Projects 1949 Plymouth Business coupe Fame upgrade

I managed to get that combo in a '37, and a '49, and should be able to get in in any one in-between.

All of them got disc brakes, at least in the front.

 

G man, thanks for your handling of this thread.
plymouthgoat62, I don't have a sbc in the garage, but have hoisted a few mopar flatties.
"Now with that extra weight I bet you have to add a little more stopping room in addition to your formula."
I'll bet more power, less weight with that swap.

 

I pulled a flathead 6 with the 3 speed manual trans out of a 46 Plymouth coupe and installed a 360 SBM with a 727 auto trans in its place. I'm betting the 360, auto weighed 150lbs less then the flathead 6, 3 speed! Those old motors were heavy!

With that car with front disc brakes and 10" rear drum (more modern the OEM), when you did a panic stop, you looked in the rear view mirror to make sure who ever was behind you could stop as fast as you could.

Had my buddy (a mechanic and a race car driver) riding with me once and someone ran a stop sign, not far in front of us. We were traveling at 45 mph. My buddy was impressed how fast the old Plymouth stopped, he commented how good the brakes were in that car. He talked about those brakes on the Plymouth for months. The car's performance didn't impress him, but the brakes sure did.

 

I have been a member on here for a few years now and when I first joined there was a lot of info. and builds on here related to the old Dodge and Plymouths as far as suspension and steering mods. I can't find one of them now and have a suspicion that this rule subject has a lot to do with it. I have lived a good share of the good old days and been involved in car building most of that time. As I remember how it was in the 50s and 60s, we always built our rides with the idea of improving what we could with what was available and an improvement. We did not go backwords in the mechanical department if possible. If that were the case then we would have been drooling over the old Ford 4 bangers and blowing of those worthless new V8s. Drawing a line on what is acceptable and what is not falls in the minds eye of the builder. I am sure that I am not the oldest on here going on 78 but I for one choose to improve my ride (49 Plymouth) with what is the best and safest for today. Not seventy years ago technology. I have a 5 speed in mine behind a Dodge magnum 5.2 V8 and by your rules that is a no no. So with that said what ever happened to the builds on here about the rack and pinion steering in the old mopars?

 

Mark, I really like the off topic forum and I am thankful that we have it now.
The sad part of this whole deal is that 15 years ago, the HAMB was at the forefront of these modern upgrades and it was allowed.
Then suddenly things changed, but rather then leaving the old information stand as historical facts, and locking the threads for farther conversation, it was all erased. That process eliminated 10 years worth of development, and its gone forever. Some of the information can be duplicated by those that are still here, but many of those contributors are no longer here. I understand why things should have been locked, but have always failed to understand why everything was deleted, instead of only being locked so they couldn't expand. Then at least future visitors could at least try to contact people that may have been part of those threads. That is the shame of the entire mess.

 

The ones I remember were the Cavalier R&P conversions. Required heating, bending & then restoring to the OEM angle. Think...hmmm, Maybe Fat Man has them.