I picked up my 79 for 700, I needed a way around for myself and for the price...well for being so cheap it actually cost about what a good one would run just had to invest some money, sweat, tears(and a few drops of blood and fits of anger to get running good). I just had a random question, in my opinion I don't like how the 78 ad 79 look in the front and thought about swapping out to a 73 front end, for me to follow thru what exactly would I need to swap out to a 73 front design, or is it even worth it? Figured someone on here would know as I can't be the only to not like how those 2 years worth of trucks looked. I can get everything I need for the swap if it's doable from a pick n pull lot about an hour from where I live at. And on a second note, would a set of 1 ton springs fit to the factory spots on my f100 without any modification to it?

 

73-75 used the same grill inserts. Grill shells, the shiny part, from 73 to 77 will swap. You'll need a 73-77 radiator core support, headlight buckets, etc.

Hard to find undamaged shells in the yards... Over seven years of picking F trucks I have come across only two that were decent.

 

So the piece the radiator core support has to be changed? Damn I just changed the radiator today too since I decided to pop a hole in it when I was changing out the power steering pump.

 

Here is thread from a great FTE member and how he did it. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...rill-swap.html

 

No you don't. It's one way to do it, but really all you need to do is drill 4 holes. The headlights mount lower in the earlier trucks, so just clamp the headlight buckets to the core support, install the grill with inserts so that the headlights line up, mark where you need to drill, remove the grill, and drill your holes. It's that simple. That's how I did mine.

 

1978/79 F100/350 & Bronco: There is one radiator support with rectangular headlamps.

1973/78 F100/350 & 1978 Bronco: There are TWO different radiator supports with round headlamps.

The radiator support used with the Super Cooling radiator has a larger opening radius.

Super Cooling radiator approx. 26 1/4" wide x 24 1/4" high.

Standard/Xtra Cooling/A/C radiators approx. 26 1/4" wide x 19 3/4" high.

 

It's a shame that the images are unavailable (PhotoBucket). Here's an explanation as to why.
However, I was able to follow the image links and actually download one of the images as follows:



... so perhaps someone will develop a "bot" that uses this tactic to repair these precious threads.

 

My first dent, waaaay back in the day, was a cream colored F250 like yours. I sooo wanted a chrome tube grill, until I got one. The darn thing was too heavy for the Ford supports and I had to fab a mount for it. And then it was near impossible to open the hood.

 

to swap from the 78-9 nose to the 73-7 YOU DO NOT NEED TO SWAP THE RAD CRADLE

but you do need to redrill it for the 73-7 headlamp bucket / mount brackets as they are simply installed LOWER on the rad cradle

been there , done this

you need the surround , the grille inserts of your preferance and the headlamp bucket/ brackets to match what you're putting on

and probably about twenty new bolts and thread clips lol