75 dart sport front bumper interchange

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chargers777

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Will it interchange with a 73 duster? Are the bumpers the same I know the brackets may be different. I have a 75 dart sport parts car. The bumpers look the same as my 73 duster.
 
No, Dart has the wrong contours for the grille because Darts have a more obvious "beak" and do not interchange bracket-wise anyway (early vs late). For both Darts & Dusters, the most obvious external difference is that the later bumpers have extra mounting points near the top on either side of the license plate area for a total of 10. I've heard that 1974 was a transition year but the ones I've seen had the standard bumpers & brackets with a total of 8 mounting points. The later bumpers have a VERY heavy, contoured inner reinforcement that fits between the actual bumper and the "shock absorber" brackets on the frame.

Don't forget to check out '73 - '74 Plymouth Valiant & Scamp bumpers as well as Duster.
 
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The 1973 Duster front bumper was a ONE year design, as far as I've been able to tell.
The 1974 models look similar but they had a thick reinforcement bar behind the bumper. Some 1974 models and all 1975-76s had that shock absorber bracket to comply with federal regulations. No 1973 models had the shock absorber type mounts. The threaded holes in the frame rail are different for each design too.
 
Kern Dog said:
The 1973 Duster front bumper was a ONE year design, as far as I've been able to tell.
The 1974 models look similar but they had a thick reinforcement bar behind the bumper. Some 1974 models and all 1975-76s had that shock absorber bracket to comply with federal regulations. No 1973 models had the shock absorber type mounts. The threaded holes in the frame rail are different for each design too.
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Sooooo... What year bumpers are compatible with the 1974 Duster (besides 1974)? Will any of the Valiant, Scamp, Dart bumpers interchange with the 74?
 
The Valiant, Sc amp and Duster models were all the same for each year since all models used the same front end sheet metal.
The 1974 is another sort of unique year because it was the changeover year for the 5 mph impact redesign.
Here is where I am still unclear.
I used to think that the first few months of the 74 model year, that they came with regular fixed mount bumpers and that the 5 mph bumpers with the shock absorbers were integrated later. I've found that to be wrong. I've seen and/or owned early build cars and late build cars and seen both designs in several models. In short, it may have been a matter of what a different assembly plant had on hand to build the cars.
I assumed that it was like it was with other things. The Plymouth Superbird had to be be built before January 1970 to comply with new bumper regulations that went into effect January 1st.
 
3RD Duster said:
Sooooo... What year bumpers are compatible with the 1974 Duster (besides 1974)? Will any of the Valiant, Scamp, Dart bumpers interchange with the 74?
Click to expand...

It depends on which '74 bumper you actually have. From August - December (ish) 1973 production the 1974 model cars had shock mounted front bumpers. From December (ish) on all the way through the end of the model year (July 74) the shock mount front bumpers went away, and the bumpers used a more standard non shock mount.

If you have a shock mounted front bumper, basically the only thing that will fit directly is the '74 bumper you have. You could use a '75/76 bumper, but I believe you would need some part of the brackets because I believe the bolt pattern is different.

If you have a non-shock mounted '74 bumper, you could also use a '73 Duster bumper, but you would need the bumper AND brackets, because like the '74 shock mounted bumpers they're a one year deal and have different bolt hole locations.

Dart Sport bumpers (of any year) will not interchange because the shape is different because of the differences in the sheet metal between those models.

If you have a non-shock mounted bumper, your other option would include swapping some additional bodywork to get rid of the giant bulky '73+ bumper look and use a '70-72 bumper. But, that requires a bunch more parts - hood, hood support bracket, grille, bumper, bumper brackets at the minimum and some mounting tab locations for the grille and hood support bracket will need to be added. If you have the shock mounted bumper though that swap requires adding the bumper bracket mounts to the frame rail because the shock mount bumper cars use totally different bumper bracket mounting locations and the shock mount bumper cars don't have the standard bracket locations.
 
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