A friend of mine just bought a 32 sedan tudor (french one, you can see the suicide doors). He want to let it fendered, unchopped (for now). We make a lot of mock up to trying to figure which is the best setup to buy for the car: -dropped axle; 3 or 4" (without changing front crossmember or making big chassis job) -reverse front spring or not ? -best size of tires with a dropped axle: 15" or 16" in front ? 6.50 or something ? 750 rear ? or ? So, any advices, pictures, informations are welcome. Btw, any cool 32 fendered & unchopped pics are welcomed too.
My 32 Sedan Has A 4 Inch Drop Axle, Cheve Disc Brakes,and 205/55/16 Tires.it Gives About 3 Inches Of Road Clearence Under The Axle.the Tires Are Michelin Mxv4 Radials.
If you keep the stock front cross member, consider getting a 5" dropped axle. You can reverse the main leaf by working it in a press or use a sledge hammer to reverse the arch. Beautifull car!
I ran the stock crossmember with a 5 inch axle and a superlow monoleaf spring. Car sat right, but had little clearance between axle and spring pad.I would just put a 29 crossmember in it and run a 4 inch axle and multi leaf reversed spring.. Changing front crossmember is pretty easy. Wish my sedan had suicide doors, thats cool.
Empire : If the springs are stock , then take them down to 7 or 8 leaves ( Front&back )( Evenly spaced ) , and then have the main leaves reversed . That should give aprox. 1.5" drop. Tires: (imho) 16"Firestones : 7.00/16 in back , 5.50/16 up front. `35 Ford Wire-Wheels for a very conservative ( Restorod ) look , Or `40-`48 Ford steelies ( 4" wide in front , 4.5" in back ) for a"Forties"-look . If you use 15" wheels ( fifties/early sixties ) , then 8.20 ( 5"-7" wide wheels ) and 5.60" ( 4"-4.5" wide wheels )Firestones will look cool. The axle : If you buy a new axle , Then buy one with Stock ford perch-to-perch dimentions .( A 4" drop is no problem ) You should consider dropping the axle that came with the car ( Looks like a "heavy-beam" (?) If you had the original axle dropped, then you could keep the stock `32 spindles ( heat & bend the steering-arms to fit ) ( Stock Ford `37-`48 spindles work great with most "new" axles after some "heat&Bend" ( Magnum , Super Bell ,Chassiesworks .. ) Klaz
This tudor has a 4" dropped and filled I-beam, reversed front spring mainleaf with a couple leaves removed, stock front crossmember and wishbone, '40 spindles, brakes, and wheels, with 5.50 x 16 Firestones on the front. On the back it has a stock later-'32 rearend, non-reversed spring, but it does have a leaf or two removed and is slightly dearched. Rear wheels are 4.5" from an F-1, with 7.00 Firestones. Uses '50 Plymouth style front shocks and short (forget application) in the rear. Rides nice, not rough and not too bouncy. Just bottom out on the rear snubbers every now and then. .
The Jalopy Journal
