The first big day for my Cranbrook build

Well today is the first big day for my cranbrook build. My daughter will be one next weekend so i am starting to get a little bit more time to spend in the garage. I am going to seperate the body and chassis today. This will be the first time i have done this, but i'm thinking brute strength and awkwardness will pull me through. i'm guessing just the cab with the front clip, doors and trunk lid off, still probably weighs 1500 lbs or so. I'm thinking the plan is to use jacks to get the cab up off of the chassis and then support the cab with jackstands and roll the chassis out from under. i will add some pictures asap.

 

There is something wrong with the server that my phone uses to send my emails to my computer so i can't seem to upload any pics of the car with the clip and doors off, but i will try and update tonight with today's progress.

 

...may I ask why you are completely dismanteling that car?

 

I had that thought too...mine's five now

Tall jackstands, sections of 4x4 or 2x8 on the stands depending on how you have to spread the load, a big floor jack helps a lot, you can use an engine hoist to lift one end or the other by the trunk floor or firewall as long as you've got some reinforcements there, you might have to move the jackstands a couple times to get the frame around them.

Be safe, don't go crawling around underneath unless it's well supported on stands.

 

Well the car looks a little different in pictures. It hasn't been registered since the early 80's. The floors are toast and the motor is a mess.

 

Watch your fingers! Good luck on the project.

 

Working on getting pictures uploaded. this stinkin "smart phone" of mine doesn't want to send the pics to my email so i can upload them.

 

That sounds like fun. Good luck, make sure yoo keep posting pics.

 

Ok, here they come. no particular order. The body and chassis are seperate right now.

 

Here are some more.

 

What are your plans for this car?

 

So here is the scoop on this project. We are going to use the front of the dakota clip, and the dakota 3.9 V6 and 5 speed for now. I realize many guys out there get bummed out when they hear about not staying original but i really am looking for driveability and thats priority numero uno. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. But brute strength and awkwardness did end up getting the body off of the chassis. We did it in the garage and there were four of us, we ended up taking all 4 wheels off of the chassis and rolling it out from under the body. It worked well. Without a lift, i would do it the same way again.

 

Sweet!!

 

How about some more feedback on this one while it is fresh??!! Good or bad, i'm all for it. I know in ten years i will look back on this project and say, "what was i thinking when i....."

 

Ok Im going to be the first one to say it.

You can get the same driveability if you stuck with the stock front end and updated the brakes, springs and tires.

Rusty Hope makes a kit for the front brakes. http://www.rustyhope.com/mopardiscbrakes.html

Call up Jamco. they have front springs and rear springs for your Plymouth.
http://www.jamcosuspension.com/

As for the engine I think it is hoinestly a complete waste you drop that motor in the Plymouth. You are talking to someone who drove his flathead 6 everyday until I took the car off the road to redo it. You have a number of other engines that you can place in that car. You can get another flathead 6 drop it in and contact 73RR on the HAMb. He makes trans adaptors for the flathead 6. You may actually be able to use the 5 speed you have already.

I also have step by step plans on how to drop a 283 backed by a 3speed out of 55 chevy into your car.


In the end its your car, but no matter what people say Plymouths arent a dime a dozen. More and more of them are being hacked up a street rodded or having clips added to them. You are killing half of your buyers if you decided to sell the car. Those frames under those cars are beefy and strong. Seriously consider keeping it and just adding on the upgrades. You will be happy in the end.

 

Yeah I totally understand your point xxwelderxx. There really isn't any turning back at this point. The dakota is completely torn down. I'm sure i will do more cars in the future and the next one i will keep more original.

 

Build it the way YOU want it. Yes, the opinion of others can be helpful, but not when they suggest you build in a major different way. I give you points for drumming up this somewhat unusual project. Kinda nice to see something other than a Ford or GM product.
Keep going.
Load lotsa words and photos as you go along. Inslude the good, the bad and the ugly.
Now, we all understand that my opinion may be worth nothing, butr it's all mine.

 

Thank you for that Flatheadguy. The next scheduled big work day is April 23rd. More updates to come shortly after that.

 

Not alot of these Mopars out there compared to Ford and Chevys. I dig it. Keep us updated as you go. Todd

 

Had a close call today and almost spent some money on a 1972 4x4 Suburban. I'm glad i came to my senses and saved the money for the car. It wasn't too hard though because the guy wanted 5k for the burban.

 

I grabbed a '72 4x4 Travelall a few months ago, looking back I have no idea why I bought it. I could've put the money into my car and be driving it by now.

Im with xxwelderxx, the stock frame is beefy as hell. Thats why I am keeping mine under my Desoto.

 

nice to see others looking at these over looked rides I did mine 6 yrs ago and had alot of fun with her while your at this point look at dropping the body over the frame
to the point of setting the rockers even with the lower section of the frame, this will make the car look hammerd with a stoick ride, also 49 ply fenders do a real nice job of cleaning the rearend up.

 

Ok well here is an update on the progress. Tuesday night we made the final cuts on both chassis ends. i am at lunch right now so i will follow up with more detail on that later. Everything went well. Tomorrow we will be lining everthing up just right, and tacking the finished product in place. the chassis will then go to the alignment shop next week to get the green light.

 

There will be much more progress tomorrow. i will take better pictures. we worked until 12:30 am Tuesday night, it was awesome....

 

"while your at this point look at dropping the body over the frame"
Good call plymouth1952. i will definately be considering that. i have already ordered the 2" drop spindles for the dakota front end.

 

Looks Great!

 

Does anybody have any pointers on what to do for new body mount rubber and hardware. the brackets are no big deal, we can build those. Are most of you doing a universal kit, maybe polyurethane. i think poly is a bit stiff though.

 

Greetings! Am in the process of installing a Dakota clip on my 49 Wayfarer, the previous owner had stripped all the suspension components from the car so going back original wasn't an option, I wish I had though of sliding the Dakota frame rails inside the original Dodge frame, I cut mine off square and butted the two halves together, used fish plates on sides and a cap on the bottom, (it was a bear to get centered and square). I also cut the original Dakota rack mount off, rotated the rack rearward so the rack stub now points at the firewall, not straight up, then notched the crossmember for clearance and fabricated new rack mounts. I still have to modify the front frame horns and fit the front sheetmetal/bumper but I can see light at the end of the tunnel. This particular frame clip may be inexpensive but turned out to be a ton of work, Good Luck, Mike.

 

Junkman8888 has some great advise. I've had several subframed pickups and installed a few myself and I have to say my experience has been very positive. I love being able to set ride height, center the wheels in the opening and come away with power steering and power disc brakes, not to mention modern boll joints and modern suspension geometery compatible with radial tires...all for the price of a donor clip.
I'd prolly go the same direction you've taken with the ol Mayflower. Might be fun to build up a hotrod 360 MoPar motor/727.8.75" rear for it too.

 

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. i just ordered a painless kit. I'm trying to figure out where to get new bushings for the body mounts. Will i notice fresh rubber in ride quality and vibration? It just makes sense to take care of that now. plymouth1952 had a great point to channel or body drop at this point. After actually looking at all of the sheetmetal work involved, i'm not planning to do that at this point. I'm all in on this project, my family is down to one car right now because i sold my daily to help fund this project. I need the plymouth on the road. The plan for this car is daily driver, rain snow or shine. i'll keep an open mind on the channeling until there is no turning back.