Projects 1940 Plymouth Coupe Build!

Ill let you know Dave, thanks! I hurt my back at work so I am trying to take it easy.

 

nice project

 

Thanks fstfish66, Once this thing is finished my Dad are taking it down Route 66

 

Well the trip from the blasters was fun, the frame turned out better than I expected in several areas. I have some work to do, but overall I think that this is going to be a fun start.

I was stopped at the gas station on the way back in the bad part of town by a guy who had a lot of classics, hot rods, muscle cars and even had a couple C10's. We talked for about 30 minutes in 30 degree weather. Cool dude!

 

A HUGE thanks to Rockable here on the HAMB for pulling though for someone in need. He really gave me a hell of a deal on stuff that he wasn't able to use anymore since switching to a Mustang II front end on his coupe.

Here is the frame stub that he sent (exactly what I needed!) and the pallet of parts! I will take some more pictures tomorrow of the parts... it has dropped down to the 20's here so I did about an hours worth of cleaning up and organizing the parts in the garage... after freezing my ass of I decided to call it a night and head inside.

 

Nice progress! That new stub is going to make a nice patch for that frame!

 

Great score! Christmas came early for Scott...

When we picked up that donor car I wasn't sure that cross member was going to be salvageable. I knew it would be worse after getting it blasted and in for a lot of work/trouble, hence why I was suggesting the idea of Mustang II clip. That new frame clip will make easy work out of it now!

 

Do it right! Good luck!

 

You're a gentleman Rock! Great to see other Hambers helping out those in need of parts.

 

Here are the parts pictures as promised:

 

1959 APACHE i once knew a mopar nut/racer/inventer of crazy items that lives or lived in your town.....

nice score on all the front end parts,looks like a cavilere rack set up,kool,, and some shorter up right (fat man) ?? but what ide like some info on are those spindles and steering arms ?? who made them ?? and a couple pics of the steering arms would be great,,,, when you get time,,,I hear ya about the cold,,,i lived in the mid west for a long time,,,seems the cold has followed me here to the east coast,,,and i have work to do on my 40 this winter,, burrrrrr

 

I made the steering arms. Lots of heating and beating. . They are shorter than stock and help make the steering quicker and give you full turn radius. Made them out of thick bar.

 

rockable,thanks for the reply,from what i can see the steering arms look great,, from the pics of the parts it doesnt look like a dropped upright ? looks like you had the coils cut ? any input on that ? thanks,,,have a great turkey day,,,

 

Correct.

 

I made some bracing to make sure that the new frame is going to be in the exact same spot as the original. I will add a couple others, but overall I think this will do fine. I also cut off the motor mount frames that rock made and got everything back down to bare metal. So far so good... tomorrow I will go buy some more metal, stuff to make my gussets with and start on those before I chop the frame off. Hopefully by Sunday I will be able to slice and dice this old frame.

Here are some pictures:

 

Scott
I would level the frame and drop some plumb bobs from the bumper horns and the radiator mount and record their respective heights before cutting the old front off. Then you can verify that your jig is putting the front right back where you want it. Just a good way to double check yourself and make sure the sheet metal fits back up.

 

looks good so far,,,

rockable, do you remember how much coil you had cut out ? and did it right ok ?? mine are currently cut,and original so not much suspension travel left,,,thanks

 

I THINK I cut one coil. I never got to road test it but it had about 3" bump travel I believe. Obviously, dropped spindles like the ones Fatman make would be a better route but I was trying to keep cost down and I did what others told me had worked for them.

 

Way ahead of you rock thanks buddy.

 

rock,,thanks, guess im going fat man up right,,,,apache keep up the good work,,,

 

Can't turn back now!



Here is the mock up... I will still need to trim the frame to put it where it needs to be, but overall I think this will look pretty good!

 

It takes courage to cut and replace. Looking good from where I'm sitting Scott! Are you going to sleeve the inside as well?

 

You've got it by the gonads now!

 

Thanks Eric! Yeah I am going to sleeve the inside, butt weld it all the way around , shave the outside vertical faces of the frame rail then weld gussets on the outside... that should be plenty.

 

I know it! I am going to head back out there this evening to trim the rest of the frame up and hopefully be ready to start putting in the sleeves

 

Well I am slowly trimming off the frame rails to make sure I don't take off too much. I probably need to take another 2 to 3 hours on it and she should be good to go

 

well how is it comming along ? or have you been fightng the winter weather also,,,,,,

 

No progress other than trimming up the frame, but it is still not together.

My wife got in a pretty significant car accident, totaled her vehicle and she has neck, head, and back injuries now. She is getting better, but I have been having to delay work on the coupe and began looking for a replacement vehicle.

Some jackhole went from highway speed to 0 as fast as the car could stop without anyone in front of them. My wife doesn't tail people at all (she hangs back way too far, it bugs me) so she avoided slamming into the back of the guy, correctly started slowing down on the shoulder (I taught her that), hit a patch of ice and slammed sideways into the median.... The cars suspension (that I just replaced EVERYTHING) was trashed on the drivers side, so they called it a total loss.... she got a pretty hefty check for the car (more than what we paid for the car originally).

Now insurance only is paying for the rental for another 4 days, so I have to find something in that window that is going to work. I have been looking at 3-4 cars per night for the past week, I am beat. Wish me luck.

 

It sucks losing a car that you put a lot of time into. I know. It would suck worse to lose your wife.

Hope she continues to mend. You will find a car.

 

Yeah it sucks. See if you can get insurance co to give you salvage rights, and look for another of same make/model. That way the suspension parts you bought (those that survived) can be moved to new car.