Do you guys know if the 40 plymouth front suspension is the same as a 40 desoto coupe? Im soon to begin my desoto project and debating whether to do like you did or completely swap out front end
I know that the 40 Plymouth is quite like the 39 Chrysler so the DeSoto should be similar. Some people with this vintage of Mopar use late 80's Dakota front clip, it retains the right wheel bolt pattern & gives you newer everything up front.
The car made its first public appereance last weekend at the Eugene Roadster show...It was great to get alot of possitive comments and attraction.
Congrats on the car show, well done. Now tell us what the new plans are, as a few of us are getting quite curious............
Well guys the next phase of the coupe some of you might not like and will disagree with, but may understand why I'm doing it...Now that the car has been drivable in its stock form, I have quickly come to realize that with my intention on driving this car distances to shows. (First one being this coming June "Billetproof" In Washington). That the 3 speed trans and 4:10 rear gears just are NOT going to fly with today's Interstate/Hwy speeds. With that being said I love having three pedals and don't want to go to an automatic. I have considered going with a 50's mopar overdrive manual trans, but they are scarce and expensive. So I have elected to go with a S-10 T-5 trans and a still "to be determined" rear end ***y. (Thinking 91 Ford explorer with drum brakes). Its slightly narrower then the stock. I will be keeping the stock flathead 6 and plans are to get some old speed equip for it, (IE dual carb intake, cyl head, and exhaust)
Have you looked at Robert Horne's swap over at www.p15-d24.com? Using the Ford Ranger trans will save you about $400 on an adapter...just saying. .
Yes sir, I have read it three times..LOL I have read your articles like four times..ALL very good info.
The T5 Exploder rear combo sounds just the ticket to me. I am putting an Exploder 8.8" rear in my 1936 Hupp and already have one in the '40 Ford. Great rear end and cheaper than a 9". I am using a 3.73 posi 31 spline version from a 2wd Exploder. These rear ends came in different widths 59", 61-1/2" all the way up to 66" in Crown Vics. Lincoln Mk VII was 62" and late Mustangs are close to that. My only question is: when is anythingGM going to change his handle to anythingMopar???
Well the 91 explorer rear end was a wee bit to narrow for what i wanted(57.25")..So more searching resulted in finding a 67 Coronet rear end that measures out at 59.20" versus the original at 60.0" So I picked it up and will give it a whirl..Nothing else new to report at this time.
A "C body" rearend?...cool! Shes' really coming around bud, but what did you ever decide on the dash gauges thing..or did I somehow miss that? "If" all your gauges work, you can find new litho gl*** for the oem gauges like I did but that will set you back $175 plus s/h and you'll have less than great backlighting - unless you mod it like I'm doing for better night time visibility. Here's fresh aluminum inner paint but nothing else- Here's alittle tweeking on the bulb covers to let more light around the top and bottom end. I just got a 54 plymouth gauge bulb mini harness with 4 bulbs and sockets - my intent is to install 2 of them down by the 10 and 100 area of the speedo and then try and better back light the 4 side gauges so I can easily read the numbers and words. Hmmm, just noticed that I never took a pic of the new gl*** installed{day light shot unlike above}....wannna see?{no pressure}
You are way ahead of me on this, my gauges are complete rat trash..No numbers or much of anything left, just jumbled mess. Speedo doesn't work nor does the odometer. But hey I do have dash lights so I know where the dash is at night.LMAO!!!..Anyways, Its way way low on the priority list..I gotta get the trans and rear end situated and installed by early June. I plan on driving the car to Billetproof Washington June 23rd. But yours looks great and I will for sure be looking at your fix much closer when the time comes..Thanks
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