74 Hood on a 73 swinger???

[73SwingerBuild]

Does anybody know how hard it would be / what is involved in getting a hood from something like a 74 dart onto a 1973 swinger?

The chicken beak isn't quite growing on me and I'd like to explore other options if it's not too labor intensive

-Mike

 

[Slantsick]

The '74-'76 Darts also have beaks, though..

But the '74-'76 Valiants don't, which would involve a swap of hood, grille, and bumper, I believe.

Or, you could swap on a '70-'72 Dart nose (a popular swap), but for that you need fenders, hood, grille, bumper, and lower valance.

For that matter, I'm sure you could swap on any '67-'72 Dart or Valiant nose that took your fancy, but you'd need all the parts I listed.

 

[tedsweet]

73 And 74 have same hood

 

[casey70dartreed]

lol stay away from a '70-'72 swap as these parts are already way too expensive and hard to come by for the real '70-'72 cars ;) jk, do what makes you happy.

 

[Burntorange70]

You could put a front end off of a Duster on it too and make it in to a Scamp.

 

[73SwingerBuild]

My hope was to custom fabricate a grill anyways, and my front bumper has seen better days. So swapping a 74 valiant hood onto my 73 swinger won't require changing the fenders, correct? I know I'll need some custom bracing to replace the structural integrity of the chicken beak, but otherwise, the hood fitment shouldn't be too bad. I was mostly wondering about the fenders. New hood and bumper is fine by me.

 

[Slantsick]

I'll admit I've never done the swap myself (I prefer the Dart beak in any case), but I'm 99% sure the only difference between the Dart & Valiant fenders in those years is the placement of the blinker lens- Valiants have them below the bodyline. And I don't see why you'd need any special bracing.. the Valiant doesn't have any, and they're essentially the same car (especially in the later years).

Here's a '73 Scamp- basically what you'd end up with.

 

[daliant]

A valiant hood wont work with dart fenders. Dart fenders are about an inch longer along the top.

 

[Slantsick]

A valiant hood wont work with dart fenders. Dart fenders are about an inch longer along the top.

Whoops- guess I've got egg on my face.

Thanks for the info.

I wonder why the difference.. seems like a waste, somehow.

 

[wish4hemi]

Whoops- guess I've got egg on my face.

Thanks for the info.

I wonder why the difference.. seems like a waste, somehow.

There wheel lip is also different. The lip on a Dart goes in, the lip on a Duster comes out. Compare the wheel lips on these two '73 fenders. The top is a Dart, the bottom is a Duster.

 

[cudamark]

The Dart and Valiant fender are different in the front also. The Dart fenders are flat in the nose whereas the Valiant ones have a slight peak so headlight bezels/grilles won't fit right. If you swap a whole unbolt sheet metal front end, you can use any '67-76 A-body as a donor. There will be some minor mods needed....wiring, bumper mounting, side markers, mouldings, etc. but nothing too serious.

 

[73SwingerBuild]

I think the beak is starting to grow on me...