Projects 1940 Plymouth Coupe Build!

Are you going to narrow the front control arms? The tires hanging outside the fenders spoils your otherwise nice work.

Brian

 

Absolutely... this car had a subframe from a 79 camaro in it when I bought it and wasn't installed correctly to begin with (I didn't know better when I was 13 when I bought the car, but knew this was the car I wanted)... someone welded in 1/8th inch L brackets in instead of gussets, welded the whole thing at an angle (crooked)... in addition it is a widetrack front end.. so that doesn't mix well with the front of this car that narrows to the grill... Also, the wheelbase is supposed to be 117.9" and it is currently sitting at almost 120". Finally the wheels/tires came off of an 80's El Camino as a gift from a friend that knew I needed some rollers until I could afford something far more nice (they have a weird offset and are only 14").

So what I am going to do is build a new front half of the frame, or find a better donor sub frame and do it the right way. Maybe finding something that I can get shortened control arms as well. Something similar to Farmer12's 1941 Plymouth

 

damn man, didnt even know you had the plymouth ! sick car !!!

 

I feel much better now!

 

Thanks GreenGrenade, I am practicing with the truck to get better to work on the Plymouth.

 

Good strategy lol, a truck is just a truck after all. Slmlrd's car is pretty cool as well. When i had my 54 ford i idolized his 52. Hahah thing was killer. Have any pictures of what youre shooting for when its all said and done ? These cars are great looking, sadly i think there overshadowed by the 40 fords and mercs and dont get the credit they deserve

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I would rather have something different so that is why I went with the Plymouth. From what I found out from a few other people is since they were underpowered or just had a lousy powerplant (engine would start knocking) a lot were either crushed or just finally were put to bed. I am going to try to go for something like the picture attached... I was considering not going with a front or rear bumper, but since the parts are so hard to find I may go with both. (I haven't decided yet). I would like to keep the stance, put some WWW on it. Later down the road when I can afford it I would like to throw a 392 in here, but that crap is getting so expensive now a days it will probably will take longer than I am expecting.

 

I love my '40 Dodge 'Andy'

Nice car.... Not many old Mopars around compared to other makes.

buds

 

WOW, what your aiming for will be a super sweet ride, nice build and good luck with the progress mate I will be watching.

 

Well I got a great lead on a complete frame in Chicago for a couple hundred bucks. Since it is only a three hour drive with a trailer for a complete rolling frame, that means that I will be able to get that taken care of and not worry about when the frame that is currently under the '40 now is going to fold in half. My Dad was so excited he offered to pay for it just to get it down here.

I have been doing my research and I will look into what everyone else is doing for the front suspension and hopefully get a majority of this taken care of. I will post an update soon on what is going on.

 

Congrats on the frame Scott. That should make things a lot easier for you. BTW, sounds like you have one cool dad!!!

 

Thanks Eric!


Yeah I do have a cool dad. when i registered it i did it in both our names so it can never be sold. He was really excited that I was going to be starting on the coupe again. This was our first old car purchase and our father and son project. Our goal is to take it down Route 66 and back. Since I will have possibly 3 that can make the journey I am thinking the coupe and the apache.


The guy that I am getting it from found my add on the hamb and he is on the hamb. He is a really nice guy. I am going to have to source some parts for the new frame now! I hope it is in really good shape under the body where it's hard to see. He will be sending pictures soon. From what I can see that parts that usually rust on them are in fairly good shape

 

Well here is the parts car:

It seems like there is a lot of solid metal there, it is a shame the floors aren't more solid. I will be taking the frame, repairing it, and putting it under the coupe. The body has a good roof section and quarter panels, the rest is pretty crusty. Anyone looking for some sedan doors let me know.

A big thanks to Walt for contacting me here on the HAMB and Jason for our excruciatingly long road trip, letting me borrow his truck and trailer! Those toll roads in Chicago suck!

 

Relocate the upper shock mount to the frame for a better ride. Also now is the time to consider a rack & pinion steering setup if you want one, they make mounting a v8 much easier.

 

Okay, I will do that. I am going to go with rack and pinion from a cavalier since all of the steering components are gone anyways. I will also be doing a scarebird disc conversion on the front. I guess I am going to have to brace the body up and get it off the body mounts first... It is going to be a lot of work.

 

Ha, It looks so much better in the pictures!!!

Give me a call when I can get some of those parts...

 

It looks better in the pictures because we shook all the rust loose on our way back!

Yeah I'll call you when I get started on it. I have to clean up the garage, scoot the Plymouth over, put the Model T in, then I will have to get started on pulling the frame out of this car, then you can have your parts. Do you want the whole roof for your chop? or just that tiny section?

 

Thanks Scott,glad to help another member out. We have to charge high rates on our toll roads because of the high iron oxide content left behind from visitors of surrounding states like you and Jason. HA! And,oh yeah, our politicians are crooks too...

 

Well I started the long process of pulling crap off of the car, including removing clamps and crap like that off the front part of the frame so I don't keep cutting myself on random stuff. I will saw zaw what is left of the body mounts off, save the quarters for the coupe, and hopefully find someone to take the rest or it will be turned into Chinese hammers before too long. I may swap a bunch of stuff over from my coupe over to the new frame (rear crossmember, leaf springs, etc.) I will also swap the Buick Apollo rear end from the coupe into the new frame. I have already located some stuff for the front suspension. Now I just need to save the paychecks for all the little conversions. Stay tuned.

 

The Plymouths have great lines. Looking for one for my next build. Nice work!

 

Well I salvaged what I could from the parts car, it was more rusty than I thought, so a lot of stuff I thought I could keep I really couldn't.

Here is a shot of the bare frame! I need to pull it apart further and get it down to the blasters soon!

 

I started pulling apart the suspension and will only need to get rid of one bolt/nut on the front suspension with a cutting wheel... all the rest came out without issue, which is surprising considering the heavy rust. I will post pictures soon.

 

Glad to see it inside, where you can get it back into good shape.

 

Yeah me too, I got the frame virtually stripped down to nothing minus 5 body bolts that I will have to weld a nut to and back out. The front suspension came loose minus one bolt that is being a PIA and of course it is on the bottom in a hard to get place.

I will post some pictures this week of what it looks like after I get it cleaned up a little. I should be able to get it down to the blasters this week. We will see though.

 

Well I went through and got the broken bolts and stuff like that removed from the frame, the front suspension removed (what a pain), and will drop the leaf springs off of it this weekend and clean it up before packing it up to take to the blasters. Here are some shots.. I have my work cut out for me on the front suspension, but I can do it! So far I only have about $75 into this frame right now between selling the body for scrap and making some dough from the old man who is helping with the build financially since it was our project to begin with

 

Ouch. That sucker is really rusty. I'll get some info together on the shipping cost of my stuff. I've definitely got what you need. You should just plan a road trip.

 

Cool thanks rock. Yeah it is pretty rusty and you have what I need for sure. My 66 is a gas guzzler so I will find out how much it is going to cost first, but a road trip sounds fun!

 

I got the garage cleaned up around the frame (a lot of dirt and stuff coming off and out of it). I separated the tires from the front suspension and will start breaking that down tomorrow (the lower a arms are not rusted hardly at all!). I also removed the rear suspension and will start taking that apart as well. I also tried to straighten the rear frame support with a come-along, it turned out alright. I may just brace that section and weld in a new support and cut out that one. I will need to drop it off at the sand blasters along with a ton of little parts.

 

Well I got the body mounts, rubber bushings, and bolts, etc. off the car and about 10 pounds of dirt and grease (I went as far as measuring the bag that I scooped it up in ). It is ready for the blasters, so I will have a couple friends over and we will put it in the back of my C10 and off she goes!

more to come soon!

 

You're making good progress there! I've got these left over, if you want them. Upper outer control arm bushings, and one lower.