Just picked up this jalopy on Wednesday. wanted to get some feedback on which route to take this bad girl. and to hear some of your experiences with these. such as a good donor car for a front clip. and which motor to put in it and what not. thanks!
I think if you check out the archives you'll find quite a lot has been posted on '46-'48 Plymouths, as well as '40s and '41s. Good luck with your project, nice to see another one is saved from the crusher.
Is it a club coupe or a business coupe? I built a P-15 years ago. Any V8 will be tight on the steering side.
Club coupe had a back seat, business coupe didn't. Business coupe had a very large shelf in the back window.
You will not need to do anything with the front suspension except rebuild the stock set up. I have a 48 Plymouth club coupe as my daily driver with a rebuilt stock suspension. Only non stock thing is that I used Olddaddy's disc brake kit and cut 1 1/2 coils off the front springs. Have had no issues in over 4 years of Dallas traffic with the stock set up. My first 48 Plymouth had a Nova subframe installed and wish I had left it alone as there was not much difference in the way it drove. Parts for the stock suspention are readily available from NAPA, Andy Bernbaum, Roberts Motors, Rock Auto etc. If you want it down in the front, Fatman's sells 3 inch dropped spindles. Olddaddy also sells a shock relocation kit which moves the top shock mount from the upper A Arm to the frame where it belongs. That was the only real flaw with the original design as the Mopars were well ahead of the compe***ion in suspension design. As mentioned the steering column will make a V8 install tight unless you offset the engine about 1.5 inches to the p***enger side. An alternative is to install rack and pinion steering. Fatman's has a kit for this as well, but I have been told by some that have used his kit that it would not be that difficult to fab your own. Buch's Rod Shop has offset motor mounts and trans mount to put a small block Mopar in the 46-48 Plymouths. Pretty reasonable at under 200 dollars. Good luck with your build and be sure to register over at the P15-D24 site. It is geared specifically toward the 46-48 Plymouths and Dodges. Here is a link http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/index.php?referrerid=1152
Tail dragger!!! Slant 6 with 3 sidedraft Webbers and split exhaust manifold. Lakes pipes plumbed into the exhaust so you can uncork 'em and run open exhaust. I love those cars, that one looks like a nice start.
I would think twice before diving into a slant 6 swap. The slant 6 is 7 inches longer than the flathead so it would be tight at best. Probably require some surgery to the firewall and an electric pusher fan. Not to mention that the distributor and plugs are on the down hill side which may cause issues with access and the inner fenders. Not to say it can't be done as I have seen a 48 coupe with the slant 6 but it took a big shoe horn.
If you want to keep the stock front end, stick with the 318-360 Mopar or a small block Chev. As hkestes said above, off set it to the p***enger side by about 1"-1 1/2" and everything fits like it was made for it. I wouldn't go with the racka and pinion deal on this car. If you want to go that far, a MustangII is in your future. A couple of companies make the front sub to pick them up. Just about every other clip out there ends up being too wide to happily live under these cars if you like them low. My Mustang II with Granada rotors is just about as wide as you would want at 57 1/2" hub to hub. I also Z'ed my frame about three inches to drop it at thre same time. One more thing to think about with these cars, You need to do some sort of K or X member under them to stiffen them up. I ran mine with just a trans crossmember welded in for the first ten years or so, and cambered driveways and hard turns would open the doors pretty easily. With the tube X it got with the Tremac trans install, problem solved - big time.
hkestes has got you covered, but also look at http://shadowmtkustomz.blogspot.com/ Lotsa good info there. I've still got my 40 on the back burner. It's in my profile page pictures. These aren't Fords or chevys of the era with a ch***is that needs boxing and suspension that needs updating. You have already uncovered the front of the frame, it's a stout part. The brakes on these are the one part that are fiddly. Some love a challenge and take pains to get the old non-energized drums back up to snuff, but that is the one place where it's just about the same money and time to swap out for more reliable, better stopping stuff. I was able to find a place to go through my steering box, but the is another area where it is smart to do the research and find out what it will take to get the stock stuff squared away VS the cost and time to replace. If all yours needs is fresh seals and lube, great. Remember that these are 6V positive ground. Swapping in a V8 means electrical too in most cases. IF you have great wiring and are willing to track down ignition and charging systems that will work with 6 V.... Good Luck. The rest of us go ahead and replace that old, shot wiring and change over to 12V negative ground. Oh, and make sure you have a ***le. ****s to put in a bunch of time and effort and then not be able to drive it!
Never had problems with twist with my '48 sedan with a 331 hemi....If you go 318/360 get a rear sump one from a Van or Pick up.
You gotta love the wealth of knowledge around this site. The reason I thought of the slat 6 is, I figured it would be a pretty straight forward swap. I learn something new and interesting on the HAMB every time I log on.
In the mid-eighties (I think) the editor of ROD ACTION Magazine had a 48 coupe that he dropped a 318/auto into. I think he used a 70's Dart as a donor. It went together easier than he expected and he pretty much got everything he needed from the donor car. Swap meets are a good place to look for the old magazines. Hope this helps.
That's a good point Hubcap. The Magazine was Rod Action and the articles ran from mid '89 to '91 or so. They were written by Eric Pierce, who frequents the H.A.M.B. as Missy's dad. This is the best series written on modifying these cars to this day, and well worth finding a complete set.
Just my findings in the 18 years with my car. Very strong possibilty I drive a bit more agressively than you though too. I have always been a "go around corners fast" kinda guy. When I first put mine together, I pulled the stock trans cross member out and replaced it with 1 1/2" X 3" 1/8" wall tube crossmember welded completely in. I could put a jack on the left front corner and lift quite a ways before the other wheels started to lift. I made my new X member out of 1 3/4" 1/8" wall tube with an adjustable trans mount and the difference is day and night as far as torsional rigidity.
That was in tex Smith's Mopar Hot Rod Book also, & there is @ least 1 link to a copy in 1 of the many 46-8 Plym/Dodge Threads.
When I got it it had an Olds 455/TH400 & a bolt in ****** crossover made of round racing tubing. After 7-8 yrs I put the 331/727 in. I bolted in a 1X3 crossover. No problems with either engine!
thanks alot guys! this has helped alot. im still toying with the idea of keeping the flathead six and throwing dual carbs and dual exit exhaust. but the 318/auto would be a nice road friendly cruiser.
Here is the new 230 in my 48. Had some starter alignment issues once installed but now have those worked out, then the solenoid went out. I had it running for about 5 minutes by jumping around the solenoid, but now have a new solenoid so should be good to go. Unfortunately with my travel schedule (been traveling at least part of the past 6 weeks), the heat and coming down with a summer cold I haven't done much with it lately. Was running the stock 218 with a Borg Warner R10 OD prior to swaping to the 230. Drove it as my daily for over 4 years around Dallas and made 2 trips with it to the HAMB Drags (about 800mi round trip). Was on my way home from Joplin after the recent tornado when I broke a valve which prompted the swap to the 230. The 218 had plenty of power to run with highway traffic especially with the OD it just took it a little longer to get up to speed than it would with a V8. One nice thing about the flathead is that you do not see a ton of them at every show you go to. Here is a short video of the 218 right after I installed the intake and headers. Sound pretty good in my opinion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxfKQ4KMM9s
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