Here is a more thorough write-up/pic post of our conversion from a 2001 front end to a 2006 front end. Some of this is reposted from my previous thread but wanted to have it all in one so here it is. A few details for those who missed my first post on the subject. We purchased our 01 on June 1st and on June 29th my wife turned in front of a 2011 Chevy Z71. Insurance ended up totaling out our Ex so I bought it back from there for roughly $1800 bucks and decided to do a front end upgrade. We did not have any frame damage, had the front end realigned because the front wheel was turned and took most the impact knocking the tire off the rim. Drivers fender, headlight and parklight, hood and bumper plus the headerpanel on the corner were all damaged. I ended up buying a pair of Harley headlights by Eagle Eyes for about 150 bucks on ebay. Scored the hood and latches, cowl, fender including inner fender liner, complete bumper assembly with brackets, fogs and upper pad and lower valance for 500 bucks. Also purchased a new header panel for 75 and got the 05 style grille for 50 bucks. Grand total for parts came to $775 bucks. Carried the hood, fender with trim and upper bumper pad to be painted which came to $905. That brought the total to $1680 bucks and me and my dad done all the replacing of the parts plus straightening what we could of the under body panel metal like the inner fender panel that the fender bolts to plus the metal that the front of the fender and header panel mounts to, believe it is considered part of the radiator support bracket if you were to purchase the whole front piece. I had purchased the inner fender part which included that front part of the radiator support for 100 but didnt use it so that was refunded. Someone had posted on another thread regarding updating the front ends that on some models that some of the bumper brackets wont line up, that wasnt the case with mine as it all fit like a glove. We did encounter a couple places where the fender mounts to the inner fender that was bent enough that some of the mounting holes wouldnt line up but we made new locating holes and secured with 1/4" stainless rivets, oh yeah add almost 100 for the rivet gun and rivets. I believe we ended up using about a dozen rivets just for extra support and piece of mind. Im not going to spend any time between pics explaining whats going on as there wasnt any fabricating going on, just removing the old stuff and putting new. Alot of people modify the existing header panel but I had to buy a new one anyway so I went with the 05 which bolts up fine and no modifying anything else for fitment. While I was buying parts at the salvage yard the truck I raided had chrome tow hooks and picked them up for 20 bucks for the pair, not bad IMO. Thanks for looking and enjoy the pics.

 

I like it you did an awsome job!

 

She came out great! Nice work!

 

We debated painting the upper bumper pad tan like all the rest but with the chrome grille and bumper we didnt want the front end too bright so went with the black. Plus we think it brings in the look of the Harley lights. If we had gotten a painted black grille then no doubt that the bumper pad would be tan. Plus it doesnt hurt to be different.

 

Nope, leave it be. Looks awesome!

 

I must say archtaan I am impressed with yours. If I had the time and could do without a vehicle for awhile I wouldnt mind tackling a larger conversion like you did. Thankfully I didnt have to really do any modifying other than bend out some sheet metal that cant be seen anyway. We spent 2 weekends on it, well the first was removing everything and then sent the parts to the paint shop during the week, picked it all up on Friday and by Sunday it was all back together. Still have to add the pinstripe but I can work that in anytime.

 

Thanks Mark. Its still a work in progress but it is coming along. A bit more complicated than I had originally anticipated.

Funny, I need to figure out what to do with my pinstripe too! It doesn't fit with the new fenders and its painted under the clear so I can either cover it or stripe the fender. Not sure yet.

 

I honestly didn't notice the upper pad till you made this thread and I saw the one front corner pic. I think it looks great how it is! Like you mentioned I don't think the tan front pad would jive to well with the rest of the darker/chrome front end. It would look out of place.