69' 3 Bar grill

[Merv]

Not completely John... Aside from the lousy photos, the two lids still seem the same to my un-educated eye, except that mine does not have the bolts fitted at the bottom on bars 2 and 4. It does have the holes at the bottom, however. Which would a 3-bar fit?

Talk to you Sunday hopefully.

[Merv]

This is clearer on mine John.

[jock69t]

Merv I think that there should be protruding tabs for the bars, either side of the centre bar in a 5 bar grille, to rest on via the rubber 'pads' on the underside of those bars. You can see that neither of those bars is supported in both lids - the rubber pads on your lid are not resting on any support. The pads have been removed from the other grille. John has mentioned that there are 6 tabs on both grilles but the centre ones seem to be quite different from the others. In any case there do not appear to be any tabs adjacent to the bars on the bottom side of the aperture. The tabs on the top side of the aperture seem to be to strengthen the lid around the wiper shaft hole.

I think that when John restored his engine lid, which was a 5 bar lid, he cut off the tabs that would have supported the bars on either side of the centre bar so as to emulate the lids made for 3 bar grilles.

In other words both lids seem to be 3 bar lids.

[Merv]

That seems a great summary thanks Jock. I had also noticed those pads. Yes - now to get a 3-bar swap, if possible!

[Fishcop]

I can see that your lid is correct Merv, and very likely the original.

[Merv]

Thanks John. I was pretty sure that it was. Having looked at all the threads on this topic on ESR and PP, this one is (now) the most comprehensive, I reckon

[Fishcop]

I think that when John restored his engine lid, which was a 5 bar lid, he cut off the tabs that would have supported the bars on either side of the centre bar so as to emulate the lids made for 3 bar grilles

Spot on Jock.

My lid was rusted out and beyond my skills to save it. I scored a 71> lid and the only difference is the extra 4 tabs. I removed them and dressed the metal to be identical to the original lid.

The other interesting thing with these lids is the cut-outs for the number plate lights. The early G series cars have them but they are blanked out, by '75 the lids have the pressed boss, but aren't cut out.

I have two 'correct' lids for 68 with correct grills. One with centre spine and one without. Can't decide which one to use...