I have a 77 F350 and want to change the grille over to the 78/79 shell. I checked the numbers and it appears the core support is the same from 77 to 79??? It also shows the head light buckets (round) for 77 and 78 are the same, but I'm not sure that is correct. The bottom of the 77 grille (where the head lights are) appears to be further from the core support, so I'd think the 77 buckets are deeper.

I can get the head light buckets for either the 78 or 79, but I would rather not have to change the core support. Has anyone done this?? Any ideas??

Thanks, John

 

I put a '79 grill in my '73 and used the '73 radiator support. Just get the surround, headlight buckets, blinkers, and the small corner brackets with 'ears' that hold the upper corners of the grill surround. I had to drill new holes for the bottom of the headlight buckets, otherwise it's a bolt-in swap.

Marty

 

You have to change the locatoin of the headlights, and I think there is a spacer that goes between the core support and the headlight. I could be wrong about the spacer. Never mind.

 

You don't have to change the location of the head lights, but you do need to get the square(rectangle)brackets from a 78 79. The only thing that changes is the location of the turn signals, but all you have to do is bring down the wiring.

 

Yes, you do need to change the headlight location. The headlight buckets in the earlier style split grill sit blow the blinker whereas they're above the blinker in the 78/79 grills. The headlight actually sits about 2-3" higher on the 78/79's. You don't necessarily need to change the core support, all it takes is 2 new holes drilled on the old support to line up the new headlight buckets (yes, you will need different buckets for the new lights). Once the buckets are lined up the rest will bolt right into place. I did the opposite swap, from a 78 grille to a 75-77 style and there's nothing to it.

 

73 custom is right, drill a couple holes for the new buckets, don't foget the small corner brackets on the top corners of the inner fenders. Also you can mount either round or rectangular headlights, depeding on which buckets you get, and the surounding piece on the grill.

 

Thanks guys, I just finished, took about 5 hours, but everything worked out great and I now have a faux 79 F350!

Thanks again for all the help.

John