Just to pass along some info to save others from the same problem that I had.......I bought a 66 Convert (look at Pic's) that needed a lot of TLC....after going thru the car and putting it back together, one of the things that made me crazy was the alignment of the front end sheetmetal.....I could never get the hood to fit correctly.....when it was parallel to the fenders it was not true to the cowl (now I understand why the Cowl insert was so far out of position when I bought the Car) I am a Tool & Die guy and not a body man....I knew there was an answer somewhere.....I have two 66's and the Yellow car's front end fits perfectly....so I started measuring things and came up with different dimensions and came to the conclusion that the Blue car's front end was out of square by a 1/2 inch(1/4" off center).....Again not being a Bodyman I loosened everything up and tried to move the Core support over and couldn't get it to move at all.......O.K. now I'm on a mission......Remove the bumper, grill assy, break the fenders loose,remove the inner fender panel bolts, the core support is now flapping in the wind, still won't move .....W T F....Core support Bolts were loose but I didn't remove them at this point......what am I missing????????at this point I decided to remove the Core support.....removed the drivers side bolt and bushing assy then took the battery box out and "Walaa" everything became "Crystal Clear".......At some time in the past, the Core Support had been replaced with a reproduction unit and the Passenger side mounting pad (for the bushing assy) was assembled to the unit on an angle and about 1/2" out of position....when assembled the bushing bolts were wedged it to get them thru and this determined the final position of the core support....Whew!!!!
I am now going to remove the unit ....cut it apart.....and weld it together in the proper position.......Repro Parts.....%#$@@@^%
The lesson learned is that reproduction parts are original in looks only....but I learned that there is no "Magic".....Just hard work and logic with common sense.......and I also learned how to "Square up" a front end.....
Ken :confused:
Hope this saves somebody else some "Greif"
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SS396Convert/DSC00102.JPG
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SS396Convert/Engine3.JPG
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SS396Convert/FrontSide1.JPG
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/SS396Convert/side4.JPG

O.K......I'm guilty of jumping the gun...I just got the Core Support out of the car and I can now see by the hammer marks on it that it was bent in an accident in it's past and the "Hammer Mechanic" that put it back together felt that it was good enough for him.......I should have know better as the rest of the car was assembled with the same skills.........SORRY REPRO GUYS.....

Ken graemlins/sad.gif

Ken,
Glad it's working out for you. That was some good detective work on your part.

My original core support was too rusty to save and had a piece of angle iron welded on for the lower bracket on the battery side. The repro is about 25% lighter by weight and the metal is thinner. But the thing about it that really bugs me is on the upper brackets where it attaches to the fenders, the bend has a kink in it, like a web - it's not a smooth bend like the original. The supplier where I bought it from said that they're all like that, and there's only one outfit that makes them, in Taiwan. Are your upper brackets like that?

Hmmmmm.......I went out and checked between the two cars and the one I thought was a repro is exactly the same as the original......must be original GM.....I thought is was a repro because it was in perfect shape,just didn't fit (been down that road) although the car itself is a perfect rust free California car so I guess it's original...
I'm going to try and straighten it and put it back in........
Thanks
Ken graemlins/clonk.gif