putting a 73 truck grill on my 78 custum

[brandcole73]

I saw this on eBay. A guy put a 73 truck grill on his 78 or 79 Bronco. Looked pretty cool! I have a 78 custum with round lights now. I have allways liked square lights better, but this one I saw looked so good, I;m thinking of doing it. Does anyone know if the grill from a 73-77 truck will bolt on without a lot of modifications? I wish I would have contacted that guy, but I didn't have my 78 at the time.

 

[79fordblake]

I friend of mine did the same thing to his 79. He took the grill and grill shell from a 73 and put it on his 79 with no modification. Putting a 73 grill in a 79 grill shell may be a different situation since the 73 grill is 2-piece. Can anybody else on here tell him for sure?

 

[Broncobill78]

To be honest your post is a little confusing. Just to set the record straight, round headlights came on early 78' Customs & Rangers only and squares came on 78' XLT's. About halfway thru the year they switched to squares on all of them and ALL 79's came with squares. so really only the early build 78 Customs & Rangers had rounds, everything else came with squares. You can retro ANY 73-79 F-truck grill SHELL (meaning grill shell, grill & lights) onto any 78/79 Bronco. Yup, I've seen the whole 74' shell on a 79' Bronco gig and to me it just doesn't look right, the split-grill 73' look just seems absurd on a 79' Bronco but nobody appointed me as Ford's fashion cop. Now if what you're saying is that you want to add square headlights to an early 78' Bronco by swapping to a square headlight 78/79 F-truck grill shell then sure, you can do it as a bolt on.

To repeat for the 2nd poster, YES, *any* 73-79 F-truck grill shell, grill & lights will bolt onto a 78/79 Bronco. Just how that grill looks on your Bronco is a whole different matter, but sure, they'll ALL bolt on with no modifications.

 

[brandcole73]

Hey Bill, Thanks for the info. I was saying I usually like the squares better, But thought that one with the early grill (and rounds) looked pretty good. Different at least. Anyway, I am going to either swap my rounds for squares, or change the grill with an earlier truck grill and keep the rounds. I didn't want to do in major mods to change the grills so it could allways be put back to original.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I like the round myself. I found this photo of a '79 where someone changed the front grill to the earlier grill and all I love the look!!

can we see the grill on the one you posted??

 

[brandcole73]

I like the round myself. I found this photo of a '79 where someone changed the front grill to the earlier grill and all I love the look!!
can we see the grill on the one you posted??

This black one is mine, it has the normal early 78 bronco grill and round lights. That red one is the look I was thinking about doing to mine.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Your 78 custom looks to be in remarkable shape! It is somewhat of a rarity having the rounds anyway as Bronco bill stated they only did a half year like that on the customs/ranger models. I do like the uniqueness of the older split grill look too. For prosperity sake you might consider leaving it stock. I guess it is a matter of taste.

Please, if you do put the '73 grill on send us some photos! Heck, your Bronco looks so nice send us some anyway! Since it is on a trailer I will just come get it if you want me to! I will send you some pics!!

 

[brandcole73]

Your 78 custom looks to be in remarkable shape! It is somewhat of a rarity having the rounds anyway as Bronco bill stated they only did a half year like that on the customs/ranger models. I do like the uniqueness of the older split grill look too. For prosperity sake you might consider leaving it stock. I guess it is a matter of taste.
Please, if you do put the '73 grill on send us some photos! Heck, your Bronco looks so nice send us some anyway! Since it is on a trailer I will just come get it if you want me to! I will send you some pics!!

I wanted to find out if it would bolt on without modifying the truck so I could change it back if I wanted. If any cutting, drilling, damaging was needed, I don't want to do it. I haven't dicided yet, the round headlights are starting to grow on me. I always like squares better. Anyway I'll put pics up if I do it. Thanks

 

[brandcole73]

Oh ya, Its not on the trailer anymore! That was the day I picked it up in Chicago. 15 hours of driving to get this one. Well worth it!

 

[bleakhorizon]

i got my 76 grill on my 79.....................just had to drill new holes for the headlight mounting.... think thats all that i can remember

oh and the lower grill support in the middle didnt quite seem to work right so i just took it off

 

[brandcole73]

I can talk myself out of anything. I'm going to leave it alone for now. I always liked the 78/79's with square lights better. That's what my last one had. The more I lok at this one, the more I like it. I guess it is a little rarer to have the rounds. Besides, i need to put the time and $ into the inside right now. I've got the seats, carpet, and rear side panels from an old 85 in it. I'd like to find some original stuff for it instead. You'd br surprised how well the side panels from the 85 fit!, even the speaker mounts and speakers! Accually I'm working on snowmobiles now. I have the Bronco tucked into the corner of my shop, sleds in the middle, and my daily driver sits out in the cold snow!