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I defiantly want to do away with the beefy bumper and go to something smaller .
"To do this properly, everything forward of the doors really needs to be swapped out...excluding the hood. - unless you want to try to modify a 1975 fender into a 1971-1973 style fender. - I don't weld that well myself. The stock 1971-73 header panel and 71-73 lower valance will bolt onto a 1975 front end without making any modifications except a slight tweeking of the tabs at the front of the radiator support for the front fender by the headlight area...just tweek in enough to clear the fenders. The 71-73 header panel support bracket will bolt onto the 71-73 header panel and still line up on the 1975 subframe location okay. You will need all the brackets for 1971-1973 to mount up the front end parts, but they do bolt onto the stock 1975 bolt hole locations.
The 1971-1973 grill will need the side brace brackets either bolted, or welded to the 1975 Vega radiator support. (Bolt them up to the grill before mounting it to the front valance and header panel, this way you can swing them around to find a good mounting locatation before bolting them on or welding them on. The 1975 fenders dont fit with the 1971-73 header panel.
I purchased 1971-1973 style fiberglass fenders for both sides and these seem to fit fine with OEM parts. Good luck finding good 1971-73 steel front fenders in decent shape! You will need the front bumper and brackets for a 1971-1973, but everything will bolt up except the outer bumper backet to the frame under the headlight area...you will have to fabricate mounting brackets for this. The 71-73 front turn signal wiring differs slighly, as the 1975 front turn signals take a different 3 wire plug. (1971-1973 front turn signals use a two wire setup) The 1971-1973 headlights will not automatically bolt on to the 1975 radiator support panel. You will need to have the 1971-1973 style Headlight Backing Plates, as well as the 1971-73 headlight buckets and headlight rings and mounting hardware. Since the 1975 radiator support was never drilled for the headlight backing plates, you will have to locate and mount these so the adjuster screws will fit through the headlight rings before drilling the holes. Take your time with this, as a mistake may prevent the headlight assembly from looking right. You want the headlights to be centered properly, so take your time."
I believe you forgot to mention the need for the use of the four, 1973 (one model year only) front bumper brackets.
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