Topic: 77 to 76 interchangeability

[wilbar92]

Hello

Im currently looking at a 77 formula 400 clone, although its not my dream cars its in great shape in body and mech(needs alot in intieor, but owell), and for the price its realy hard to turn down, so im looking at it as something fun to drive until i can track down my dream car to restore, , that car being a yellow and black 76 formula. so most of what i do to the 77 i want to be interchangeable, and  since my cars not original i plan to do the intieor correct for a 76 formula, although it seems to be almost the exact same ( i want a tan inteior in my 76, i dont care whats factory , been dreaming of the car since i was a little kid i know what i want in it)  ive determined that the majority of the peices are atleast interchange able if not correct.  and i relize the bumper and hood are different, but im getting conflicting information on the fenderss and doors,  some say that the fenders are the same on base cars from 74-81 others say only 77-81  based on the bumper style i would believe that it should be 74-76 and then 77-81, which is right?

the question that brought be here thou is the doors, while looking at classic industries catalog, i noticed that they list the door skins being the same for the two but that the door shell being different, whats the difference?

is there anything else thats not interchangeable other than the hood and bumper and the two i asked about, the bodys perfect so its not being changed, but as i said my dream is to find a 76 formula,  but i want a nice/fun bird to drive until then, my thoughts are once i find my 76 i may tranfer everything over, restore the car back to its esprit state(came very wheel optioned, and use it for a daily driver, or just sell it the way it is once i remove what i want.)

[cuog]

I'm pretty sure the fenders are different for the reason that I always see fenders listed as 777-81 on catalogs so its likely the lines are a bit different.  I'm not entirely sure on the doors, I'd assume that it has something to do with the interior vs exterior of the door construction again might have to do with the lines on the body are probably a little different from 76 to 77.

[RENOVATIONS]

The only difference in the fenders would be the brackets on the front of the fenders where they attach to the nose....these can be removed/added as needed. With a little work, any fender will work.
 

The difference in the doors would be the opening in the sheetmetal for the exterior door handle(earlier models used longer exterior handles). You can use a door from any of the years as long as you're aware of the difference in the door handle length.


And as you seem to know, the '70-'76 hood is different than the '77-'81 style.

[wilbar92]

now that you mention it i do recall being told that earlier birds had longer door handles, and yes im aware that the 77-81 is different than the earlier birds, thats actually the reason i love the 76 formula, its almost like a mix between the two, i think it has a more aggressive look to it.


hopefully when i find my car i wont need to swap sheet metal, but if i do i want to know what would switch. but with as hard as they are to find around here(northern pa, most of the 70's cars are either rusted to heck, bondo buggys or garage queens which for the time being are out of my price range) i wouldnt be surprised to use most of the sheet metal off the car, which is why i bought it between the motor and the solid sheet metal the cars worth its cost, one of the benefits of beings a collision tech.

thank you for your help