1956 radiator support removal

[Bronze]

In three different cars i have removed the engine and transmission, sometimes more than once in the same car. My method has always been to remove Hood, Bumper and radiator support and it has been really easy to get the drive train out. Today on a different car  (still a 1956) i was removing the radiator support, but to my surprise it was almost impossible to get it out. To get the bottom center bolt out of the frame the support needs to be raised about 2 inches, but the fender brackets on top of the radiator support does not allow it to lift than much. And i could not tilt the support backwards or forward as different parts of the front fenders stops that movement. It took some serious bending and twisting to get the support out which i could not have done if the car had been in better shape with nice paint and such.
My question is what the correct procedure is to remove the radiator support? Should you have to loosen the front fenders to be able to do it? and i wonder how the heck i did it on the previous cars as i have no memory of it being difficult at all....

[Eldovert]

The only way I see that happening is if that 1/2 bolt at the bottom came out you could pull the bottom out and remove the brace.All the other stuff (hood latch support and grill) would have the be removed.The only other way is to remove all the fasteners in the front fenders and spread them apart enough to remove the brace.
Or cut the brace like every 57 Chev I have ever looked at (kidding)
Cheers,Pat MacPhail

[Bronze]

Thanks for your reply Pat, That is exactly what i experienced on this car i am currently working on, radiator support cant be removed without spreading the front fenders. Now i will need to go in hypnotic therapy and regress to previous cars to see how i did it on those.....because i know i have done it at least twice without unbolting the fenders from the rest of the car