NOS grilles for 81 Cutty, fitment issues

[tobyp]

I have a set of NOS grilles for my 81 Olds I received as a Christmas present. I believe that these are from the 86 model. These are the vertical billet style. What stinks is the fitment of the grilles in the header panel. It seems that I cannot get these to line up correctly with the body. Does anyone know if there is some interchangability problems from early to later models?

I received a Hurst style from chickenhead a few months back from an 84, I beleive and the fitment is spot on.

 

[Evan11]

I have a set of NOS grilles for my 81 Olds I received as a Christmas present. I believe that these are from the 86 model. These are the vertical billet style. What stinks is the fitment of the grilles in the header panel. It seems that I cannot get these to line up correctly with the body. Does anyone know if there is some interchangability problems from early to later models?

I received a Hurst style from chickenhead a few months back from an 84, I beleive and the fitment is spot on.

all the 81-86 grilles are interchangable. the style you're referring too was used in '86 as well as '81. i don't see that there would be a problem, that's strange

 

[dudeface]

the grilles get bolted to an aluminium strip.....which then bolts into the front header panel. if ya got those mixed up or if your missing those aluminium strips you would have problems. other than that if they don't fit then something is wrong with the header panel...bent supports?? strange indeed

peace

 

[tobyp]

Yea definately strange. I am going to get some brackets from an 86 to see if there is a difference

 

[tobyp]

When replacing grilles from year to year be careful of the brackets. Being off just a tad can make the fitment of the grilles off a considerable amount. Also during our investigation and sending parts for repro we see there there are two different brackets with additional holes for the 84-87.

Now I got two awesome looking grilles and I like them both. Mabe ill trade them out every once in awhile.

 

[85Supreme]

they look great, glad you finally got it sorted out.