my dad has a 49 plymouth with LOTS of rust that he is hellbent on building. the floors are gone, some floor braces are pretty rusted, the piece that goes under the door where most people step(i forget what its called), they are rusted pretty bad, theres rust holes under the rear window all the way around, right beneath the trim, and there is a little right in front of the rear fenders. plus it needs a whole new trunk lid. i dont remember,but i think the trunk floor is rotted too. i was wondering if any of ya'll on here knew where i could get some patch panels, or floor sections, or somthing for it. we talked about just buyin a bunch of sheet metal and makin out own floors, but that still leaves the braces and stuff all rusted. im lookin for any advice or a point in the right direction, cause at the moment im f-n lost. oh yea, im pretty good with a welder, and have some fab skills, but never tackled a project this big.
My experiance with replacement floor pan pieces for Chev. Ford. & Merc is that they never come with under floor braces. Early Plymouth is not your main streem restoration choices so finding a supplier may be tough. Years ago I bought some stuff through Year One for a Mopar project. They might be able to direct you to what you need 1-800-932-7663. If no luck there pick up a Hemmings Motor News. The Wizzard
For what I've seen the few parts that were available for that era of Mopars sell for, I think you would be way ahead of the game by making your own. It's not uncommon for the floors and rockers to be rotted out on those cars. Any time the window seals leaked the water just sat on those basically flat floor pans. My bet is they are rotted out to about the frame area, then the centers are usually decent, except the bolt in pan above the trans, which usually has some holes in it. In the past I've used steel tubing to replace much of the floor bracing and just covered that with flat sheet metal. The important parts to support are the front and rear of the door posts and the cowl sides. I have recently done a 47 Plymouth, which I suspect is close to the same floor and support as your dad's 49 has. I can tell you what I did with the 47, you will have to determine if it would work with your 49. The 47 has 1" X 2" (actually a bit larger) channels that attach to the under side of the floor pan and go across the body, from rocker to rocker. Starting at the back edge of the removable trans hump there are 4 (I think) cross braces spaced about every 12" or 18". The 47 is no longer here, I'm doing this from memory. The cross braces should be visable under the car, between the frame rails, they are probably rotted off outside of the frame. The body mounts are attached to these cross braces. The cross braces tie into the rockers. The rockers are 4 pieces of sheet steel bent in "L" shapes and all spot welded together to form what would look a lot like a triangle shape, flat on the top, outside looks flat as well and the under side attaches to the outside edge and the top edge. They run front to back, from the firewall to the rear wheel well, on each side. Contrary to what they appear, they have a curve to them, they are not straight. The widest point is at the back edge of the front doors. The firewall supports, the front door post and roof piller, the center post (4 door car), the rear door latch post, and the front edge of the rear wheel well, and the outside edge of the floor pans, all sit on top of the rocker. I have used a 2" x 2" square tube for rockers, but the have to either be curved (best option) to made from at least two sections to accomplish the curve. The 2" tube is a little short in hight, but 2" x 3" is too high. I may have a few ****py pictures around here, but it would be Monday night before I can post them. Hope this at least gives you some insite. Gene
MY OLD PLYMOUTH IS ON THAT SITE!!!! look up todd colondros 51 plymouth... its in the 51 plymouth gallery (duh!)... i miss that thing! <<<<===== dig it in tha avatar
In my '49 dodge, which is essentially the same car, I replaced the floors with *****in's universal floor boards. My braces were good, but it comes with some bracing that you can make fit. There is a guy who makes rocker panels for these cars, but I could never get a hold of him and made my own. Someone on here told me that he's easier to find now. As for the rest of it, you'll probably have to make your own patch panels. The floor of our trunk was gone too, we replaced some of it with sheet metal and then put a mustang gas tank in it.
Why not use a platform swap/a 1080-s Malibu sized GM cars ,floor and frame as a unit and solve all its troubles in a fell swoop? I think its perfect wide wise and almost as long.....108" could be stretched easily to match the plymouth..... two weeks later you can be driving it! it takes about 5 hours and a sawsall with 4 blades to cut the newer one apart......
I would caution against doing a project of this magnitude. While the old Plyms are great cars (I have a nice 1950) and fun to cruise, dependable, etc., there is little sales value (I have been trying to sell mine for 2 years for $2500). The cars seem to be readily available for anywhere from $500 to $5000 in very decent shape. I paid $1800 for mine, absolutely rust free, and rebuilt the motor and did upholstery and rebuilt all the brakes, suspension, etc.. It sounds like your dads project, while he is hell-bent on doing it, could run into a couple thousand at least just getting the body right. You might be better off buying a nice solid project car and using the rusted out one for parts/trades. Good luck and the plyms are great cruisers so don't give up on them. 31acoupe
thanks for all the advice. the *****in universal floors sound like a great idea, and so does the malibu idea. ill let my dad know whats up.thanks for all of the help, GREATLY appreciated on this big project. 31acoupe, i know what your sayin. i found my pops a 53 plymouth in pretty good shape, easily fixalbe to driving shape, but the guy wanted like 3500 or somthin, and my dad dont want to shell out that kinda cash. im still tryin to talk him into it. he wants to fix this one cause he says for the money he pays for a better one, he could put his in the same shape. understandable, cause his body is actually pretty straight(besides the rust) and the grille and stuff are in great shape. its also harder to find 2-doors in my area(what he has) most all are for doors. thatnks for the advice though.
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