Projects 1941 Plymouth Coupe 440 4 speed Custom

I just wanted to share what has become a 30 plus year project. I consider this my first car. It was the car I picked and bought with my own money in 1980. I was 17 then. It was a low budget good build for the day. This thread will cover many stories. The main theme will be how I got to this point and finally finishing it. This is my introduction to my obsession, The 1941 Plymouth Coupe.


Here's the quick specs.

• 440 .035 over Drag sim rated at Elephant Power and Mammoth Torque
• A 833 e body 4 speed
• Hydraulic clutch
• 85 Corvette front suspension
• 56 Ford 9 inch rear 4:56 ratio
• 4 link coil over
• Punched hood
• Shaved doors power windows with copper tint
• Recessed plate in trunk
• Custom rear pan
• Wedged fenders to the rear
• New floors
• New fire wall
• Nos aluminum grill panel
• Custom stainless headers H pipe
• Tilt column
• Leather bucket out of a Saab

I'll take each component and describe what was done soon. Then, in spring we'll get in the shop and get started at getting her on the road and finished. More pics coming.

My next post will be on the punch list of things still needing work followed by my vision of how I see it finished.

I'm new to this forum so it may take a little time for me to get moving here, I'm open to suggestions. Thanks, Victor

 

I'd like to see some details on the C4 suspension install, and the hydraulic clutch from the pedal to the throwout bearing. Got any pics?

 

Hello Algoma56,
I can’t remember what parts I used. I think it was a Mazda slave cylinder. I can tell you I went to the local parts store and asked them to allow me to look at slave cylinders and master cylinders in the back ware house. Posies did the work in Sept. 1988. Posies is a Hot Rod shop in Hummelstown PA. Ken Fenicle (aka: Dutch) took my ideas and made them applicable to my project.



The pedal kit is from the Deuce Factory for a 32 Ford brake/clutch kit and was adapted to the Plymouth frame. A bracket was made to bolt to the bell housing and a hole was drilled to position the slave cylinder. The throw out fork was notched and bent forward then welded to give a proper alignment through out the throw.
The rear 4 link uses the original front spring bracket for the lower control rod. The top control rod attaches to the inside frame cross member. The coil over axle bracket is a commercially available Model A 4 link coil over bracket welded to the Ford axle housing. A tubular cross bar is welded to the frame. Coil overs are from TCI. Stainless rod ends with urethane bushings are threaded into the rods.



I’ll post a photo of the Clutch mechanism soon.

 

My first Spring Carlisle Car Show was the first time I hooked school. Two days in a row. No one even noticed I was absent. Luck me. Anyway this post is about how I found the solution to putting Disc brakes on the front. I had already purchased NOS a-arms, bushings kingpins and found a engineering and machine shop to adapt the original spindles with disc brakes off of a dodge family sedan. The end result wasn't something I was comfortable with. Just following my gut. I needed a solution to the front end and I still hadn't come up with anything, Keep in mind that there was no interweb or a lot of businesses manufacturing street rod parts, especially for Plymouths. I'm strolling the swap meet in Carlisle in 1985 when I came across a front sub-assemble for the new and reengineered Corvette. Spindle to spindle. The unit included Disc brakes, calipers, mono leaf fiberglass spring, aluminum control arms, sway bar rack unit and power steering pump. $500.00 dollars was the asking price. I eyeballed it for about 5 minutes. Flipping it, turning it around, end over end and still more eyeballing. Sold. It was perfect. Plus there are two pads perfect to mount the motor mount with some simple tube steel fabrication.



Since the sub-frame has included all the control arm mounting I didn't have o worry about getting the geometry right. I went to a Corvette dealer with a protractor looked under the hood and set the protractor on the upper control arm bolt to get a good reading to set the proper camber. If I remember correctly it read 10 degrees. (DON'T Hold me to that) You can see t shock tower that was fabricated and sway bar mounts.

 

If you look carefully at a stock wheel alignment in an original 1941 Plymouth you'll notice the wheel is moved forward in the center of the wheel well. When the 4 link was added to the rear axle the wheel was centered. The front wheel was also centered changing the wheel base.The original wheel base was 117 inches and the new wheel base is 120". The rear tires are T/A truck radials to give it more rake and a pro street stance. Although after seeing some of these coupe dragging their tails I'm not sure if I would do the same thing again. Those draggers are killers. Anyway, If you put your finger in-between the tire and the fender well you'll touch both. The 4 link holds it in place through the entire suspension travel.



The 1941 Plymouth have a slight boat tail with the fenders bolted in the original position. To accommodate a tight fit we added about 1 1/2 inches to the rear.

 

I'm subscribed.This is going to be a build to watch,Mopar and Mopar.

 

Love the car. Sorry, but I would get some better looking wheels.

 

When I turned 16 my dad found a 1969 AMC Rambler for me. Sale price was 50 bucks. One flat tire, a broken windshield and a mechanic who said it needed two lifters. I couldn't stand it. All my pals were cruzing in restored muscle cars. 69 RS, SS, z28 painted hugger orange, 69 340 Cuda'. 69 Yellow Mach I, 69 Super Bee and me with a 69 AMC Rambler - pea green with a 6 banger. Pop said being a new driver I would probably wreck it and didn't need a power house yet. In hindsight he was right and I miss that car.

So when I saw this coupe for sell at Vantastics,
a local custom Van Shop. Originally the coupe had brown naugahyde button tucked interior panels and brown short pile carpet. Brown captains chairs with swivel mounts. Custom steering wheel on the original steering column. a B&M Star Gate shifter.
The car was quick with a LT 1 350 Chevy. 202 heads, rams horn exhaust manifolds, Eldebrock Torker intake a 650 double pumper. electric fuel pump. The problem was the steering was loose and it vibrated awful around 60 mph. Drive shaft angles.
I got a loan and a week later it was mine.
This story is why it takes 30 plus years to finish a car. I also want to encourage any one out there to not give up. If I can do it you can too. I haven't talked to anyone who did say they didn't regret selling their ride. In short it's called. marriage, kids, health. First set back was my folks got divorced. Then, I went out on my own. I rented storage buildings, sheds and attics to keep parts. During this time every pay check bought something for my motor.
Then bought a house met a wonderful woman had children. Life.

The next post will be the Monster engine build.

 

Yea, I know what you mean. It's possible they'll get replaced later on. Those are Enki 90's. Today you can buy just about anything or even have custom ones made. Back when I got those it was Cragars, ET rims and I think center lines had just been introduced. There were probably a few other brands as well but the local speed shop didn't carry to many options I could afford... They do have center caps that smooth them out and give an entirely differ look. What would you do?

 

Got to congratulate you for keeping your car that long.Still trying to learn that lesson!

 

THIS is what I would do, but then I am a pure MoPar guy....these are 1956 Chrysler wheels....

 

Sweet.

 

I'm enjoying this thread, thanks for sharing and welcome to the HAMB.

 

I want to see under that hood and peep that 440. Must be stuffed to the gills.

 

The '56 wires aren't going to work with the high offset designed into the 'vette suspension.
Lucky for Valtin, most modern stuff is using that kind of offset now and his choices are much better.
Also subscribed to see where this is going. My '40 may learn a lesson or two.

 

Originally I had a 413 long cross ram. I decided to sell it at Carlisle and just use a 4 bbl carb. I have a pic I'll post later. Currently I'm modifying the inner fenders to clear the custom headers. I found a driver side inner fender without a battery tray. That will keep it symmetrical when you open the hood. I'll post more motor pics later.

 

My wife said one day if I sold the car in the garage that we could park in the garage. I said that all my friends sold their cars at the suggestions of their wives. She smiled as though she thought I agreed. Then I continued my response that all those couples ended up divorced. I suggested in order to save our marriage I would never talk about the subject again. She understood.

 

40 years ago when I met my wife, she knew of my caraholic problem. Today I have two rods and now she has her own. A 62 Nova Convertible. She loves the disease as much as I do.

 

Cruising was the thing. Take any Friday or Saturday night and head down to the circuit in Harrisburg and you would find a parade of cars and sooner or later your friends. The Harrisburg circuit is "now" promoted as Restaurant Row or as I like to say Bar Room Boulevard. Almost a carnival atmosphere today. Pine Street was our hang out during the 80's. I don't remember to many problems back then either. Cops cruised the circuit as well. As far as the beer cans. Pick them up when you leave and keep the streets clean. No Problems. Can you imagine that today?

Well that story isn't what this post is about. It's about my engine build. I bought one part at a time on my minimum wage pay check. Here's what is in my 440 engine.

• First I needed a rear sump pan. Dodge trucks had a RB pan and pick up tube that fit this order.
• The RB 440 is put of a 73 New Yorker.
• Heads are a 906 casting and have the ports mildly opened & matched and chambers polished.
• Direct Connection hi volume oil pump and relief spring.
• 413 forged crank
• Direct Connection 8640 alloy forged 440-6 pack rods. Polished and shot peened.
• TRW 10.75 compression pistons
• Direct Connection double roller timing chain
• Purple shaft cam 0528 lift 284 duration 60 degrees overlap and 112 centerline.
• 3/8 Chromalloy push rods
• Mechanical rocker arm
• Dual springs hardened retainer and locks
• 2.14 intake and 1.81 exhaust valves
• Bronze wall valve guides and perfect circle seals.
• Direct Connection Chrome Box ignition 10k rpm 1 degree of dwell variation.
• 2 in. Dia. 36" long Stainless Steel primary 12" collectors H-pipe Exhaust
• 750cfm Holley vacuum secondary's
• Windage tray
• Aluminum water pump housing

DynoSim rates the build at 525 hp @ 6500 rpm and peak torque 464 ft. lbs. @ 5000rpm
In a 3150 lbs car the ET would be 10.608 sec with a trap speed of 130 mph on a 1/4 strip. 0-60 in 2.88 seconds and 0-100 in 6.476 secs. with 4:11 gears in the rear.

That's cool and all that but the most impressive numbers are the torque curve. 357 ft lbs. @ 2500 rpm and 400 ft. lbs and higher from 3750 rpm to 7000 rpm. That's a range 3250 rpm with a 400 plus ft. lbs. of torque. This is a computer program model to arrive at these specs.

One thing I would do different to day would be dropping a cleaned up and basically stock 440 hp. motor instead of all the money I spent on a street strip motor. I followed direct connection bulletins and MoPar Performance book to build this motor.

Oh well to late.

 

Subscribed.

 

Great looking project and welcome to the H.A.M.B.! I'm going to be watching this one for sure!

 

Love your pickem up truck.

 

Hi Farmer12, I found your thread on google looking for build ideas. That's how I found HAMB to post this thread. You're doing excellent custom work. Wish I had done some of what you did. I just want to focus and get my coupe on the road at this point. I have a good idea of my finished ride at this point. I'll post those thoughts in the near future.
Many Thanks,

 

Here's my vision of the 1941 Plymouth Coupe Body Modifications to still be completed including paint.

• Finish modification on the original inner fenders keeping the factory look and feel while increasing the engine compartment size to accommodate the 440. (will make post showing work being done soon)
• Smooth the front fender seams.
• Fabricate side scoops in the hood fender filler panels.
• Smooth running boards tapered toward the front. the main function is to extend body lines.
• Forge front bumper brackets. (Skeleton arms with skeleton hands and fingers holding large s shaped wrenches as nerf bars. (stainless steel polish left on to create patina to show detail)
• Forged hood ornament basic factory shape only skulls in place of ship and sails.
• Frenched headlights? Take poll at top of thread.
• I'm still on the fence about chopping the top. Most likely won't. 80/20 odds

Paint.
Main color will be either Almost black with a dark blue hue. Nose will have flames to flow back over the hood and about half way across the doors. This is where it gets interesting. The flame will have special effects. This isn't being described as "how to" paint but more as a way to describe what will be seen. As you look at the flame more details will become obvious. The main flame will be laid out. Leading nose will have a faint copper with and iridescent paint used in the center of the flame itself. Between the flame licks will be airbrushed wisp of flame that will reveal artistic stencils done as negatives underneath the airbrushed wisp of flame and smoke. The art work originate from the work of Kaethe Kollwitz. These will be ghost images.

Iridescent paint change color as light hits it. The color I'll use will most look like a flame created as copper oxidizes making green blue and purple hues. This will create a moving flame as the car drives.

Kaethe Kollwitz art is dark and deals with cycle of life and death and the struggles of extreme hardship.

This won't appeal to everyone I'm sure. It is significant to me as I find some interest in the artistic aspect of rat rods. There are a few other reasons as well. That however is for another forum.

 

We'll I spent some time going over the HAMB forum. What a wealth of information. I'm glad I found it.
After looking at different 1941 builds I've changed my mind on a few things. I'll dump the hood ornament and the flames are going to be rethought.
Here are some links to the inspirational builds.

Farmer12 build
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/41-plymouth-coupe-392-hemi-build-thread.463453/

Zombie77
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1941-plymouth-chop.397521/

Bloodyknuckles
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...arly-custom-build.928946/page-2#post-10566115

And Thinkfinks ride althought I haven't found a thread yet only photos of his ride.

 

Ah-go with flames and hood louvers.

 

'41 Special Deluxe coupe was my 1st car (1968). Boy I would sure like to have it back!

 

Found a driver side inner fender on ebay with out a battery tray. That will clean up the engine compartment and make both sides symmetrical. You can see it was a little bent up when I got it.



All straight now that I hit it with my hammer!

 

Here's some rough work modifying the passenger side inner fender. Welds are a little rough I used a sheet of copper to help prevent burn through. I still have some hammering and grinding to get them done but I do have a nice fit clearing the custom stainless steel headers.






Put them in adjust it. Take tem out and tack them. Repeat the process. Again and again.

 

The wife's 41 Plymouth Coupe.