71-72 front grill installation

[ChevyMex]

I have bought inner and outer grills, both are repro parts. I also bought the grille hardware kit, but im strugling trying to insert the plastic nut into the outer grill, i am putting alot of pressure and it looks like these nuts will not go inside the outer grill square holes, is there a procedure to install this plastic nuts? or i just need to give up and work around and use standard metal nuts and screws?

[matthufham]

1) hot glue!
2) you could trim the nuts
3) enlarge the holes
4) there's always zip ties, 1 or 2 zip ties can't hold it but if you do all 8 or so holders with zip ties it'll work.
5) nuts and bolts. that's my last resort because it's the most expensive way to go if you don't have that many matching nuts and bolts.

[71RestoRod]

I've done it a couple of ways... there is certainly no need to trim the nuts, enlarge the holes or glue them in.

One way that works well is to find a nut that is just bigger than the head of the plastic piece... but shallow. You can grind it down if necessary. Tape it on the end of a small c-clamp. You get the idea... clamp the plastic into the aluminum while supporting it with the nut. You can also use the open end of a wrench with the c-clamp if you have three hands.

[ChevyMex]

I have enlarged the 5 lower holes and believe me i sweat as a pig, it took me 2 hours between grinding and pushing the nuts. Now, i will not go the same with the upper holes because the inner upper tabs are so delicated, i will go with nuts an bolts. I did a test with an original outter grill and the nut just went in with no major problems, so these repro´s sucks!!!, another road block are the left and right fender bracketsm i was thinking to use one pair out of a 69 chevy truck but the lower 2 holes are not going to fit, is there a diference between 69 and 72 bracket or grill supports?

[subtle71]

I now have my fourth grille assembly under my belt. I understand exactly what you are talking about. I know that on a couple of them I have had to a pair of vise grip pliars to "clamp" and snap the white vinyl pieces into place. Once the screw is installed, it will spread to hold the inner and outer grille together.

[ChevyMex]

Definitly are diferent designs, 69 and 71-72 grill support brackets are not interchangeable, they changed the design of the lower 2 holes..crap!!

[jondancer]

Anyone else just use nuts and bolts ?

[sfont66]

I found the same problem when i replaced my grill on my 72 last summer. this is what i did: take a piece of 100 or 150 grit sand paper and lay it on a flat surface. next take the plastic nut and sand a bit off each edge that pushes into the outer grill. count how many strokes you sand off each edge , say like 5 each edge and then test it to see if you can push it into the outer grill a bit easier. once you get the first one in and how much to sand it the rest will go pretty quick.