Grille tight against cross member?

[Jonas_N]

Putting together my grill now with new plastic washers.
When I press the washers together, they are still loose on the crossmember.

Are the bolts with the plastic washers not supposed to sit tightly on the crossmember?

[b5blue]

They pull down with the bolt tightening. 

[Jonas_N]

If I do that the plastic washer deforms. 

[b5blue]

I do recall it being tight. You can "cheat the fit" with a bit of 400 sandpaper in the hole before assembly.

[Jonas_N]

Thanks.

Damn then I have to sand down newly bought parts.
Deforming washer does not look good.

[RollinThunder]

The plastic grille is supposed to "float" around the doghouse that holds it.  Those fasteners (like the one you show) and the slots in the doghouse allow this to happen.  Let it, it is by design.
When the plastic grille came out in 1968 for Charger it was a big deal.  And the engineers made it work by allowing the plastic to expand and contract to the housing.  You don't hear anything today about this, but it was quite the development achievement in '68.

[b5blue]

Wait until your new stuff starts rusting. 

[Jonas_N]

Yeah, I guessed that the grille was supposed to move, so I added rubber washers in between, with those its still snug to the crossmember but still soft enough to move around.

My grille is in great shape and I dont want to be the one who made it crack.