[Tim66]

Does anyone know what needs to be done to the radiator support to make it fit.
It's a 69 gto reproduction radiator support and I was told that you need to make some adjustments,any help would be appreciated.Thank you
Tim

[dataway]

"Adjustments" would be putting it lightly.

I started this thread a while back to cover much of the process.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=835789

Some people do manage to jam them in there without the modifications I think. But I can only imagine it bites them in the ass when it comes to get the gaps right.

[Tim66]

Hi,thank you for responding.I looked at you're thread ,looks like I have a bit of work to do.Although you did most of it,how did it end up fitting?

Thank you again,Tim.

[mrennie]

I had the same issues. Probably 10-15 hours of screwing around to the get the angle right and all welded back up and then found after it was painted and on the car that that it wasn't square (top rail was spot welded 1" over to one side compared to bottom rail).

These things are quite crappy unless you have nothing usable. In my case my original was rotten and badly damaged and shipping was a killer so I went with the repro.

[Carousel72TRed]

Originally Posted by Tim66

Does anyone know what needs to be done to the radiator support to make it fit.
It's a 69 gto reproduction radiator support and I was told that you need to make some adjustments,any help would be appreciated.Thank you
Tim

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[Sidponcho]

I have a spare 68 (oem) in New England if anyone needs it

[dataway]

Originally Posted by Tim66

Hi,thank you for responding.I looked at you're thread ,looks like I have a bit of work to do.Although you did most of it,how did it end up fitting?

Thank you again,Tim.

Have yet to get the fenders and hood installed, checked the angle of the top plate and distance to the firewall etc. and it seems good so far.

Will be spring before the rest of sheet metal is fitted.

It's a pain, but not really a huge obstacle if you have the tools. Drilling spot welds, some bending, welding. Just kind of an awkward piece to work on. A lot of my time was spent just figuring out what the heck was wrong with it. Became somewhat obvious when I took it out of the box and bolted it to the frame and it stood straight up. I was in denial that it could have been manufactured so wrong.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Carousel72TRed

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If only that were all...right dataway?

[Carousel72TRed]

I was only trying to help. I bought a 69 GTO for parts in the 80’s and took the core support out of it and put it in mine since it was in a fender bender and bent the original core support.The bottom holes were badly corroded and we cut them out and welded new pieces in and it came out good. Just goes to show you a lot of times these repro parts are bunk but what are you going to do since you can’t get OEM or NOS parts anymore.


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[dataway]

Hey, it was helpful, the work outlined in the catalog ALSO has to be done to make them right

[Greg Reid]

My post wasn't intended to be critical or to 'call you out' 72 red... Hope it wasn't taken that way. I just happened to recall all of the work that dataway had to perform to get it to fit and that none of it is mentioned in the catalog.

[Carousel72TRed]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

My post wasn't intended to be critical or to 'call you out' 72 red... Hope it wasn't taken that way. I just happened to recall all of the work that dataway had to perform to get it to fit and that none of it is mentioned in the catalog.

No it wasn’t Greg. I was unaware of just how crappy these repro core supports are. I am glad I had a core support from my parts GTO to use in mine since my original was bent from a fender bender long ago. I really enjoy corresponding with you guys and have learned a lot from all of you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and

Carousel 72TRed


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[dataway]

Just thought of another thing .... The repops don't come with nuts welded on the bottom side of the top plate for the metal fan guard to bolt to, just has the holes. I used rivet nut threaded inserts rather than putting bolts in all the holes, nuts on the bottom and tacking into place (although that would be a more correct way to do it)

[n20ta2]

My repro is horrible as well. It was on the car when I bought it and the top of mine was welded 1"off as well. someone shifted it 1/2 inch over at the mount and then elongated the fender holes to shift the fenders in the same direction. I fixed it but what a pain.

[dataway]

Jeez I hope mine isn't that way when I test fit the fenders .... it would have to come back off again and be reworked again.

Is it the whole top plate ... so that the fan finger guard and everything would be off center? If so ... huge pain, as all the holes for everything that mounts to the top would have to be re-drilled. So far mine looks like the fan and everything is center properly.

I don't understand why not one vendor tells you how horrible they are, must have shipped 20,000 of them in one batch years ago and everyone wants to unload them.

[n20ta2]

It was the top rail like mrennie posted above. I cut the tack welds and slid it over to line up with the bottom rail. You should be able to pick it out easily if yours is the same way.

[mrennie]

I found out too late that mine was "off" as it was already painted and was during the panel alignment that I figured it out.

I ended up enlarging the bolt holes at the bottom corners for the lower fender brackets as well as the bottom rad support mounts and lower valance panel and shifted everything around so most things are "half wrong" rather than anything being really noticeable.

Again, these things are a total POS that take a lot of work to make close to right. It is good these things are available but as others have said, they should come with a disclaimer and instructions on all the work required to get them correct.