Just wondering where I can get a billet bar style grill for my 78 150

 

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Lmctruck.com and NPD has some to

 

The cover of the most recent LMC catalogue shows their billet grill on a 78-79 style truck with the clear turnsignals and the euro headlights . VERY NICE! Im thinking of getting one myself. $100 bucks is not a bad deal for the grill when they want $70 for a plastic chrome one.

 

I have one on my highboy and it makes it look really sharp.

 

Ive got one on the front of me 78 it looks awesome.

 

thanks for the welcome and thanks for the info, i'm deffinetaly gettin one they look real good

 

you twisted my arm. Im buying one.

 

Well, I thought I might have missed somthing so I checked LMC I was disapointed. You see I have been looking for a billet grill for these trucks for a long time. Now a true billet grill is made from aluminum not tube steel and chromed. The steel grills are NOT BILLET they are heavy they rust and they block too much air flow. I have one of these square tube grills in my 74, it has a 428 in it and has been running a little on the hot side sense I put it in. Well guess what I changed grills back to stock and the heating problems go away. Also I had to do alot of work to support this grill, its heavy and mounts to the stock grill shell that was never designed to hold anything but plastic.
Anyway if anyone knows of a true aluminum billet grill I would love to know who other wise I would pass on the steel tube ones. Ok Im done with my rant.
Leadmic

 

Well now; that was quite a rant. Your best bet would likely be to go see a metal fab shop and get exactly what you want custom made. Little bit more money but no more rant.

 

I dont think it matters when I am have dual electric fans

 

Aftermarket manufacturers use billet very loosely because the adverage person who will buy a grill doesnt know the difference between billet aluminum and steel. It shines. It looks nice. They can afford it. End of story.
I know my true billet grill on my 04 Superduty is pretty heavy compared to the factory plastic one. I have never held a steel grill and billet grill together to see just how much heavier it is but I will guarantee its not much. A 78-9 grill is roughly the same size as a 99-04 SD grill so I will let yall know once I get mine in from LMC.
leadmic,
Besides the fact that the grill will rust over time if you dont clean it regularly what is your biggest complaint on the steel grill? Steel is cheaper. You could buy 2 or more steel grills by the time you bought 1 billet and replace your rusted steel grill in say 5 years. Thats 10 yrs of service from $200. By that time Ill have George Jetson-ized my 79 and wont have a grill. Steel has a shiner finish. You could polish a billet grill beyond factory but who has the time and what would it cost at a machine shop. Both grills are equally restrictive on air to the radiator. The toss up seems to favor the steel in my book. I bought billet on my SD because I liked the design. If I couldve bought steel for half the price I wouldve.

 

metal fab shop will run about 400 cdn for true billet custom made grill around here

 

I dont really care becuase i like the look of it and im poor lol, j/k, kinda

 

The billet grills that I have seen for the newer truck were thin 1/8in strips of aluminum spaced 1/4 to 1/2 in apart, I dont know how restricive in the air flow department that woud be but I know that the square tubing that the grill that have is a litter bigger than 1/2in and is spaced about 7/6in apart. The bigest problem I have with cooling is going down the freeway I thought it was the radiator had it rebuilt and change the thermostat still got hot, then I realized that my probbems started when I installed the new grill so I changed it and no more cooling problems. Also I had to install some 1/2 in weather stripping around the bottem and top of the grill because the grill bounced between the inside top and bottem of the grill shell. It also pulled two of the plastic mounting inserts out of the grill shell so I used a nut and bolt to hold it in. If they made an aluminum bille grill for thease old trucks I would try one otherwise I will stay with the stock plastic.
Leadmic