Replacement Stock like grille for 83 and 84 Chevy (eBay grille review with pics!)

[blakeduren]

My 83 C20 Suburban had the original grill. It had many cracks in it. I have tried to repair and patch it a few times. Some repairs better than others.
I took it off the other day and realized that the four mounting points on the corners were all broke, sure the middle top 3 and the bottom center was there, but the grille was not staying put like it should. I've looked on and off over the last year for a replacement for the 83-84 chevy trucks, and couldn't find an OEM one. I broke down and ordered a replacement from eBay. It is of course made in china. It says that it has "all the mounting holes" and that it is a "factory replacement". Well, most of that is true. It was only $45 total, shipped, so it this was a cheap experiment.

First off, the non-OEM grilles can't put the raised center section for the bowtie for obvious legal reasons.
However, you can just drill two holes to mount the bowtie. The bowtie will not be as "proud" or "raised up" from the main grill surface, but it's close enough.
The trim did fit, but it was a bit off, so I had to elongate a few holes to get everything lined up just right. The upper mount points were a bit rough around the edges, so I smoothed them before putting on the factory speed nuts.
The factory turn signals fit right in, but the posts for bolting them in are a bit smaller that the factory posts, so you will need to get some "thread cutting nuts" from your local AutoZone-like store. I had to buy 2 packages to get all four nuts required.
The grille fit in a bit tighter than the factory one, which is fine. All the mounting holes lined up.
Take a look at the pics and judge for your self. I think it worked out fine.
Yes, I need to clean my suburban, and get the bugs off the headlight bezels.

[Claytona08]

Looks great! I will eventually need to change out the grille on my 84'

[blakeduren]

Yup, I looked around and couldn't find anybody who used one of these grilles, so I thought I would share my experiences.
It looks close enough to factory that most people won't know the difference.

[mgchevyparts]

There was a huge lawsuit about the Bowtie on the aftermarket grilles, Evidently GM prevailed and the aftermarket was forced to remove the Bowite mounting "pad" as they use to make them. For the price it looks pretty darn good to me.

[tucsonjwt]

I was able to epoxy thin strips of aluminum to reattach the broken top corner mounts and span the cracks on the backside of my original 83 grille. I am waiting for the stainless steel plastic mounting clips for the grille surround before I reinstall it. I will take some before/after installation pics if it works out.

If it works, I think one advantage is that the broken top corners fall down between the radiator and the grille. So, when you remove the grille the broken pieces should be there to retrieve/reattach.

[SeanPaintsFlames]

I got one of those too. It was cheaper than what I could get one for from Keystone with our shop discount. I ended up doing the same things you did- mounting the bowtie even without the pad, elongating the molding holes. One of the lower corner mounting ears came broken on mine, though. For $45, I just painted it and installed it anyway! I have a big push bar in front of the grille anyway.
Great review!

[blakeduren]

I was surprised how well the argent silver paint matched the factory headlight bezels.