1997/1999 front ends compatible?

Hey Taco fans, My friend wrecked her Taco (that does not sound right) - Her Tacoma, actually it was sitting for a while, uninsured, and someone smacked it and drove off. She's a single mom and naturally broke, and a body shop was going to charge her $3k for the work, or they were nice enough to pay her $200 for the truck (mind you this is a running tacoma) anyhoo, she reached out to some folks, and I bit, I'm fixing up the truck for as little as possible, which brings me to the question: I have a 99' tacoma with halogen lights, and a 99' grill/bumper etc. I'm looking at parts from a 97' parts tacoma online, except it's a 97' with sealed-beam lights (big square on piece deals, but i need to replace everything on the front of the vehicle. Lights, side markers, grill, bumper, radiator, air conditioning condenser, even the hood latch. By some miracle the hood and fender are okay. So... the 97' front end is complete and I can harvest it for $300, for everything, but I was wondering if the radiator mount was going to accept the 97' parts and be drilled out appropriately, and if the frame would accept different bumper supports/brackets etc. or if by some cruel joke they had changed anything drastic. I don't mind drilling a few holes in the radiator mount if that's what it takes, but if shit just won't fit I'd love to save myself the hassle. What chu think? should i make a 99' taco look like a 97' It might be hard to find a cheaper front end.

 

Welcome to TW!

All 1995-2004 front clips are compatible with 1st Gens of all years; The same goes for 3rd Gen T4Rs!

 

That's what she said!

 

The radiator support is different, but if you swap it everything will work. But if it was hit hard enough to damage everything, the rad support is probably damaged too.

Not sure on the frame but the bumpers are easy to make fit.

 

The radiator support was a bit dented, but i did the old shade tree mechanic method using a come-along, a welded eye-bolt and a stout tree to pull the rad support back into shape (enough to hold all the stuff) This is the 3rd front end I've slapped back together this way, results have not been 100% accurate in terms of gaps and such, but good enough if you squint. Also--- the 97' front end is sold, so I'm back to hunting for the right parts anyhow.

Thanks for all your wisdom, y'all.