so here’s my deal .. I pulled my grill off my 69 and discovered the hidden rust on the underside of the header panel.. figure no problem I’ll just order another one and have it painted along with the housing of the grill (reason why the grill was taken off). So I waited till the new panel arrived and sent them to get painted . Like a jackass I never test fitted the header panel. So here I am now with parts freshly painted and a header panel that fits like poop. I got it to finally fit somewhat decent (with a gap where it meets the fender) but now the grill will not fit due to two tabs , one on each end of the header panel, that won’t allow the grill to fit flush since the underside of the header panel is not flat.. am I going to have to remove the header panel and “massage” that tab like sheet metal till it’s flat. Or am I doing something wrong . Here are a few pics , did the best I could , it was getting dark

Driver side

Pass side

Gap on driver side where it meets fender

yea they look similar except for the fact that those tabs on the bottom are so pronounced .. I spoke to a few restoration guys and they say these header panels can be a real pain. Some of them are cheap imitations that don’t really fit well