Hello Everyone, I've just joined this group. I have a 51 Plymouth Business Coupe. it has the original flat 6, converted to 12v, with an offenhauser intake with 2 one barrel carbs, (bought it that way) with original 3 on the tree, & rear end. last time I drove it I turned the odometer to all zero's, don't know if it's 100,00 or 200,000, but motor will be rebuilt regardless. it's mostly eye candy, nice body, but needs interior, & has new floor. I found this site a couple years back, but got side tracked. there was a thread running about another Plymouth flat 6 around the same year as mine. it told of engine work & some of the various things done, Edgy head & intake, upgrades to coil & such (best I remember). hoping to find that thread again, or just get a new one started to get myself armed with a little knowledge of what I'm up against. what I do remember of that, a 90's Dakota rear end was put in, frame boxed, T-5? 5 speed trans, aftermarket bell housing to fit it. the person who built the car I'm thinking of had a short video of that flat 6 all decked out & sounding cool as heck. so, I've talked with a builder, & everything he suggested was Mustang II this, & Mustang II that. what a price tag!! I been rat holing money to get it done, but got side tracked a couple years back by buying a 51 Chevy Fleetline Deluxe. now I'm back on track with the Plymouth (I think). been thinking keep original front end under it, just have a complete rebuild on that. and I saw & remember, but can't find, where there's an aftermarket front disc setup, so I can get good braking out of the car. any & all help will be appreciated. she'll be a "20 footer", & I can live with that. she's a pretty good driver now, but it "mellows" out around 45-50mph, & I don't push it much beyond that.......Thanks!
I really don't understand all the newbies of late..I believe this forum page says "INTRODUCE YOURSELF" here....does not say tell me what kind of car you have...look up introduction in the dictionary...if you notice most posters have a city listed too......you know my name is ****and I am a (age) hotrrodder .my special interests are..********x....I live in ********...glad to be here.........
Do not waste your time with a Mustang II suspension. The Mopar independent suspension were well ahead of anything that Ford or Chevy had at the time. Do a standard rebuild of the stock suspension, move the upper shock mount to the frame and add disc brakes from Rusty Hope or Scarebird and you are good to go. I am on my second 48 coupe the first of which i was talked into a Nova subframe by a local pro builder. While the subframe gave me better brakes at the time that was about the only advantage I saw. My current car has a rebuilt stock front and discs and it drives, rides and stops every bit as good as the subframed car. Not only that it was a lot less expensive and was done in a weekend. I would suggest looking for a later model 230 rather than rebuilding the 218. Switched from the stock 218 to a 59 230 in my 48 and the difference was very noticeable. You should be able to find a 230 fairly cheap then rebuild it while you continue to drive the current 218. Your 218 is rated at 97 HP stock while a 59 model 230 for instance is 138 HP stock. You can shave the head/deck to bump the compression ratio and HP. Also some cast iron headers, split manifold of tube headers will help as well. Other than that some sort of overdrive either with a mid 50s Plymouth/Dodge Borg-Warner R10 or a T5 will help tremendously. The other option is a rear end swap from an early Dodge Dakota, late 90s Cherokee or a late 90s Explorer with something like in the neighborhood of a 3.50 gear would do wonders. If you have not already done so check in over at the P15-D24 website www.p15-d24.com there is a ton of info on the Mopar flathead over there.
I loved a '52 Business coupe once, hacked it up, solid front axle, 383 Mopar, 8 3/4.... miss that car. Maybe another one someday... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Howdy, I'm currently living in a small town in NW Iowa rebuilding a '51 Plymouth Concord fastback. I am torn between rebuilding the flathead 6 or trying to put a V8 in it. The flatty turns over freely and I have already taken the head and oil pan off, everything 'looks' ok. No ridge or scoring on the cylinder walls. I am tempted to just convert to a 12 volt system and put some front disc brakes on it, maybe find an overdrive unit or a T-5. There doesn't seem to be alot of info on these fastbacks other than they have a shorter wheelbase than all the other Plymouth models of the era. Anyway, I do enjoy the H.A.M.B. as well as other online sources.
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