Turning a 74 into a 72

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Did manage to get the V8 K frame painted and the manual steering box on.
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My Grandson was taking pictures with my shop camera here's me doing what I do best, tearing things apart!

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wow I didn't realize the floors were coming out! looks like you have been having fun
 
That's the floor mats laying in there. The floors are rock solid. I was laying on them while I was taking out the stuff under the dash!
 
I'll be slowing down here shortly. I leave for Yuma Arizona on the 14th of this month. I drive my folks down there in their motor home and spend a few weeks with them. Then fly home. Got to say I'm looking forward to some nice weather and some great quad ridding!
 
I just finished doing this to my 74 Swinger. Quick question for you Greendart. The space underneath...were the trunk meets up to the tail panel what did you do to fill that gap? Because the trunk pans are different. Did you take the trunk pan out of the 72? I will take some pictures and show you what I mean if that was confusing. Thanks
 
RPMLegends18 said:
I just finished doing this to my 74 Swinger. Quick question for you Greendart. The space underneath...were the trunk meets up to the tail panel what did you do to fill that gap? Because the trunk pans are different. Did you take the trunk pan out of the 72? I will take some pictures and show you what I mean if that was confusing. Thanks
Click to expand...

We just fabricated some patches and welded into the area your talking about, figured they wouldn't show when we put seam sealer in there.
 
Thats kinda what I was thinking doing as well. I just wanted someone elses opinion whether that would be a good idea. Looks good and thank you for the help
 
WOW very impressive. Once completed, are you going to register it as a 72 or 74? Seems you could do either as you have both vehicles with the appropriate VIN numbers.
 
Stan, Great job. I hpoe this will get me started on my 71 again.
 
Awesome! I always wondered why people whined about something being the wrong year when they could do this!
 
Well with Christmas over I can now get back to work on the dart. Decided that I would take one thing at a time and not move to another until I had it finished.

First order was to clean up the UCA's put new bushings in them and new upper ball joints.
Here's what they looked like when I started.

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After a bath and a little time in the blasting cabinet using glass bead they looked pretty darn good.

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Then I took them to a friend and had him put in the new bushing , painted them up and there ready to go back on the dart.

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I did the same with the LCA's too. Put in new bushings, lower ball joints all new tie rod ends with new adjusting sleeves, idler arm and the new pit man arm is going to be here tomorrow.
Blasted every thing clean and painted it up. Just got done putting it back together.

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Next will be rotors can't make up my mind if I should get new one or have the old one turned. Some new cross drilled ones would sure look good!
Anyway thats where I'm at on the build next thing I'm going to do is pull the 7.25 out and get the 8.75 installed.

The lower ball joints, tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves where all Christmas presents from my lovely wife Jean. She did good!!
 
My new axles from Dr. Diff came today!

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So in the went for a trial fit. The backing plates are off of the 74's 7.25 they fit great and had bigger brakes then the ones the 8.75 had on it.

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Did anyone notice I put the backing plates on the wrong way? Would work ok if the e brake was on the back bumper. :banghead:

But it was ok because I also forgot to put sealer on the third member so I pulled the whole thing apart again. God I Love wrenching!!! :toothy8:

Now that it's out can someone tell me what type of sure grip it is? The case is a 489 and the gear set is 3.23

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Here's what it looked like all put together. This is also when I noticed the e-brake cable was going the wrong way.:scratch:

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Looking good greendart. I'm not convinced about the parking brake on the rear bumper thing. Sounds like you have the same problem that I do. I can't do anything unless I do it twice. Hopefully it's not full of oil yet.
 
Stan you are doing a hell of a job. I hope one day to be able to get a 72 Dart or at least that's the plan. Can't wait to see more from you.
 
Great thread. Keep the pix coming. Neat the G'kids are getting in on things.:thumrigh:

I'm planning on doing this with the front end of the '73. Looking forward to when you get to that part of things. Because there's next to no difference between the 72 & 73 rear, the rear can be skipped. I haven't seen rusted out tire well fixed the way you did. Very slick results.

I've been collecting the plastic pieces (because the sun wrecks 'em here). FWIW the turn signal pigtails for the 72 use the same connector as the 73.
 
Got my new pitman arm today so thought I would post a picture of install. New pitman arm, idler arm, tie rod ends and adjuster sleeves.

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The sure grip unit looks like an auburn. The way to tell is whether the case has bolts going through the one side of the differential to the other, auburns do not have the bolts.

Your build is going great. I knew someone that transplanted a front clip like you did, only on a 73 dart sport, it looked fine !

My guess is a 73 swinger would have been easier, the rear panel is probably darn near the same as the 72 - I think. But no matter, its coming along terrific ! Keep it up !
 
I've always thought of doing a 67-69 rear end swap on a 70-72. For some reason the big chrome bumper with tail light was never my favorite, but it's growing on me. Nice work getting it all lined up, and continued pics of the build as well. Gives me encouragement to get back to work on mine.
 
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