corvette502

Can I put a 72 front clip on 73 ????? This is my pro-street rebuild. I just bought a 73 that had the front end wiped out. I want the bumpers. Is there any draw-backs to this?

TIA

Chris

LYLE

If you get all the 72 brackets it should be able to be done. The hard part will be the hood and fender tops.

LoneStar26047

Talk to wgbsigns. He also had a wrecked front clip on a 73' and replaced it with a 72'.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/member.php?u=56812

kdf1986

Anything is possible if you want to spend the money.
The 73 will not have all of locations to properly attach the chrome bumper to the frame. And dont forget that the hood of the 73 is longer than the hood of the 72. The 72 uses a vacuum assisted plenum to hide the windshield wipers. The 73 does not have that but has a cowl induction system that makes the hood longer. So you will have a 72 front end and grills, but a 73 style hood.

kdf

Oldguard 7

I would love to see pics of his conversion in progress. The subject of putting a front chrome bumper where a rubber bumper was on it seems to be frowned upon here. It seems more people are doing it.

Oldguard 7

wonder if wombvette saw that conversion. Wonder if he thought it was cobbled up.

tmacb

This is definitely possible. As noted, the hood will be an issue if you are trying to create a true 70-72 look. However, there are so many examples of people modifying their 68-72 vettes with the newer long style hoods. So maybe not that big a deal. One thing you might want to consider is that the 73 is a unique car being that it is a chrome bumper rear and a rubber bumper front. If you have a fairly clean unmolested car, it will certainly be more valuable and collectible down the road. This was a one year only design. If its wrecked or its been modified beyond reasonable resurrection, go whatever direction your hear desires. Some of the grille and trim work will be a bit more difficult to track down but a lot of the parts are readily available.

Oldguard 7

Yeah. I would use the long style hood instead of the short hood. I think they should have used the long hood back when these cars were built less moving parts to deal with. There are features I like from each "era." What irks me is those who think you cannot mod your car a certain way and it seems most of these naysayers happen to own chrome bumper cars. A 73 would definitely be easier to convert. I like the 73 as is but the 69 is my favorite.

wgbsigns

nothing hard about it if you can install a front clip to begin with. just buy the parts.

Oldguard 7

You do the work yourself? If so or not, have you any progress/before/after pics?

LYLE

For some reason I think a 73 hood is not an easy fit to a 72 clip. The rear fender tops are not the same.

chris75stingray

pardon me if i'm out of line but why would you want to add extra weight to a pro-street car? keep the 73 clip, gut out all of the impact junk and put a fiberglass bumper on it.

tmacb

I think this is more of an issue of older is more collectible, generally speaking. The chrome bumper C3 crowd might feel the same way about the C2 guys. The truth is that there are far fewer chrome bumper cars out there than rubber bumper cars and the changes in performance that occurred after 1970 makes the earlier cars more appealing to some. If I owned a nice stockish 73, I would probably leave the bodywork alone. If it were wrecked, or already far from stock, I might go with a 69 or 70-72 front end. Personally I like the look of the shorter hood, but I can understand why so many people have converted over to a long hood. I wouldn't worry about the fender corners that have been mentioned. You can easily get around that small issue. The easiest way would be to buy an aftermarket long-style hood that is made for a short hood car. Problem solved. You will most likely have the short-hood latch mechanism anyway with the new front end, so you'll need a hood that works with them. You can modify an early front end to work with the later hood latches as well. Lots of options. Do what you want. You can make it work either way and have a number of options either way.

Oldguard 7

That is true. I fianally got to see the black 78 chrome bumper conversion drag car. It looked good.

temvette72

I just did the same job, although for a different reason. A previous owner had replaced the original clip on my 72 with a 73 clip after a wreck, so I wanted the original look back. I spent 6 months combing ebay and this forum for the parts I needed. I saved a ton of money over purchasing new parts from the typical vendors. The most expensive parts were the front grilles and the side "egg-crate" gills. The actual job was pretty easy. Everthing lined right up with a minimum of massaging involved. I kept the 73 hood, so I needed to rework the top rear fenders a little bit to blend the contours. The vendor I bought the fiberglass from actually makes pieces to patch in expressly for this purpose (J and D Corvette in Bellflower, CA). Good luck!

Temvette72

tmacb

Did you go with a hand laid or a press molded front end? Was it used or aftermarket? I have been searching for a 70-72 front clip for my 71 that has newer front end as well. I have had little to no luck finding a used press molded front end. I'm just wonderung if I should keep looking or bite the bullet and by a new one from Corvette Image. At least I know what I'll be getting.

temvette72

Since my Vette is far from original, I went with the cheaper option of a one piece hand laid front clip. I bought mine from J&D Corvettes in Bellflower, CA, and was pleased with the quality. I have seen used front ends once in a while on Ebay, but they tend to be rough and very expensive. Plus, shipping will be steep unless you can find it locally.

Temvette72

tmacb

I think I'll go with the Corvette Image PM clip. I can save some $$$ by picking it up too. It's abot a 4-5 hour drive. Not a big deal to save on freight costs. If I run across something prior to ordering, cool. If not, I'll buy new.

zwede

I used the Corvette Image PM surround & front fender. Great parts and well worth the $$$. Fit & finish was excellent

ghoastrider1

This thread is right on target. Thinking about this car..thinking hard.opinions are welcome.
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