Help with coupe thread

Im looking at buying a 31 coupe that is an original layout...and no im not going to cut up a perfectly original peice. The car needs some work but what are the "mandantory" areas needed to put power to the car. I know the rear end....motor mounts....trans and motor...what else suspension areas have to be changed and what are the best ways to go about it. Im trying to do it on a budget so im looking for the real "needy areas" I know its kind of a broad question I just need help with the main areas to start on!!!! Please help!!!

 

why not hop up the old 4 banger and just do whatever repairs are needed on the rest? you can get quite a bit of power from a lowly model a engine with some work

 

thats an option I just need to know what all the suspension needs if im to add more power in the future...what the best options are...to box the frame and what to do with the front an rear suspension!!!

 

To put any semi modern V8 into the car, and still maintain the stock position of the radiator and grillshell (so that the stock hood fits) you will have to cut out the firewall and fabricate a transmission tunnel to cover the transmission and you will have to build a "recess" into the firewall to accomodate the rear portion of the engine. (4" deep for small block chev V8 and about 7" deep for small block Ford V8. you will need to install a new radiator to cool a V8 (the original engines in these cars were a small flat head 4 cylinder). As you mentioned, you will need to install new motor mounts, and a new rear crossmember to support the transmission and rear of the engine.
When you install a modern V8, you will have to "split" the wishbones on the front end---the originals went to a ball at the apex of a triangle formed by the front axle and the two radius rods (wishbones) ---Now with the new engine you will have nothing underneath for this ball to attach to, so the ball end gets cut off (called splitting the wishbones) and the wishbones get heated and bent , then attached to new brackets which are welded to the frame.
Same goes at the rear of the car---You will be removing the old rear axle with the enclosed torque tube style driveshaft and installing a new open driveshaft. This will require fabricating new wishbones for the rear of the car, and not only will they have to be split and seperated at the front end, but you will also have to fabricate new brackets which weld to the rear axle tubes to mount the wishbones to it. ---and you will also have to install new brackets to attach the old transverse rear spring to the new rearend.-------------fun, isn't it. Do a search for my post "How to build an early hotrod frame"---You will see a lot of good tips in there.----Brian

 

This is the place to be for any and all info pertaining Ford A Coupes. Hit the Tech Archive and search anything you can think of for a few weeks... I'm serious. Most of it's been covered a half dozen times. I spent the greater part of a year searching this site before I joined on. Whenever I'm board I still search all sorts of things, for fun.

Box the frame, yes, no brainer.

There's quite a few suspension options and you'll net the best results looking that stuff up yourself.

Engine and Trans... that's very open ended and very user specific.

Oh and welcome by the way!

 

Thanks for all the help so far....does anyone have good pictures of their front and rear suspension setups???? Thanks for all the info so far!!!

 

Keep the ideas coming!!!!