96 C3500 RCLB aka Stumpy

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Stumpy

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Hit three junkyards yesterday, and not a single one had a grille. Tons of gmt 400s, but have been picked clean. Seen two GMC grilles, and almost went that direction, but really want to stay Chevy.

I'm now seriously thinking about getting a phantom billet grille insert, and think it will go nicely with an aftermarket paintable, no bowtie grille I found. Probably going to go with black housing headlights and signals, with chrome reflectors, to help kind of hide them behind the billet.
 

Stumpy

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Part one of the frontend conversion done. Just waiting on the grille and inserts to get here.

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Signal light housings...
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Not crazy about these side markers, so will be looking for some stockish ones.
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Supercharged111

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Part one of the frontend conversion done. Just waiting on the grille and inserts to get here.

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Signal light housings...
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Not crazy about these side markers, so will be looking for some stockish ones.
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The side markers I got have 1 reflector in the front and one on the back. Have fun fitting the grill too as those headlights aren't going to be centered. They still look good and shine brighter than stock though.
 

Stumpy

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The side markers I got have 1 reflector in the front and one on the back. Have fun fitting the grill too as those headlights aren't going to be centered. They still look good and shine brighter than stock though.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll do what I can to center them. Honestly don't expect much out of these lights, since they were so cheap. I already know the signal light bulb sockets aren't going to stay in without some modifying.
 

Dahead76

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It’s looking sweet! Love your updates. Looks like I wasn’t the only one doing a w/t front end swap this weekend. I went with the GMC grill though. Unfortunately my single cab dually is being used as a parts truck for my crew cab build now.
 

Stumpy

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Received the new phantom inserts, and grille today. Now the grille I ordered, was smooth, with no bowtie area, but the grille I got, has it. I notified the seller to see what they say, which is CarID, btw.

Truth is I'm not really bothered that it has the bowtie area, mainly because it has the full surround, like an OE grille has. If it would've had the gapped one you see on most aftermarket grilles, I'd be sending it back in a hurry. Since this one looks like a factory grille, I'm going to keep it, but still curious to see what the seller comes back with.

I'll post some pics this weekend.
 

Stumpy

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Worked on the grille some, and realized I'm needing some small bits, to get this all together, so got more stuff on order.

Primed the grille shell yesterday...
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Planned to leave it like that for a while, but the color is just too different from the rest of the truck. Dug through my paint collection, and found some Silver Birch I used on a Colorado a while back, that close enough.

Set a couple of the lights, and bowtie in to see what I'm lookin like...

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Going to let that sit til next weekend, so I can mask off the shell, and paint the mesh, and "border" around the lights black. Should have the missing parts by then, and hopefully get this thing put together.

Also, wound up not liking how the phantom insert fit on here, so debating on cutting it down to just cover the mesh, or not even using it at all.
 

Stumpy

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Oh yeah, talked with a few times CarID. Wound up asking if they would just send me a bowtie, to make up for getting the wrong item, and they said that was too expensive, and rather I send the grille back. I told them to forget about it, I'd just keep it, no biggie. So much for trying to get something for free. LOL
 

Stumpy

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Yes! Got this thing back together, and I'm loving it.

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It was a job taping it up to paint the mesh, and around the lights black, but I think it was totally worth it. Also taped up the ledge on top, to black out that section.

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