Need help with some pics on the radiator "air shield" please

[Sahara]

EPILOGUE:
I figured I owed some "after pics" of this exercise.
Caveats: Every piece of metal involved, short of the repro bumper, is old and apparently the victim of the
P.O.'s garage wall boo-boo; further, I'm no bodywork guy and lack even rudimentary body tools.

All that aside, this will mark the first time Fred has had the radiator support brace and the air shield in place:
View attachment 1467243
(That radiator support took a LOT of "persuasion" in both torsional and horizontal planes to get the bolt in it).

View attachment 1467244
Next step is obviously an attempt at getting some paint on some things...
poor grille support was some kind of mangled as well, too.

View attachment 1467250
Not the optimal gap from side to side when seen from above. I know the bumper
is in the correct position (at least as judged off each fenders' side marker), so that leaves
the mangle factor of the air shield itself (a lot of pounding took place to make it "flat"
again for sure) as well as the poor radiator support.
At least the radiator appears equally parallel when used as a judge on it...

View attachment 1467251
The bumper, not previously suspected of being crooked....now isn't.
Poor lightly damaged grille got a little attention, too - but honestly needs replaced someday.

Summary:
At first, I was genuinely embarassed that I hadn't even approached this old damage to Fred before
now - but to give myself some slack, up until now, there's always been more important mechanical
and functionality stuff to be handled as the years went on...
It's probably more a statement of how "finished" I (and the car, of course) are to being that I finally
decided to take these old parts out and figure out where they actually went on the car.
Kind of a fun little project in the end, with of course some help from you guys!

Lastly....
No polar bears were harmed in the performance of all this red-neckery @Sahara !

That’s a fine looking car there, Ed. It makes me extremely happy to not only see you working on it, but to see you able to work on it. You know what I mean.

 

[moparedtn]

That’s a fine looking car there, Ed. It makes me extremely happy to not only see you working on it, but to see you able to work on it. You know what I mean.

Yes sir, thank you - that thought does not escape me these days, believe me.

 

[moparedtn]

As a side note, from all accounts, Fred has never been in an actual wreck, so the fenders and hood and
such are original to him (all the metal replacement was floors, quarters, partial rockers and the like from rust).
This is an actual pic of him from 2006, when he was dragged out of the field in SW Virginia by the previous owner.
That bumper is long gone, of course - but check out the factory blackout treatment behind the grille!
(Those are his original wheelcovers too, which I still have).

 

[davek]

View attachment 1467287
As a side note, from all accounts, Fred has never been in an actual wreck, so the fenders and hood and
such are original to him (all the metal replacement was floors, quarters, partial rockers and the like from rust).
This is an actual pic of him from 2006, when he was dragged out of the field in SW Virginia by the previous owner.
That bumper is long gone, of course - but check out the factory blackout treatment behind the grille!
(Those are his original wheelcovers too, which I still have).

I like those hub caps, should of keep them Ed. 14 inch?

 

[moparedtn]

I like those hub caps, should of keep them Ed. 14 inch?

Yes sir, like I said - I still have them.
P.O. didn't want to give them up, but I insisted.

 

[moparedtn]

Follow up 5/28/23:
Had occasion to take the car for a couple drives after this and, being curious if the shield would make any
difference in operating temperature, kept a keen eye on the temp gauge...
I didn't expect much difference, to be honest.

Instead, there was indeed a marked decrease in operating temperature on both the extended (20+ miles)
highway drive as well as the local in town driving. I'm talking around 170F temps here...
We haven't gotten to summer's hot temperatures yet (weird-assed weather this year), so it'll be interesting
for sure - but so far, it's been pleasantly surprising.