Dart Sport to Demon Clone

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‘72 Demon

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The body on my ‘72 Demon has rusted frame rails, floor and trunk pans and quarters. I’ve found a pretty nice ‘73 Dart Sport roller. How much trouble would it be to use my Demon tail panel and front end to convert the Dart into a Demon?
 
Not much trouble at all, considering you have both vehicles at your disposal. Remove and replace is about all that's involved.
 
The interior is slightly different. Depending on how "correct" you want to be will determine how far you go. I believe the doors will have different handle mounting and inner structure. The rear seat area and belts could be different as well. But the outer structure is bolt on, excluding the tail panel. The bumpers will need to be changed as well, 73 and later are bigger with rubber pads. I don't think the bumpers had shocks until 74. I could be wrong on that though. Overall, it is fairly easy.
 
The interior is slightly different. Depending on how "correct" you want to be will determine how far you go. I believe the doors will have different handle mounting and inner structure. The rear seat area and belts could be different as well. But the outer structure is bolt on, excluding the tail panel. The bumpers will need to be changed as well, 73 and later are bigger with rubber pads. I don't think the bumpers had shocks until 74. I could be wrong on that though. Overall, it is fairly easy.
I noticed that the interior door handles are different. In due time I could swap those out as well. I’m more focused on swapping the tail panel so I can keep the demon tail lights
 
There’s a “how to” on the tail panel swap

Duster to Demon Tail Panel Swap

‘73’s didn’t have shock mount bumpers so the bumper swap is easy, there’s nothing to do in the back beside the tail panel.

The interiors are different, you’d have to do a door swap if you really wanted the earlier interior. The rest of it can be worked around with some minor tweaks, but the doors are a major ordeal unless you do a swap.

The rest of it is pretty easy. I turned my ‘74 Duster into a ‘71 Demon tribute, my build thread is in my signature.
 
The interior is slightly different. Depending on how "correct" you want to be will determine how far you go. I believe the doors will have different handle mounting and inner structure. The rear seat area and belts could be different as well. But the outer structure is bolt on, excluding the tail panel. The bumpers will need to be changed as well, 73 and later are bigger with rubber pads. I don't think the bumpers had shocks until 74. I could be wrong on that though. Overall, it is fairly easy.
Would the fenders be the same?
 
There’s a “how to” on the tail panel swap

Duster to Demon Tail Panel Swap

‘73’s didn’t have shock mount bumpers so the bumper swap is easy, there’s nothing to do in the back beside the tail panel.

The interiors are different, you’d have to do a door swap if you really wanted the earlier interior. The rest of it can be worked around with some minor tweaks, but the doors are a major ordeal unless you do a swap.

The rest of it is pretty easy. I turned my ‘74 Duster into a ‘71 Demon tribute, my build thread is in my signature.
Thanks for the link! Did you swap the hood, grille, etc also?
 
72bluNblu has a better handle on it, but I think the fenders are different. The 70-72 have a removable front piece and I don't think 73 on does. I believe the trim that runs on the Demon is different, requiring the right fenders, I could be wrong.
 
Would the fenders be the same?

Nope, not even for a Dart Sport to Demon conversion.

72bluNblu has a better handle on it, but I think the fenders are different. The 70-72 have a removable front piece and I don't think 73 on does. I believe the trim that runs on the Demon is different, requiring the right fenders, I could be wrong.

I dunno about that! But yes, exactly so. The '73 Dart Sport fenders are a single piece, the '72 fenders are 2 pieces because the front end is made up with an extension. In addition to the fender extension the '70-'72 Dart's have a lower valance to go with the completely different front bumper, the '73 up cars do not have a lower valance so the fenders don't have any provision to attach a lower valance. So, if you wanted to make the front end look right you'd need the '72 fenders. You can compare this to the pictures of my car below to see what I'm talking about.

d1-3-e1464667837783.jpg


Thanks for the link! Did you swap the hood, grille, etc also?

I swapped everything. I started with a Duster, so there was no question that everything had to be swapped. I swapped the hood, fenders, grille, bumper and hood latch support assembly, as well as brought the valance over. I also swapped the tail panel and converted the rear bumper from a shock mount to a standard mount with the earlier bumper style, and installed a rallye dash. I have a set of earlier doors to swap over too when I get around to it, and I've modified a set of '71 metal pop-out window surrounds to fit the later '73 mechanisms. If I ever finish it will have most of the '71 parts, although I have some custom touches that aren't factory.

This is what I started with
img_3620-jpg.jpg


And what it looks like now...
IMG_2478a_zpsvmagxna0.jpg

IMG_2494a_zpsyuure5tg.jpg


img_4571-jpg.jpg
 
Nope, not even for a Dart Sport to Demon conversion.



I dunno about that! But yes, exactly so. The '73 Dart Sport fenders are a single piece, the '72 fenders are 2 pieces because the front end is made up with an extension. In addition to the fender extension the '70-'72 Dart's have a lower valance to go with the completely different front bumper, the '73 up cars do not have a lower valance so the fenders don't have any provision to attach a lower valance. So, if you wanted to make the front end look right you'd need the '72 fenders. You can compare this to the pictures of my car below to see what I'm talking about.

View attachment 1715188064



I swapped everything. I started with a Duster, so there was no question that everything had to be swapped. I swapped the hood, fenders, grille, bumper and hood latch support assembly, as well as brought the valance over. I also swapped the tail panel and converted the rear bumper from a shock mount to a standard mount with the earlier bumper style, and installed a rallye dash. I have a set of earlier doors to swap over too when I get around to it, and I've modified a set of '71 metal pop-out window surrounds to fit the later '73 mechanisms. If I ever finish it will have most of the '71 parts, although I have some custom touches that aren't factory.

This is what I started with
View attachment 1715188067

And what it looks like now...
View attachment 1715188065
View attachment 1715188066

View attachment 1715188068
That’s exactly the information that I was looking for. The only other issue I’ll have is that my Demon is a floor shift three speed manual tranny and the ‘73 is an auto column shift so I’ll have to swap the steering column and trans hump.
 
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