Separate 71/72 Inner Grill From Surround?

[Ironhorse]

Have been playing with these trucks for a good many years but never needed to do this? How does one separate the inner plastic eggcrate grill from the aluminum 71/72 outer surround successfully with no eggcrate damage? I have a really nice inner but the surround has a nasty tear about 6'' long at the lower section. Have looked and it seems the inner is held in place by plastic clips or inserts that are split similar to license plate plastic retainers. Also need to remove the two grill supports but since they are riveted will just drill them off.

[Lee H]

I've had these egg crate grills out several times over the years for painting or replacement (last one about 15 years ago) and don't recall any challenges. Think you just remove the outer shell and unscrew the plastic grill. Seem to remember 8-10 screws that hold the grill to the shell.

[Ironhorse]

Inner grill and the aluminum surround are out and free, not mounted to a truck. Looking at the inner grill there are numerous white plastic "clips" or inserts that aid in mounting the inner plastic grill to the aluminum surround. The clips/inserts are split in four sections on the back side and a single hole on the front I presume for the screw. Thinking I need to remove the clips/inserts to separate the two pieces but not sure can do so with out breaking them? Plastic gets real brittle with age and don't want to damage in eggcrate grill. The clips/inserts I don't care about so much.

Getting ready to do a 2 day out of town swap meet and will get back to this thread with some pics at a later point.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Gary, on my '70 I did just as you described to remove the inner grille. Yes, had to drill the rivets on the end brackets. I used KEPS style fasteners to replace them. I still have some of them if you need them. I also used these fasteners to secure the outer grille to the core support. They look like rivets on the top but are threaded and use a nut with a captive star washer.

[Casper42]

you don't need to remove the outer surround to swap out the center egg crate. However, you'll need to remove that very center vertical support that mounts to the radiator support. Next, remove all (theres four, on top and four on bottom - if I recall) of the top and bottom screws, which will allow the squarish clips (that the screws go into) to be manually pushed out of the metal surround. The install of the egg crate is a bit tricky and easier with the entire grille surround removed, but not necessary. Search Youtube for some "improvised coaxing tools" to get those tricky squarish clips (for the screw to go in)

[Ironhorse]

Thanks for all the replies and tips. Wil dig into this further after I recover from this two day swap meet I just set up at. I don't do getting up at 04:30 in the AM as well as I used to when I was working, LOL. Much appreciate all the tips.

[Richard]

Could have just removed bolts to fenders on outer supports. No need to drill rivets. Been a while but I remember screws in the plastic fasteners holding the inner grill in. I used an aftermarket inner grill on the nos outer I have. It fit fine. With a bit of caressing. Could not stomach the cost of the nos inner. It was the nos outer grill that needed a bit of filing on the fastener holes that needed some attention. Inner grill hardware kit I used https://classicparts.com/1969-72-inn...l-fastener-kit
A complete grill mounting fastener kit https://classicparts.com/1969-72-com...l-fastener-kit Hope this helps.