Any problems with putting a 68 or 69 Dart front end on a 72 Dart? Will the body lines match up? Been waiting for a 69-9 Dart to do a NSS project. Found a very clean 72 and other than the tail light issue, could this work?
72 TO 68/9 TRANSFER
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Mopar-Mitch
Well-Known Member
Yes, it can be done, a friend of mine turned his 73 dart into a 69, the front sheet metal will interchange. He cut the rear Quarter panels and welded in the 69 rear. It made a nice looking car although it was a 73. He kept the 73 interior which is different because of the doors, but 72 will be the same as 69. You will need the whole front end, fenders, hood, grille, hood latch support, and front bumper and brackets. On the rear he had a 69 doner car and used the decklid, rear bumper and rear quarter sections.
The body lines are the same, the outer door skins are actually all the same. Everything forward of the doors will need to be changed- fenders, hood, hood support/latch panel, bumper, etc. Basically if it unbolts you have to swap it. But the front clip swap is pretty much a bolt on operation.
The rear end is a whole different ball game, you'd need to section or change the quarters and the rear tail panel. I know someone here had a thread about changing a later Dart over to earlier bodywork, but I think that was a 73-76 car being swapped over to a '72 tail.
You can swap front clips on any of the A-body's except the Barracuda for that matter. Dart front clips swap with Dusters, Valiants, etc. I mean, that's where Demon's and Scamps came from to begin with, they're just front clip swaps from the factory. The only snafu that comes up is if you use a car with the later shock mounted bumpers, they have a different bumper bracket mount than a standard non-shock bumper so the frame rails have to be modified if you use an early '74 or a '75+ car as the base for your swap.
Valiant front end on a Duster
'68 Dart front end on a Duster
'67 Dart front end on a Dart Sport
Valiant front clip on a Duster
HemiSSDart
Dartus Interuptus
The only issues occur when you want to swap a 70-72 Dart front clip on 67-69 Darts, except for late 69 Darts there is no mounting tabs for the front valance.
roccodart440
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Once I found this out it has always made the bird beak cars so much more appealing.
It looks like the solid "one piece" OE front fenders on the 73-76 darts will work without being replaced for the swap. Is that not the case? I was hoping I could get away with replacing the hood, grill, hood latch/support, and bumper and call it a day. No? Are the 73-76 fenders different in length from the 67-69? Can anyone run a tape on their 67-69 dart fender from the cowl to the front (where the hood line would meet the fender line)? Dimensions would be a good starting place before I source parts...Thanks
HemiSSDart
Dartus Interuptus
The 73-76 fenders are almost identical to 69 fenders. Some slight differences in the headlight and headlight bucket mounting and of course the side marker. but I know of one 69 Dart that used a 74 fender and it fit well.
That's awsome! Thanks for the reply.
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