Reproduction 70 radiator support (AMD)from TPP

My reproduction radiator support arrived today and after the initial once over,it seems to be a pretty nice piece. I ordered it on Monday and it arrived today. I compared it to my NOS 71 support and even measured several areas to see how the AMD one compares. The measurements were dead on in all the same spots. Now,my dilemma is which car gets the 70 support and which gets the 71 one.Both cars will be 70 cars so it wont really matter.I highly suggest one of these if you are in the market. Free shipping was a deal as well! I just stuck it on my green car to see how the bushing areas lined up. All fit well..

 

Interesting, glad to see a good report and availability on this.

 

Pat,
Did TPP have the core support in stock?

 

They show 5 on Ebay yet

 

How does the weight compare?

 

Hello Fred! Have you installed the front fenders using this radiator support? I'm curious what you found.

I purchased a 1970 Skylark with a repro radiator support in 2017. I don't know where the radiator support came from, but I couldn't get it to work with the fenders. The drilled holes at the top of the support for the fender caged nuts were off significantly. They were too far forward of the fender caged nuts, even too far forward to simply oblong the holes in the support to get it to work. Swapping this repro out for an original solved this problem, and I've never gone back to the repros as a result.

 

I literally have the page up and almost bought, got distracted from posting to solicit people's options and tada this post appears. Good to know. Thx.

 

The radiator support is adjustable left-to-right at the two frame bushings. There is a lot of play side-to-side, so it's not surprising that it will install at the frame mounts. Mine did.

The true test is how the fenders attach - they don't on the reproduction that I have! Not even close! But perhaps this has been corrected by the manufacturer?

You'll understand right away what I'm describing, as it only takes minutes to slide a fender in place to see these issues. THE ENTIRE ASSEMBLY IS TILTED FORWARD. IT'S A MANUFACTURING DEFECT WHOSE REMEDY WAS NOT OBVIOUS TO ME.

No one has chimed in over the last four months since I raised the alarm about these being unusable without modifications. Has anyone gotten these to actually work with fenders?! If so, what all did you have to do? How did you remedy the forward tilt of the radiator? The forward tilt of the hood latch? How did you attach the fenders to the support? What other issues did you run into?

-mike

 

I'm going to be buying one so this is concerning.

 

I don't seem to have the issues Mike has with my support.Everything lined up pretty well on my car.I have a set of the NOS fenders though,if that makes a difference.

 

The AMD reproductions were designed to look like the 1970 style units. These have 3 small raised areas in each headlight pocket, where the headlight buckets rest.

The 71-72 style core supports do not have these. They are flat in those areas and have small “punch-outs” where 3 small plastic pieces clip in, and the headlight buckets rest against them. Supposedly it made it easier to slide/adjust the headlights with these pieces, hence the part revision.

When Mark Reeves was working with them to reproduce the core supports, he called and asked me which style he should do. I told him to do the 70 style, as most guys wanted them, and there were still plenty of the 71-72 NOS core supports around, so he would not be competing against them for sales.

Also, if the guys had original 70-72 supports in their cars and wanted to repair them, they could cut the “repro support” up for patch panels. This way they could save all their numbers and the repairs would be virtually impossible to detect once completed. It was a win win situation for everyone.

So you can all thank Mark Reeves for getting such a needed part reproduced in the first place, and for getting the passenger side inner fender done as well. He also had a hand in getting the 70 GS hood molding done.


On another track,
I’m wondering if the guy having the problems with fender fitment has a core support that was repaired with the reproduction patch panels. They do a good job but if they are not installed correctly, they can be welded in at the wrong angle and give you problems like he is seeing.

The reproduction patch panels have angular edges to them, while the repro core supports have rounded “stamped” edges like the originals. It is very easy to tell them apart.

I think you are seeing two different parts here.
Duane

 

Serious question- how in the hell did you figure out these nuances between the years?

 

Honest answer,
Well,
First you have to be a bit excessive compulsive, then you have to have a thirst for trying to figure out how things were designed and put together. Then you need to have a drive/need, where you will not give up until you figure things out. (This is what I call, going on a mission.)

It of course doesn’t hurt to have (2) 1970 Stage 1 4-speed cars, both in the same color and both from the same plant, (one early and one late) that have so many differences that you start wondering if they were different year cars. Then you buy a 71 GSX and start looking at those differences.

After that it becomes easy.

…..and yes I did marry a saint. Saint Bethers.
Duane



PS,
I also collect fossils and many of the ones I collected from the C&D Canal are small. After a while you start training your eyes to seeing certain shapes, otherwise you might miss them. Anyway from this, I was able to see differences in different species and later would “see, notice” differences in car parts.

 

Pat, I'll bet you're right, as I was using original fenders. As most know by now, the top-of-the-fender two attachment points on (the later runs of) NOS fenders are off by 3/8" from originals, and that's about the gap that I was seeing.

Duane, I sure think that the core support that I was testing was a brand new part that hadn't had any bodywork done to it. This project came from a retired guy's back yard, not a restoration shop that hides their work as they should. But you are right in that I do not know the origins of my support as it came on a failed restoration that I acquired in, perhaps 2015? Someone might have done something alone the line, not that we've ever had that happen!

Mystery solved, perhaps!

-mike

 

There should be more of those supports back in stock at The Parts Place in March. I have installed two of them and didn’t have any issue,but I’m sure there could be,just like anything else. When time permits,I could try doing a fit comparison. I have an NOS support,original perfect fenders,and NOS fenders. I can get another repo support and mock all of these up on the same car.