78 Core Siupport question

[meanbite]

I ordered a core support that is supposed to be a NOS that includes the 78 model year. It's like new but doesn't quite match the one on my truck that is rusted. There is a diagonal oval shaped hole under the headlights where mine has a small round hole. There may be other differences but I'm wondering if any of ya'll can shed some light on the differences.

Heres a pic:

[RandyP]

Even "way back when" they had slight design changes year to year. The replacement might not be an exact, but should work w/out issue. I'd look it all over and make sure all the bolt holes are there and nothing else is majorly different. 14014230 is the correct part # for 78-80 core support.

Also, what's the chances somewhere in your trucks life someone replaced the support with a 77 model?

[meanbite]

Thanks for the reply. I'll do a side by side comparison once i take the one out of my truck. This truck was my moms when it was new then my dads since then so I know it's never been changed.

[RandyP]

Possible they just made the pass through hole(s) different for the replacements or something. We see it a lot in the body shop industry here actually. Replacement parts can be slightly different than the ones we removed, but they work/function the same. At times we're actually amazed with replacement parts and redesigns, even on a vehicle that is current year model or just a few years old.
Sometimes our estimating system will have a footnote that tells us "design change, must also replace...." and then tells us what all else must be swapped out to make it work.

[meanbite]

Oh cool,, thanks a lot for that insite. I plan on finding nos fencers, inner fenderes and hood before putting any of this on.