Grille Swap

[Topless69]

Just picked up a 73 Dart and it’s missing front grille, lights and bumper. Also, PO shaved the hood beak now it looks like a 70-72 - and he put on a cowl induction scoop :-/

So my question is what 70-72 grille/lights/bumper will bolt on without mods or minimal mods?
I’m sure Dart pieces will work, but will Duster, Demon, Valiant, Scamp or even Barracuda stuff bolt right on?
Has anyone in FABO done this before?

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Pictures of your car and what they did?

 

[72bluNblu]

It really depends on what’s been done to it as far as modifications.

Normally to swap to the earlier grille you swap the whole front clip. The hood is different, the hood latch panel is different, the bumper and brackets are different, and the ‘70-72 Dart uses a front valance that the 73+ cars don’t have so the easiest way to do that is swap the fenders. Otherwise you have to modify the 73+ fenders for the valance.

Your ‘73 should have a standard front bumper, so you shouldn’t have to worry about the different shock mount bumper bracket stuff.

Any A-body front clip will work except for the Barracuda, that won’t match at the doors. But all the rest basically bolt up if you have everything- hood,fenders, grille, hood latch panel, bumper and brackets, and either a lower valance or a lower grille panel.

It might actually be easier to use a 67-69 Dart front grille, they didn’t have a front valance so you could keep the ‘73 fenders, use the 67-69 hood, latch panel, grille and bumper. It would require some holes/brackets added to the later fenders to mount the grille. But before 67-69 fenders were available I know some people used the 73+ dart fenders with some modifications.

 

[Topless69]

Pictures of your car and what they did?

Here are some pics of what it looks like now - yep cowl induction scoop...

 

[72bluNblu]

Hmm.

Well, if you aren't in love with the hood, it might be easier to just replace it. The problem is that what you've got is custom, so, if you use it you're going to end up doing more custom work because the hood just isn't going to match up with any factory grille or trim.

On the other hand, I think that if you went with a '67-69 front end you could probably keep your fenders. Then just use a '67-69 hood, grille, bumper/brackets and hood latch panel. It would require a little bit of work as you'd have to get the fenders to work with the hood latch panel and grille. But that's pretty minor work and things that guys have done before.

 

[70aarcuda]

It can be done. I changed a 75 Duster to a 70/71 Duster front end.

Besides the grill you will need an upper and lower grill support for the new grill. ....a Hood to fit it...and bumper....
Not sure if the bumper mounts on the frame are the same for a 73....but my 75 had to to drill holes in frame to mount 71 bumper...no big deal....

also on the 75 Duster the i had to make a small tab and weld it to the fender as the new fender is missing one on the mounting bolt tabs for the upper support.....

 

[72bluNblu]

It can be done. I changed a 75 Duster to a 70/71 Duster front end.

Besides the grill you will need an upper and lower grill support for the new grill. ....a Hood to fit it...and bumper....
Not sure if the bumper mounts on the frame are the same for a 73....but my 75 had to to drill holes in frame to mount 71 bumper...no big deal....

also on the 75 Duster the i had to make a small tab and weld it to the fender as the new fender is missing one on the mounting bolt tabs for the upper support.....

Some of it depends on the year and the model. The Dart's don't have lower grille supports, just the Duster's. But the '70-72 Dart's had valances. His car being a '73 should keep him clear of drilling any holes in the frame because he should have a non-shock mount bumper. Just depends.

I swapped my '74 Duster over to a '71 Dart (Demon) front end, but my '74 was the change-over year for shock mount bumpers, so my car had all the mounting locations on the frame already.

This shows the front frame rails, the "standard" rail is the non-shock mount bumper and they all used the same mounting locations. Then there's the shock mount bumpers, which are a little more complicated than what this shows.

With the '74 cars they started with shock mount bumpers, so, single mounting hole like the bottom one above. Then at some point, like December of '73 for '74 model year production, there was an issue getting shock bumpers. So the factory went back to standard brackets. So my '74 ended up with a standard bumper and mounts, but also has the provision for the shock mount. '75 went back to the single mounting location.

But beyond the shock mount bumper thing, you can swap pretty much any front clip on an A-body except the Barracuda. Scamps are just Duster front ends on a Dart, Demon's are just Dart front ends on a Duster. Valiants were an early Duster mash up with "Duster" fenders and their own grilles, hoods and filler panels for '67-69. But all the body lines from the Darts, Valiants, Dusters, Demons, Scamps and Dart Sports all line up at the doors. So if you take everything that unbolts from the doors forward you can swap it.

Like this example a Duster with a '67 Dart front end (not mine!)

For the OP's car, being a '73 with the single piece fenders already, the '67-69 Dart front end would be the fewest body panels to go find. Duster/Valiant/Scamp would take the whole front clip. '70-'72 Dart would take either the whole front clip, or some fabrication to make the '70-72 lower valance bolt to the '73 fenders. Where the '67-'69 would just be the hood, hood latch panel, grille and bumper. It is possible that the '67-69 grille could even be made to work with that modified '73 hood. So if you could find the grille and bumper, and be willing to do some extra work getting the grille mounted, you might be able to keep the hood and latch panel. But you still wouldn't have any front trim options for that hood.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

I don't know where the twilight zone is so offering you some fenders grille and hood might be to far for you pick up. I have cheap parts but I won't ship. Adding your approximate location under your avatar does have its benefits. It usually gets local help. Just a thought for you all. Bullshit locations look funny but usually get passed by when you need something.