phantom grille

[lotik]

i am about to attempt to put this thing in. the instructions for it arent worth a damn. i figure i paid $250 for i ought to get half way decent instructions. so any input or suggestions ffrom any of you that have done this would be appreciated?

pictures would be extra nice.

[72chevyLWB]

Its a major pain to do. I just did mine last summer. Not much for tips you can use. Be really careful cutting out all the black in the outer grille (around headlamps). Then you will have to cut the billet to fit inside the grille. Then just mount the brackets, which is easy to find a place to mount. For the headlights, butch off the brackets that are on the radiator support for the headlights to mount to. Then just find a way to mount your old headlamp screws to go into the radiator support for adjustment. I did that on mine and there is maybe a 1/4" gap between the billet and the headlights and you can stick a screwdriver between the bars to adjust them. If you have anymore questions just ask and I can run out to the shed and check things on my truck. And I don't have any pics unless somebody might have saved them before. My mom deleted all my crap.

[72chevyLWB]

here's a link of what I did for headlights. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...hlight=Phantom

[lotik]

what did you use to cut the billet and out grille shell? than did you file your cuts or sand them?

did you have to cut any out of your fenders? (it says you have to in the directions)

also, what exactly do you have to do to the latch with the relocator?

thanks for your help

[72chevyLWB]

I just used a hacksaw to cut out the billet and the shell. Leave enough so you can roll the edges to make it smooth. and just do a million notches in the corners to roll them nice. Its a horrid job to do, there is no easy way. There is one part in both fenders that sticks out that is in the way I just put tape over it and then hit it with a hammer and knocked it in, then touched it up. Mine did not come with a latch relocator so I can't help you there. I'm 18 and can fit my fingers through the billet, it hurts but I can make them fit between the grille shell and the top billet bar. I left a little gap for that.

[71sub]

Hey Lotik ... where did you get the phantom grill for $250 ?
I want to do my 72 ..... soon.

[lotik]

71 sub: aftermarket wholesale

72chevyLWB: how did you mount the grille to the outer griller shell? they have little brackets coming off of the grille but they dont really line up with anything? do i drille holes in them? and they say rivet but i dont want to rivet where you can see on the shell. thanks

[lotik]

ttt

[lotik]

ttt

[Smooth68]

found this old email a guy sent me about installing a phantom grill - give it a read, not sure if it will help or not.

"To begin with I used two radiator supports, pieces from the original grille,
& some long treaded studs (4 per side). To put this grille on, you have
to sink in the headlights inorder for the grille to fit flush. The grille
itself is about half an inch deep, and about 1 to 2 inches to wide, if you
see in one of my pics, you can see the grille still in the wrapper overlaying
the frontend, the grille is as wide as the frontend.
Well Brett, let me see if I don't confuse myself & you while I try to explain
how I did it.
I started with a cherry radiator support (1972), I cut off the headlight
mounts, & the bucket, then I cut out a hole the size of the headlight.
On the second radiator support (1968), I cut off a square section of the
area surrounding the headlight mounting bucket.
Being that the radiator supports are all the same, the square section would
overlay over the 72 support, thus centering the headlight in the opening. The
4 treaded studs were bolted to the 72 support, one on each corner of the
square cutout. This will let you adjust the headlight assembly, by moving the
whole square cutout on these 4 treaded studs, you will be able to adjust
deepness the headlight assembly has to go into the radiator support inorder
to clear the grille. Once you have the deepness done, you can just use
locknuts to bolt the assembly inplace. Then I cut the excess treaded stud
off.This pretty much somes up the radiator support mod.
These two radiator supports were spares I had, I didn't use the original. So
if I messed up I wouldn't be screwed. Same goes for the original grille, I
had two slightly damaged grilles to play with.
Of the original grille, I cut off the center portion, I used the top rail &
bottom rail.

As for the grille itself, I bought mine thur East Coast Customs. I had to
cutoff about 2inches on top/bottom portion of the ends of the grille, roughly
an inch off the middle portion ends, plus I cut off 2 rows off the bottom of
the grille. To cut it I used a dremel."

[72chevyLWB]

I'll check it out on my truck tonight. Try to take a pic, but the storage area is kind of dark. I'll let you know.