grill swap

[68c10owner]

What do I have to change to put a 86/87 grill on my 84?

[Captkaos]

the grille.

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

the grille.

lol thats it? they look like the lights are different so I thought there might be some wiring or something. Maybe some other pieces or something but if it`s that simple then cool.

[lolife99]

Headlight "doors" are different. (85, 86, 87 truck, and 88 'burb are the same)

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Headlight "doors" are different. (85, 86, 87 truck, and 88 'burb are the same)

Thanks. Are they just a bolt in?

[lolife99]

I believe so.

[C-10volvo]

WHYYY would you want to do that? The 83 and 84 have the best looking grills out of the 81-87's.

I remember somewhere there was a pencil drawing of all the grills from 73 to the 91 burb. Google has let me down.

[Captkaos]

Not the colored one, but this is on my old Geocities page

[Cherub]

right click save as.

nice drawing.

[Captkaos]

Sorry about not mentioning the headlights, yes they are different, and yes they will bolt in.
Headlight bezels and grilles break down like this
81-82
83-84
85-87

[tgh117]

I think you actually have to change out the entire radiator support. If your truck is a dual light setup now (I assume since 83-84), it will not have the correct holes to mount the parking lights on the bottom. The top headlight holes are the same, but the lower holes are different for the different year trucks. Not to mention the wiring harness, but that goes along with the whole headlight thing. I just happen to have a radiator support off an 86, and one off an 84, so here are the pics showing the differences. You will notice that your grille doesn't have the holes to mount the parking lights, so you have two options, leave your old lights in and just change the grille in the center, or you can attempt to drill holes and put in the 86 style parking lights.

The first pic is the 84, and the second pic is the 86. You can easily see the differences, even though I took both pics from the back (way too much digging to turn them around) Good luck.



Sorry the pics are kind of crappy, you will see on the picture on the right (86) there are two holes on the top of the lower light hole, and one on the bottom, this would be where the parking light bolts.

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by C-10volvo

WHYYY would you want to do that? The 83 and 84 have the best looking grills out of the 81-87's.

I remember somewhere there was a pencil drawing of all the grills from 73 to the 91 burb. Google has let me down.

Because I like the later year look better but if I have to change the support I`m not going to do it. I don`t mind the look of the 84 grill, I just think the later grill looks cleaner.

[Square84]

Originally Posted by 68c10owner

Because I like the later year look better but if I have to change the support I`m not going to do it. I don`t mind the look of the 84 grill, I just think the later grill looks cleaner.

the grille will bolt in regardless but if your 84 has four headlights then you need to get the headlight bezels from an 85-87 with four headlights. all will bolt right in you only need to change the core support if you are going from a quad headlight setup to a dual headlight with parklights underneath. look through your lmc catalog it will explain all your questions.

[Captkaos]

1981 - 1988 4 headlight core supports are identical

1981 - 1988 2 headlight core supports are identical.

[68c10owner]

Originally Posted by Captkaos

1981 - 1988 4 headlight core supports are identical

1981 - 1988 2 headlight core supports are identical.

Ok, you guys are confusing me with the 2 light and 4 light thing. My truck has a single light with a turn signal under it. does that mean I can`t put the 87 style grill and headlight assembly in my truck without changing the core support?

[Captkaos]

If you are putting a 87 2 headlight in there (as in 1 on each side) yes.
If it is a 4 headlight setup, No.

[kevinr1970]

Originally Posted by 68c10owner

Ok, you guys are confusing me with the 2 light and 4 light thing. My truck has a single light with a turn signal under it. does that mean I can`t put the 87 style grill and headlight assembly in my truck without changing the core support?

Allow me to contribute to your confusion.
I *believe* that no matter what your headlight setup is (quad/two per side vs. dual/one per side) the center grill is interchangeable. Three screws on the top and three on the bottom?

The problem comes with the bezels, trim or "doors" as some call them.

I have been told quite forcefully that the grill is the same for either quad or dual for the repective years (example: the same grill is used on all '85-87's no matter how many headlights you have) but I am still convinced that is not true. I think that since the dual headlights are bigger, the "center" of the bezel is lower and the grill matches up to that.
At least on an '85-87 truck. I am not so sure for other years.

The only ramification of this is that the center bar of your bezels won't match up to the center bar for your grill. But on '85-87 trucks this isn't realy an issue as the bezels do not have a center bar.
But on the '81-82/83-84 grills I am not sure what the bezels look like as far as center bars go.
If you get the bezels with the grill you should be good though.

Does that confuse people more? My work here is done...

[68c10owner]

THanks guys. I think I`ll just leave it alone for now,lol. I like the look of the 86/87 grill with dual headilights but I`m not about to start changing out stuff right now. Maybe down the road when this truck isn`t a daily driver anymore.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by kevinr1970

Allow me to contribute to your confusion.
I *believe* that no matter what your headlight setup is (quad/two per side vs. dual/one per side) the center grill is interchangeable. Three screws on the top and three on the bottom?

The problem comes with the bezels, trim or "doors" as some call them.

I have been told quite forcefully that the grill is the same for either quad or dual for the repective years (example: the same grill is used on all '85-87's no matter how many headlights you have) but I am still convinced that is not true. I think that since the dual headlights are bigger, the "center" of the bezel is lower and the grill matches up to that.
At least on an '85-87 truck. I am not so sure for other years.

The only ramification of this is that the center bar of your bezels won't match up to the center bar for your grill. But on '85-87 trucks this isn't realy an issue as the bezels do not have a center bar.
But on the '81-82/83-84 grills I am not sure what the bezels look like as far as center bars go.
If you get the bezels with the grill you should be good though.

Does that confuse people more? My work here is done...

He's exactly right. The center section will interchange. Just buy new 85-87 single headlight doors and you're done if you want to retain the 2 headlight core support. ...Joe

[grinch4om]

I have a GMC, 84, 4 headlights. The grill was broken so I put a 4 headlight grill and doors from an 88 suburban. EVERYTHING swaped right out. hope this helps

[SBTork]

Originally Posted by 68c10owner

Because I like the later year look better but if I have to change the support I`m not going to do it. I don`t mind the look of the 84 grill, I just think the later grill looks cleaner.

true, post some pics when complete for a little before and after