73 duster front end swap

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punkbomb138

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I've been digging around Google a few days now and have been seeing contradictory info so I thought I'd ask here.

I'm wanting to change the front end sheet metal on my 73 duster. I don't like the point on the front. Prefer the straight front end look.

I've been looking at the demon front end parts. This is my forst mopar car build so I'm not sure what all interchanges. I saw a completely flat front grill without the demon split between the sides but forget what model it was on. Anyone know the grill I'm talking about?

Will I have to change my 73 fenders or is there a way to modify them to work with the demon lower valance and bumper?

I'll have tons more questions I'm sure. I'm in the I love this car wheres all the money to buy parts phase of ownership currently and have hit brain overload while looking at parts and scheming the build.

Any and all help is appreciated and hey if you've done it I'd love to see front end swaps on your dusters too. Doesn't have to be demon specific as I may like your swap better so let's see them.

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I believe it requires the use of a 72 and earlier hood lach assy, and hood, the fenders will still work, but the side markers will be wrong.

There is a guy at Peel Tree on RT 20 that has and earlier front end on a 73+ front end that looks really good.

Just seen your location, I am in Nutter Fort.
 
sireland67 said:
I believe it requires the use of a 72 and earlier hood lach assy, and hood, the fenders will still work, but the side markers will be wrong.

There is a guy at Peel Tree on RT 20 that has and earlier front end on a 73+ front end that looks really good.

Just seen your location, I am in Nutter Fort.
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As long as I lived over there I never saw that car. Weird. I've seen some say I can keep the 73 fenders and add a piece of metal for an upper metal piece for the grill to mount to and I've seen some say you can't. Contradictory info is what I keep finding.

Can you mix and match grills? Like say a demon bumper amd valance and hood with whatever that flat grille is I saw? These are the questions I'm having currently.
 
The car I was talking about has a shark tooth grill, twin hood scoops and is brown with a 4-speed.
I am pretty sure you can mix n match grills.

I keep my car all 73.

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I tell you man, it's 100% your car and 100% your decision, BUT, IMO, the 73-76 Dusters are the best lookin ones. You want a point or a beak? Look at the 73 and up Darts. The 73 Duster can be one of the meanest lookin front ends there is. Before you do it, search the internet for images of different 73 Dusters.
 
I may be wrong, but I think you need to change the whole front clip. If you wanted to add a Sharks Tooth grill, you might get by with using your fenders and getting an earlier hood, bumper & brackets and probably the hood latch support and lower metal piece between the grill and bumper. @72bluNblu has done this to his car and can probably tell you exactly what you need to do a Demon front end.

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if you want the Demon/Dart grille, you need to swap the entire front bolt on parts. 70-72 Demon/Dart bumper, brackets, grille, grille mount panel, valance, fenders, hood and fender splash shields.

If you want the 70-72 Duster grille, you need to swap on the 70-72 Plymouth bumper, brackets, grille, grill mount panel, and hood. The fenders need a tab added to attach the grille panel, but that's a simple fix.

You cannot mix and match Dodge fenders with Plymouth hood, Dodge grilles with Plymouth fenders etc. Its all Dodge parts, or all Plymouth parts.
 
Thank you guys for the info. Where does everyone suggest getting the metal parts from? I've looked at classic industries and year one so far.
 
punkbomb138 said:
Thank you guys for the info. Where does everyone suggest getting the metal parts from? I've looked at classic industries and year one so far.
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@FM3 Dart has it correct.

You can't just "mix and match" grilles from 67-72 with 73-76 cars or vice versa, and you can't mix and match grilles from Plymouths to Dodges either.

Using a Duster or later Valiant grille would be the least amount of swapping, but would still require the bumper, brackets, hood latch support, grille filler panel, hood, and some added bodywork tabs. Using the '72 Dart/Demon grille you have listed requires the ENTIRE front clip- fenders, fender extensions, fender splash guards hood, hood latch support, bumper, bumper brackets, lower valance, and the entire grille.

Fortunately your '73 won't have the shock mount front bumper brackets, so you avoid an entire can of worms with the frame mounting holes.

The Dart/Demon front end is longer than the Duster, so, nothing "mixes and matches" . This is a Dart/Demon hood with Duster fenders, you can clearly see the hood is 2+ inches longer. The whole nose of the car is longer on a Dart/Demon

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I've done the swap, and while everything is bolt on you have to source a lot of parts. Classic and Year One would literally be my LAST choices, neither one makes the parts. So if you want to buy stuff, go direct to AMD or order from Summit, as they have better freight charges anyway. But not everything is reproduced, so, you'll need to find a parts car or someone with some used parts at some point.

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So far looking through ci/yo/and amd I found the hood/bumper/lower valance/grill/fenders/inner rear splash Shields. And she's not cheap to change it unfortunately. If you don't mind me asking what did you spend doing yours @72bluNblu ?
 
punkbomb138 said:
So far looking through ci/yo/and amd I found the hood/bumper/lower valance/grill/fenders/inner rear splash Shields. And she's not cheap to change it unfortunately. If you don't mind me asking what did you spend doing yours @72bluNblu ?
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I bought the entire front clip off of a '71 4 door a guy was parting out for $500. I didn't buy any reproduction parts for the swap.

And again, Year One and Classic are literally the most expensive places to buy anything, and Classic has terrible service. On top of that, with the exception of a few parts at YO, there's nothing they sell you can't get from someone else.

But yeah, if you bought AMD metal for the whole thing the cost would be significant!
 
Oh it surely is significant. Atleast from the sources I've listed. And summit and them aren't any cheaper except shipping. I imagine it's getting hard to find oem metal that's good. Maybe I'll check with the local auto body shop and see what they can come up with. I really like the 72 dart front end over the 73 duster front end.
 
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