[soupman]

Hi Guys-
I have been working on the t/a I bought from Greg Reid. Pretty solid car but is all stripped right now. the current front end is fine, but I always liked the front of the 70-73 t/a's. I have owned a 71 & 72, so I am somewhat familiar with the front end and valence.
Does the 70-73 bumper and valence bolt right up? I have the correct mounting tabs on the lower front fenders, and I have a spare 71 core support, but unsure of the L shaped bumper brackets?
Does anyone know if this is a hard changeover?

[Mr Twister]

Not really hard, sounds like you know the differences and what to do. But why?? Frankencars get very little respect and are hard to sell. 74-76 fronts look cool anyway and would presreve the integrity of the car. Thats my 2 cents. The 70-73 bumper brackets are the same.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Mr Twister

Not really hard, sounds like you know the differences and what to do. But why?? Frankencars get very little respect and are hard to sell. 74-76 fronts look cool anyway and would presreve the integrity of the car. Thats my 2 cents. The 70-73 bumper brackets are the same.

My thoughts,EXACTLY!

Start with a 70-73 if you are really stuck on that style.

A clone or "tribute car" if done properly has FAR more credibility than the real deal with the WRONG bumpers/facias,etc.

[1qikta]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

My thoughts,EXACTLY!

Start with a 70-73 if you are really stuck on that style.

I have to agree as well.

[soupman]

Well. I am trying to get some weight off the front end, and that 74 steel bumper is HEAVY. I thought the earlier endura bumpers were alot lighter.

[Lloyd-TX]

Many years back I had a '75 T/A that I ended up building a street-strip, autocross / show car out of. 20/20 hindsight I wish I hadn't done it, but oh well.

Anyway, I was getting weight out of the car and purchased a fiberglass front bumper for it. IIRC it was made by Fiberglass Trends. Took a little ingenuity to get it mounted but once painted and mounted you could NOT tell it from stock. Note that one wouldn't want to even touch anything with the front of the car with that worthless 3# piece of plastic up there instead of the 150# OEM front bumper, LOL!

Between that and pulling the A/C system out of the car I had to resort to Camaro 6 cylinder springs to get the front end back down low enough. It still handled well as I left the 1.25" front sway bar on it for autocross use. Note that rear suspension remained stock.

Here are some pics, 15x8 4.5" BS wheels all around, P255/60 tires on the front and P275/60's on the rear.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

Many years back I had a '75 T/A that I ended up building a street-strip, autocross / show car out of. 20/20 hindsight I wish I hadn't done it, but oh well.

Anyway, I was getting weight out of the car and purchased a fiberglass front bumper for it. IIRC it was made by Fiberglass Trends. Took a little ingenuity to get it mounted but once painted and mounted you could NOT tell it from stock. Note that one wouldn't want to even touch anything with the front of the car with that worthless 3# piece of plastic up there instead of the 150# OEM front bumper, LOL!

Between that and pulling the A/C system out of the car I had to resort to Camaro 6 cylinder springs to get the front end back down low enough. It still handled well as I left the 1.25" front sway bar on it for autocross use. Note that rear suspension remained stock.

Here are some pics, 15x8 4.5" BS wheels all around, P255/60 tires on the front and P275/60's on the rear.

NICE looking 75!

STRIKING color combination.

Stance/ride height looks bang-on!

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

NICE looking 75!

STRIKING color combination.

Stance/ride height looks bang-on!

Thanks! I always thought the Buc Red with the early stripes looked pretty good myself.

The car was SUPER clean, won sevral AutoRama class awards back in the day. I drove it on the street, autocrossed it, showed it and drag raced it. The car was SPOTLESS inside and out!

Went through several powertrain combinations in the 8+ years that I owned the car. I bought it in 1982 from the original owner, who had the car repainted and added the '70-'72 stripes and decals. Originally a 185 HP 400/M38/2.56 posi car, he had swapped in an M40, #13 heads, 068 cam, '71 HO intake, and 3.42 gears. Ran pretty well until I spun a main bearing and ruined the block - top end racing a Mustang GT.

I dropped in a tired '71 455HO engine to keep the car running while I built up a SD-headed 462. Eventually ran some 11.80's @ 112. But - back then I SUCKED at tuning, I think the car had easy mid-11's in it if I would have paid someone to tune it properly.

[soupman]

Wow that looks good! I like the color combo.
I wonder if there is a way to lighten the my 74 bumper?

[1qikta]

Originally Posted by soupman

Wow that looks good! I like the color combo.
I wonder if there is a way to lighten the my 74 bumper?

The brace that is bolted to the back of the bumper weighs about 40 lbs..You really only need about 8 lbs of that brace..unless you plan to get in a wreck Of course I didnt cut up my original..(see pic)

I found about 45 lbs total in the front end myself.

[FloridaFirebird]

Llloyd,

I remember a HPP article on that '75 years and years ago. It impressed me then and still looks great.

Just thought I'd tell you.

FF

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by FloridaFirebird

Llloyd,

I remember a HPP article on that '75 years and years ago. It impressed me then and still looks great.

Just thought I'd tell you.

FF

Thanks for the compliment. It was a FUN car.

I've toyed wuth the idea of seeing if I can find the car again, but about a year after I sold it the buyer called to let me know that it had been "stolen". Not so sure about that, if you know what I mean.

[gregsgtos2]

Lloyd,very nice looking car. soupman-go for it!

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

Thanks for the compliment. It was a FUN car.

I've toyed wuth the idea of seeing if I can find the car again, but about a year after I sold it the buyer called to let me know that it had been "stolen". Not so sure about that, if you know what I mean.

It's "time-warp" time Lloyd!

http://cgi.ebay.com/HIGH-PERFORMANCE...QQcmdZViewItem

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

It's "time-warp" time Lloyd!

http://cgi.ebay.com/HIGH-PERFORMANCE...QQcmdZViewItem

Hah - one can find just about anything on e-bay at any time, LOL! Thanks for posting that auction!

[Danny_Ocean]

I say go for it. I'm doing the same thing with my '74. Car wasn't much to look at when I got it, so adding a '73 nose/tail will only improve from what I had. On top of that, a genuine '73 T/A in half-decent condition is going to cost much more than converting your '74 into a '73 (assuming you do most of the work yourself). Unless your '74 is pristine and/or a SD, just do it.

Devaluation on re-sale? Who cares. You're building the car for yourself, not the next owner. Look at the price of well-done Mopar clones/tributes. Sky high. Over in the "Porsche World", we back-date our cars all the time (e.g. take an '82 and make it look like a '75). A well-done Porsche RSR "clone" can fetch upwards of $50k. Real RSR's are $$$$ squared.

If you have any questions about the conversion, please do not hesitate to PM. I've been collecting parts/brackets/etc. for 2 years now and just finally getting everything together.

[soupman]

Not sure what I will do. I always liked the earlier frontends, but was also trying to save some weight was the main reason. I believe it is pretty straight forward to swap between the 2 front ends if I do it, but on the other hand I like the stock look too.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by soupman

Not sure what I will do. I always liked the earlier frontends, but was also trying to save some weight was the main reason. I believe it is pretty straight forward to swap between the 2 front ends if I do it, but on the other hand I like the stock look too.

There is a company out there that makes a fiberglas (shell) nose for the '70 ~ '73. This is for drag cars and offers no front-end impact protection. I can't imagine it weighs too much. Not sure of the name of this company, but I did find the information after searching this website not too long ago.