easier to take off everything from the firewall forwards while still attached, that is to take off the fenders frontclip grill and all that stuff off but keep those same parts attached. I was just wondering where th main bolts were that I needed to take out or that I might have trouble finding. Anyhelp is appreciated.

[72CSTC5]

Remove the hood, remove your cowl top panel after removing the wipers. You will see two bolts at the tops of the fenders, remove these two. Look underneath the bottom of the fenders and you will see a screw that goes in to the fenders, remove both of those. Now, I think it would be easier to remove the bolts out of the fender liners to seperate those so as to not be so clumsy but some on here may disagree. Unplug your wiring that runs along the core support, unloosen the two coresupport bolts and remove bumper bolts while you are there and lift off the front end. Unplug the front marker wiring harness too that run through the coresupport. Good luck and call some friends to help you lift off.

[shifty]

I used the forum search feature up in the top right and looked for "remove front clip". got lots of results, including a thread I started when taking mine off a long time ago:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=173623

DO NOT REMOVE THE HOOD. Keep it latched, that's what's gonna keep everything together and lined up. Tape the edges of your fenders where they meet the door - trust me, I have a ton of paint chips b/c I didn't. Blue painters tape works fine.

If you lived near me, I'd sell you or let you borrow my front clip dolly I made from some 2x6's

[shifty]

Hey, while that entire thread is a good read, here is the nitty gritty:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...7&postcount=46

That literally is a step by step. see post #32 on the first page for more info. Here's a link: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...5&postcount=32

Some fun pics there also.

[krue]

with shifty. It's a lot easier to pull the engine with the clip off. But I wouldn't pull the clip JUST to pull the engine/tranny. It's more trouble than it's worth unless you have another reason to remove the clip.

[shifty]

And, the reality is, there is always, always more to do with the front clip off. When I realized how easy and cheap it was to completely rebuild the entire steering and suspension, I did it ($140 total). It would have been super easy to redo all the brakes and other crap also. I would have done that too if it was needed. With the front clip on, this stuff is a total bear and a half.

Overall, the worst part was getting the thing lined up when putting it back on. Things don't quite look like they are correct....so, I will impart some advice on you also, for when you put it back on:

Get someone to help you put the front clip "roughly" in place. Manually line up the two holes where the radiator support meets the frame mounts in front. Drop your carriage bolts into the holes. Get a Floor jack and a 2x4. Jack the truck up under the radiator support using this getup until one of the two holes on the cowl are lined up. Loosely screw in one bolt on each side, then use the jack to "dial-in" each side individually. When it's "dialed-in", put the other cowl bolt in, put in the bolt that you gotta open the door to get to, then do the bolt under the truck on the inside of the door. Once you do both sides like this, THEN do the final bolt on the inner fender. Last, bolt down the front clip.

I think you will find this easiest if you do it this way. The only time you will need another person's help is to physically pull the front clip off, then put it back on.

Don't forget to remove the brace on the fender before lifting everything up Also, double-check for wires and crap before you start yankin' Trust me!

[wibilly]

carful i did that a year ago and it ended up becoming a total frame off with all kinds of cool sh!t these trucks never came with and 4 more project trucks and i lost count of the parts trucks, thanks guys , it would have never come to this if i hadn't found this site

[shifty]

Originally Posted by wibilly

carful i did that a year ago and it ended up becoming a total frame off with all kinds of cool sh!t these trucks never came with and 4 more project trucks and i lost count of the parts trucks, thanks guys , it would have never come to this if i hadn't found this site

[etg]

Thanks for the help guys, since I started kind of late today I was only able to take off the cowl and fender bolts near the door, as well as all of the inner fender bolts. I loosened the radiator support bolts, but it was too dark to keep going once the nut spun with the bolt. I broke off 2 bolts, on on the cowl and one for the fender, and I broke 2 sockets as well, this bad boy has tons of rust locked parts. It's in worse condition than I thought, makes me wanna buy a whole nother truck or project vehicle =(

[shifty]

Nonsense. Work with what ya got man, it will all be worth it in the end!

I had my fair share of letdowns. The worse it is, the more rewarding the end result will be.

Now you get to invest in a bolt removal kit Go get a can of PB Blaster too.

I was shocked to find the amount of rust I did when I pulled my front clip off, but you gotta remember that these trucks are about 40yrs old...and all iron/steel.

[etg]

As encouraging as your words may be, and as rewarding as the final payout sounds, working with a truck this badly rusted is a little past my bank and experience. I ended up not unscrewing a bolt but just ripping the metal off of the 2 different parts it connected because the panels were that rusted. The roof has about half of the inner sheet metal, the other half rusted away. The roof itself has full on rust-through spots all along the drip rails for about 6 inches wide. The floors are step through floors, straight up Flinstones status. I might buy another truck for about 400 and that's a running , hopefully straight, truck. Last time I set an offer sit tooo long and Imissed the deal of a lifetime. We'll see though. Thanks for the help shifty.

[shifty]

No problem. Bookmark this thread for reference, you might need it in the future.

You can always use the truck you got now for a parts truck. Good luck with whatever you do!

[Blue85]

Originally Posted by shifty

And, the reality is, there is always, always more to do with the front clip off. When I realized how easy and cheap it was to completely rebuild the entire steering and suspension, I did it ($140 total).

Holy crap shifty, how did you get parts so cheap?

[shifty]

I shouldn't have said steering and SUSPENSION. New tie rods, sleeves, pitman arm, idler arm....everything but springs and ball joints were replaced with Moog parts, all from the local auto parts store. $140 for everything. I pulled the center link out and refurbed it while I was at it. when I was done, I had this:

http://satellitehead.com/uploads/steering.jpg

(I added power steering while at it - that was another $130, I think? I forget.)

Either way - the bottom line is, once the front clip is off, if you look at that picture up there, this is the access you have. Everything instantly becomes super easy to work on if you don't have a lift in your shop. I could have done a lot more - all from spending 30 minutes taking off my front clip and another 2 hours putting it back on. It was worth sparing the busted knuckles