1979 Parts Car - 1969 Resto Project

[fiasco]

What kinds of issues am I going to run into putting parts from a 1979 parts car into my 1969 project?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

What sort of parts are you thinking about? Body and interior-wise, the spiders are very similar, and while some mechanical parts are the same, many others are different. Different rear axle, different door handles and striker mechanism (location), different bumpers of course (and their attachment points), different grill, different engine, and the list goes on.

The maddening thing is that many parts appear to fit, but there are subtle differences between early and late that cause them to not work exactly right. An example is the valves: early valves had ever-so-slightly smaller heads. Can you swap them with later valves and be OK? Yes, but it's not exactly right.

-Bryan

[fiasco]

Thanks Bryan. It turns out, the parts car I ended up with is a 1975. So it has the carbureted 1756, and I think I can manage to replace the 1438 with that. Does it bolt right up to the older transmission? If not, I can just move the whole power train over from the '75.

I am planning to move most of the interior parts from the '75 to the '69, with the exception of the dash and center console. I'll be putting in the "California" style dash (https://www.bodykitnation.com/fifecudabo.html), and I'll be building my own center console.

I do want to update the suspension in the '69, and don't know enough about the differences from AS to CS in that regard, so I have some learning to do there. Are the later rear axles better enough that they are worth moving over?

Thanks!
Steve

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Hi Steve,
Many more questions than I can answer in a post, but if you contact me with a PM or email, I'd be happy to chat over the phone. I've done many engine swaps, and you are right, there are some things to watch out for.

-Bryan

[fiasco]

Thanks Bryan. I've still got some work to do before I get to the engine swap phase. Hopefully around early April. I'll hit you up again when I get to that point.

Thanks!