Projects 1940 chevy coupe help

Hey guys I'm new to this forum and restoring a car like this especially coming from diesel trucks lol. OK I got a 1940 chevy business coupe that has a a straight axle setup with parallel leaf Springs. The whole front suspension is loose from the frame and I was wondering if any of yall might have pics of this type of suspension so I might get an idea of how it looks. Also I'm missing all the steering components and was wondering if anyone one knows where to source them or if I should just make a custom setup. Thanks for the help guys, I have been searching nonstop for the past few days and coming with nothing much.

 

btt

 

Sorry for being a noob but what does btt mean?

 

Back to the top. It's a way of keeping your thread alive and current.

 

Oh okay a bump lol

 

Hi. There are other places for parts but I get most of my original replacement items from www.chevsofthe40s.com . You can look at their online catalog & there are many photo's. While there you can order their paper catalog as well.
On the front suspension & steering I believe your 40 is the same as my 46 with independent front suspension with coil springs. If so it has the knee action shocks and the front shock is part of the upper control arm and cannot be removed. What I am in the process of doing is changing the pivot bolt in the lower A frame to a longer bolt and attaching a modern tube shock there and welding an upper bracket to the frame. Theo old shock will remain as part of the upper control ***embly. Adding a new (additional) rear cross member and removing the old rear knee action shocks and adding new tube shocks.
If your rear end has the torque tube (enclosed drive shaft) it is original as mine is.
There are several places you can purchase reprints of the original body & ch***is manuals and they are a big help. I bought mine from Ebay sellers.
Where are you located as there may be some of us close to help?
Good luck, Jimmie

 

If your coupe is a "Master" then it came with a beam front axle and parallel leaves. See if you can find a manual for it, which will show a lot of detail. Chev's of the 40's has been a good vendor.

 

I believe mine had a frame swapped from a master because it has the solid axle with parallel leaf Springs. I'm kinda stuck on what to do. I'm planning on a sbc 350 that I'm going to do a crazy turbo build so idk if keeping the solid axle is a bad idea.

 

Here's a diagram of how the springs mount. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/4032.htm

 

Do you have the column and steering box plus the steering rods, etc. Since the '40 Chevy had an available IFS a lot of guys do upgrade but I wouldn't go searching for one as they are pricey to rebuild and arguably obsolete. I've had an MII under mine for 25 years and it has served well for close to 100,000miles in this form. Ch***is Engineering has a well proven bolt-on kit.. I would stay away from a GM sub-frame installation as they are all too wide, and they are not as available as they once were.

You haven't given us any idea of your skills, available tools and goals for the coupe so it's difficult to give advice.

 

Hey Waldo thanks that gives me a really good picture of what it needs to be.

Sorry I totally forgot to add that extra info lol. I'm a Welder and I have no problem fabbing stuff up.

For the car I want something I could have fun cruising the highway with but at the same time have a fire breathing highway demon!

I'm want a nice car but I'm gonna make it for me and I don't care about originality just as long as it's functional and presentable lol.

I am planning on a sbc 350 turbocharged and I'm still not sure if I want to tub it because the body itself is not so bad.

 

Oh I also forgot to add that I'm also missing the whole steering column and links so that's why I'm contemplating on what direction I should go.

 

Oh and does anyone know if the straight axle is cast iron? I wanted to Weld shock mounts to it but I won't touch it if that's what it is.

 

I have a Corvair complete front end "bolted in" without doing any damage to the frame and it drives great. This is what they used to do before there was Mustang II front ends.

 

No, it's not cast iron.

 

If it were me I wouldn't go with any of the old stuff. Ch***is Engineering and Jim Meyer have the best in my opinion and I am going to buy one or the other when we put our 40 Chev coupe on the street. 40 frames are a single year only wether they be straight axle or independent. 37-39 same, 41-48 same. I just bought a straight 40 bare frame to replace our bent one. To many years of racing LSR and drag. Good luck.

 

I'd agree with jimmy six. It's so much easier, (and you're a welder), to go MII route, many supplier options for cross members and installation kits. Do your homework and decide what works best for you and your budget, (stock a-frames, tubular, shocks, etc.), but independent front suspension, disk brakes, rack and pinion steering is hard to beat if you're planning to run down the interstate. You'll also need a radiator support, but Ch***is Engineering has one. You can also get a nice stance with the MII, and whatever steering column you choose is fairly straight forward to connect using u-joints. If you plan to run a big block, might have some clearance issues, but SBC gives you all sorts of clearance for steering and exhaust.

 

Awesome guys I'll check that out, I was kinda hoping on using the straight axle because a little low on coin right now so I was hoping on welding some shock mounts and tweaking the original suspension. As for motor, I will be getting a 350 as far as I know.

 

I'm also thinking about going to the junkyard and finding a rack and pinion that is about the right size and bolt that up to the straight axle. What do yall think?

 

Ch***is engineering! They have a weld in and a bolt on M2 front.

 

You will also need to engineer some sort of slip joint in the column to rack to prevent bump steer. Be cautious in selecting "easy" solutions to save money. They almost always produce poor to mediocre results. You are getting a lot of good advice. Keep reading and exploring.

 

Hey welcome

Is there a chance of a pic of what you got?

The 1940 ain't a bad car, but a bad *** car

 

Here's the front axle

 

I have an R&P out of a '94 Cavalier. It's a CTO (center take off) style
Plus the pump and hoses.

Also have a '98 Z24 CTO unit; which IIRC, has a quicker ratio
If you're interested, converse me.

Gatz

 

Looking like a pick up axle. Good brake and very popular to do brake upgrade pre 41 cars.

They can be dropped by Sid, droppedaxels.com

Where is the rest of the car?

 

Man I'm trying to upload pics but for some reason I'm only able to do one?

 

I have a 39 and the car was hit rodder back in the late 70' they used a complete front suspension from a amc pacer, this gives you a rack and pinion steering disk brakes, it handles very well with a great ride. They used the x member and everthing ad fabed it to the original frame looks good and works well.

Ryan

 

Welp....If I had a straight-axle car I'd use the axle again if it was not too worn. I do believe I'd use a vega cross steer setup with a Speedway Motors right side tie rod end that has the extra hole for the drag link. That will give you the freedom to chose the steering column of your choice. I'd go with a 70s chevy van column or make my own from 1.5" tubing, 3/4ths inch shaft and a pair of bearings and collars. An anti sway bar would help too. I used an 1.25" front bar from a 70s trans-am/Z-28 on my 40 chev coupe but I used an aftermarket Mustang II setup.

 

That's what I was thinking was using a crossover steering setup and just kinda get creative with the front end.

 

Here's how we have the body right now lol