One of my buddies that hangs out at my shop just bought a '40 Plymouth Coupe and is asking about front suspension. What's the best front end to put under one of these cars? M-II would be my guess, but I don't know. Anybody have a better idea for suspension and brakes? Thanks, Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
Easiest and cheapest=rebuild and change the upper shock mount. Next up, dropped uprights and disc brake conversion. That's as far as I'm going. Next, rack and pinion. This is a must if you want something besides stock flatty, Small block mopar or shivver-lay. Those can be made to clear the stock steering box/column. After that, you have to subframe it, build new rails or do a frame swap. Subframes can be narrowed chevy, late 70s mopar, or some oddball stuff (Pacer?) Rails will be tubing that fits the frame stubs and the suspension you have in mind. Frame swap could be Dakota, but I haven't seen a complete course on that one. The stock frame does not lend itself to MII kits, since it's not flat and simple. It's a decent though dated Short-Long Arm (SLA) independant front suspension.
Fatman sells kits. That's one way to go. I hear their stuff is pretty good. An alternative is a Jaguar XJ front end. Complete unit with power rack and pinion, monster brakes, and superb geometry. It comes out as a unit. All you need to do is weld it in (or mount oon rubber, like on the Jags) and fabricate an upper shock mount. Cheap and easy to rebuild. 4 3/4 inch bolt pattern, too. Any XJ6, XJ12 or XJ-S will do. They are all the same; the 12 cylinder cars had heavier coils.
What is his disatisfaction with the current front end??? Aside from the king pins, it pretty modern and functions well. An upgrade to frame mounted shocks, perhaps a larger sway bar and an upgrade to disc brakes, yields a dependable nice riding car. Dropped spindles from fatman, or shorter coils from espo will get the car lower if thats part of the program.
My 40 dodge tudor is subbed with a 79 f-body subframe. I purchased the car with it already installed, so nobody gives me grief. There is plenty of room to use headers(I'm using a set of e-body Hooker comps),room between the firewall and motor with no need to cut it. I used 81 Dodge truck motor mounts and oil pan, lots of room between oil pan and sub cradle and motor sits nice and level. Only draw back is you have to tuck the front wheels back in as the sub is a little wide. later shawn
'olddaddy' here on the hamb sells front disc conversion kits that take standard Mopar rotors and calipers.
Aloha Kevin ,I did one about 15 years ago with a rear steer nova sub frame fit real nice used nova heddders stock motor mounts and power steering to boot.Fit real easy if decide to go this way pm me and i will tell you exactly how I did it. I have some pics but can't scan them
If you want the car low you've got to use a narrow front suspension. If you plan to use bias ply 15" tires it needs to be narrower still...unless you plan to radius the front fenders. Subframe swaps are tempting because they are cheap, but you often end up with some pretty ugly unintended consequences . Do some searches for MoPars with subs and you'll see what I mean. After doing some extensive research, Ray Lund (the very talented builder of my chassis) elected to fabricate a Z'd frame stub from tubing and use a Fat Man Mustang II kit. He also used dropped front spindles to get it really low...WITH NO BAGS! If you plan to use bags you can cheat a bit , but if you prefer to go really low without bags this combo works great. Rides and handles wonderful and the appearance speaks for itself. You'll need to attach skid plates to the bottom of the frame rails at the front kickup as it does rub the ground at that point occasionally...and be real sure that none of your mechanical stuff extends below the bottom of the frame! Good luck!
Keep the stock front end, add discs and shock mounts. Rack & pinion if you want (Fatman makes a R&P kit- do not use a quick ratio rack). No reason to sub it.
I've attached some pics of what I used but the stock front crossmember has such a deep dip that really low ride heights may cause a really loud scrapping sound on bumps. If you want a super low stance I'd say the Fatman front sub frame with MII is a better choice.
Or................the Jaguar front crossmembers. Jags, especially the XJ-S models, had very low ride heights and the crossmember is nice and flush along the bottom.
..X2 on the Jag...I bought a complete 86 XJ-6 donor for one of my '50 Wayfarer projects. Jag parts are readily available and reasonably priced. .
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