Front Fender Mock-Up Part 1

In order to bolt down the radiator support bracket and move on with the engine work, I have to get it aligned on the frame so that the fenders and hood will bolt up correctly with even joint/seam spacing.  This is all necessary because the original tilt front clip installed on the truck had a non-factory radiator mount and the holes for the factory configuration were apparently never drilled int he frame.

I have the central bolts installed hand tight to allow movement and adjustment.  The missing frame holes in question can be seen on either side of the two central bolts.

 Everything hung on the radiator mounting bracket hand tight.  This part went quickly and was relatively painless.

 Another angle.

 Front the back.

 I have three of these gravel pans.  One steel one is bent and warped on the driver's side, the fiberglass one is crushed and broken on the passenger side, and the beautiful black steel one is made for trucks without the frame rail protrusions to delete the front bumper.  In short, I do not have a good straight gravel pan to put on the truck for alignment purposes...  :o(

I chose to install the broken fiberglass one as it was less bad than the bent steel one.

 Bumper resting on frame.  Not required for this, but I thought it would look good with the rest of the panels installed.

 Another angle.

This gap between the radiator and gravel pan does not look very good to the eye.  I'll do some research to see if this is normally present or not.  It might be an illusion because to the front grille is not yet installed.

 Another view of the radiator gap.

I attempted to fit the passenger side fender onto the cab studs, but it would not mate. 

 So, I cleaned the paint and bondo off the studs with a wire wheel and tried again.  Before:

 After:

 It turns out that the fenders have threaded nuts welded inside the mounting holes, which indicates they were designed to interface with a bolt, not a fixed stud. 

Well, its off to consult the internet on the bolt/stud situation and the case of the maybe-too-large radiator gap...