I have always heard that you can easily change the front end of a 71-72 with a 70 by changing core support, fender extensions, grill, bumper, etc. I noticed that most catalogs list the 70 part number different than 72. What is the difference? Is it simply the marker light, or is there more?

For fenders- the 1970 Fenders have the marker lights- 71&72 do not, but they would bolt up in place just fine, I have seen them used many times.

The Radiator support is the big difference for 70 vs 71-72 because 70 has 4 headlights, 71-72 only have 2. The headlight buckets mount on the radiator support so you have to have the right one.

Hope this helps!
Ben

The marker light hole is NOT on the 71-72 fender. It more then a simple cutout the edges are rolled for a nice clean look, not like someone took a sawzall and went to town.

Also the inner front fender structure where the fender ext bolts to is diffferent. This is because the 70 has the dual light and the 71-2 has the bigger single light. This makes the structure on the TOTALLY different. In order to make the ext fit and headlamps, you need to remove and replace the inner area on the fender.

The easy swap is buy a COMPLETE original frontend, or better yet NOT do the swap and be happy with the year you have

If the 70 fenders are in perfect shape compared to your other fenders why not use them. Just drill out the spot welds holding the fender extensions on the front of the fender and swap them. You may want to take some measurments before to make sure every things aligns good but its not that hard to do. I did the same thing to my 72.

Originally posted by sportster:
Just drill out the spot welds holding the fender extensions on the front of the fender and swap them. They're bolted on, not spot welded