Hey everyone i have a 79 berlinetta and i remember reading a few articles saying you could swap out the front ends from the 2nd gen to the 1st gen camaros. Anyone ever done this? Is it pricey? All what parts do you need?

 

its not 2nd to first gen its late 2nd gen to early 2nd gen. well thats what i know. u can take a 79 and make it into a 70 RS but people can easily tell because the rear window is different and some body lines dont match and if you dont do it just right its crap.

also you compromise the safety of the entire car removing the front bumper so it will look like the 70. 70 RS had hardly no safety bumper in the front vs the 79 theres a little more there. thats why its longer and has a bumper cover.

but yes it can be done but its not entirely worth it. now if u dont like some of the berlinetta styleing u can change the grill or even make it into a mock Z28 and back it up with a good engine. the vin or plate wont match but if that doent matter to you u can style it like the Z28 easer than a full convert. and u dont wanna hear how much is involved to get the rear end to look like the 70 lol. thats structural change and hard to do.

 

yeah Brownstone101 is right, i wouldnt do it, but u could change ur late 2nd gen to the earlier 2nd gen, if you can find the right nose, my uncle had to change it from early 2 late after an accident bc he could not find a front end for his, i wouldnt recomend it personally becasue i like the look of the 78-81 camaros more than the rest

 

yeah i got a 1970 RS (its my dads) and my 1979 and i personally love both those years the same. but to do the convert if i were you i would just make it into a nice Z28 and try and restore a true 70 if u like that but if u dont find a real 1st its just not worth damaging the structural integrity of the car and having a good 78 camaro become a tin can crap since theres less and less of them every day yeah know?

 

Well I am partial to the early 2nd gen Camaros, and especially for their nice little chrome bumpers, regardless of Rs or SS type. But they wont hold up to hardly any bump without showing signs of what happened!
My little fender bender I had early this summer triggered my restoration, but it couldn't have been more than a 10 MPH impact that did serious damage to my bumper, header panel, and right front fender.
I've often wondered how a late 2nd gen would have survived the same impact. Not that I'd change, just wondered!

 

i dont know i haven't looked hard into under the bumper cover on mine but it looks like theres a little heaver front bumper setup than my dads little rs bumpers.

 

i see. i guess as far as the rear end goes i like the looks of the round lights better. is there any way to achieve this with out a lot of expense?

 

The back end gets really hard, and really expensive! That's a weld in panel, so it's a cheap part to buy, but very extensive mods to get it to fit!

 

its most likely cheaper to find a 1970 camaro and rebuild it and know it was built right than get in an accident with a modded 79 and risk hurting your self or killing your self. also there hard to insure after with insurance company's cause they see the split bumper as a liability and esp if you remove factory bumper they quit likening you.

 

well i read that the 78-81 camaros with its rubbery nose can take up to a 15mph crash without showing any real signs of damage aside from the bumper i would assume, and it looks like it too bc i know my nose seems to have a little bounce back to it when i sit on it or something lol, and it has quite a bit of room before you get to the radiator and fenders for a crumple zone.