About a month ago, I mostly got my front valance reinstalled. It was a pain to line up the 5 mounting bolts and clips on either side, where it bolts onto the fenders...but with some choice words, it bolted on. However, I later noticed that the passenger side leading edge of the valance was not lined up with the front edge of the fender; it was ahead of it about 1/8"; and the 4 holes along the lower rad support wouldn't line up and I couldn't get those bolts threaded. I needed a break from it and made it a 'nother-day problem.
Last night, I got motivated to resolve this. I unbolted the passenger side of the valance, leaving the vertical center brace and driver side bolted, and found that I could manage to pull the valance to the driver side enough to center all the 4 slotted holes and fasteners along the lower rad support.
As I was tightening down those 4 bolts, going from driver side to passenger side, I could see they were getting harder and harder to thread in. That's when I saw what was causing all the frustration: Years ago when I installed the new Champion rad, I also installed a transmission cooler; I did this install when my original valance wasn't on the car. With the valance back on the car, the lower cooler hose was being pinched between the valance and lower rad support, preventing it from lining up properly. There's
always a reason, eh?
This is a years-old "before" pic showing what would later become an issue:
I removed the lower cooler hose, got a longer length of it and got it routed more to the left where it would bypass the curve of the rad support, and wouldn't you know it--the valance bolted on much more easily with all the holes lined up!
