Can anyone help me out here

I just got me a 1941 ford business coupe that i'm building from the ground up.I was planning to drop it on a chevy s10 frame not to sure what i'm doing...but my older brother is the car man i'm still learning just wondering if you guys got any ideas on what to sit that body on?

 

Geeze, there's kits just a 1-800 call and a credit card number away that will let you change the engine, trans, rearend, and front suspension on that car all as bolt-in swaps, there are even complete reproduction frames ready to go if you want to spend the money... why would you even mess with trying to re-engineer a 20 year old S10 frame that won't fit because it's too wide at the cowl? And a frame swap is not for a novice who's "not too sure what they're doing" anyways, even a straight swap with another correct frame is a major undertaking.

 

This is what i was talking about on this website!! People respond to posts like this then bang a post about HS kids building a car as a project because the person put "ra* r%d" in the title!!
This is NOT TRADITIONAL!!!!! Or even hotrod related!
JimV

 

Check out Chassis engineering, http://www.chassisengineeringinc.com/, they have everything you need to modify the stock chassis, and it is all bolt on. It will give you a much better car in the end than a chassis swap.

 

WTF are you talking about?


In response to GrapevinexRaised... Many people think the only way to get an old car on the road is to do a frame swap with some modern chassis. That's not true, but a lot of folks get that idea in their head and go with it, usually finding themselves in over their heads with a project that they can't undertake. If you want to put modern stuff under the car, that's your call...afterall it's your car. It's also fine for us folks looking for original parts to use on our traditional cars. There's just too many ways to skin a cat, so telling you "this is how I would do it" doesn't make sense right now. We need to know more, before anyone can give you a solid piece of advice.

Since you are obviously new here, and you're asking questions BEFORE you head in the wrong direction, I don't think anyone worth their salt will give you a hard time about your plans. However, this is a "traditional" hot rod & custom car forum with alot of open minds and alot of good information, but we all (for the most part) lean toward the traditional side of car building. There's always naysayers and negative nancys, so don't get discouraged from a few guys who have nothing better to do than bitch about your car. It's yours, not theirs.

So, what are your plans for the car? How do you want to drive it? Going for a nice driver? Hot Rod? Gasser? Full Custom? What are your plans for engine/trans? What do you want out of the car in the end? How experienced are you as a builder/fabricator/mechanic/troubleshooter? How deep are your pockets?

Once you figure that stuff out, go do your homework. See what other guys have done. Get inspiration from some other guys build, or a photo you found. Learn about the style. Research, research, research. Ask questions. Then when you completely understand what you're going to be doing with the car...do it, and keep us posted on the progress.

 

AAFD said it. and alot of it to boot.

grab your camera and go to some shows. find like cars and see what theyre doing. inspiration. order up yourself a ton of catalogs.

if youre trying for modern brakes, rack and pinion steering, etc etc. there is alot easier (and cheaper in the long run) ways to achieve it than just going with a s-10 frame swap(its a pita).

 

AAFD gave you good advice.

The S-10 Chassis has been the chassis of choice for a lot of cars and trucks, I even ran one under a very radical First Gen F-100 custom. But it is not a swap for the faint of heart and before I could even begine to make a suggestion to you I would have to belly up to a '41 and run a tape measure.

Something to think about is that unless your '41 doesn't have a chassis you already have a very good foundation with your original chassis. They really didn't drive bad with a few tweaks and there are a lot of modern pieces made to make it more Volvo-esc if that is what you are after.

Take AAFD's advice make a decision on where you would like your journey to end then start asking questions to help you achieve your goal.

It is your car and ultimately you are going to make the decisions on build that you deam best. If I were consulting i would try and steer you toward a more traditional build I just think they are easier for a first time builder and I believe that if you ever built and drove one the way they were when I was a kid you would start a life long love affair with all things obsolete.

Never the less like I said at the end of the day it is your car and you will have to make yourself happy.

Stay and learn there is a lot here if you are patient enough to seek it out.

 

welcome aboard, i'm a new guy here too.
do a search for '41 ford' read all the posts & replies, i have P/M-ed guys who have done the work already or have cars that tripped my trigger & gotten some great answers[some not to my taste] don't be afraid to ask-most guys are proud of their work & will share info with you,
as far as a frame swap,i wouldn't.you might bite off more than you can handle,then we have another half finished car for sale or worse yet a car that has hurt you or someone else.DON"T be in a rush.
if your frame is solid build off it,
just take the advice above & think out what you really want out of this car.me i would do a more of a traditional car. but that's me..good luck--chuck

 

AAFD!!!WTF i'm talking about is that this website is about TRADITIONAL hotrods!!
You're missing the whole concept of what started this website!
Puttin a S-10 chassis, installing vintage air, running rack & pinion , power windows or anyother"billet" type shit IS NOT TRADITIONAL!!!!!!!Not even close!!
Back up 10 yrs on this site & see if ya could have gotta away with this shit!!! First post i ran was about putting Olds valve covers on a SBC AND i didn't intro myself!! I'm still hearing about it!!Wrong question to ask!!I found out fast how it is on here.
Its good that you gave him some good honest Advice but lets go back to how it was for once!!
JimV

 

Jim
I wish I had been there for that. Is it too late to give you a hard time over olds rocker covers on an SBC. That is a terrible thing to do to an SBC.

I think that I am probably as open minded as the next guy but Jim is right here on a very important point. We need to get back to our roots. Maybe getting back to the bung hole ripping HAMB is not a good thing but as a community I believe that we do need to try and steer any and all toward traditional builds.

Anyone can build a car any way they want, I am a firm believer in building it the way that you see fit and let the chips fall where they may, but if we don't suggest good sound traditional building practices we have totally missed the point of this forum.

OK so I once again have taken my opportunity to do some soap box vaulting.

Back to the topic at hand.

Suggestions for the FNG fellas?

 

Order the Chassis Engineering catalog. It'll all make sense then. And when asking questions, don't forget the '41 to '48 frames are VERY similar. Your '41 frame has a 114" wheelbase, a regular cab, long bed S-10 is the closest, but still not the same. Your looking at a TON of problems that can derail you. Even if your older bro has a fully equipped shop, and loads of experience doing this kind of swap, you'd still be money, and time ahead for just modifying your existing chassis.
Welcome aboard, and don't let the nay-sayers bring you down. It helps to be a bit thick skinned on here. You're already heading in the right direction by asking fellow Rodders for input. Good luck, and keep us posted. Someone else is likely watching your post hoping to learn something too.

 

Having done the swap myself (my car wasnt even fit to be a parts car it was so rusty) I would not reccomend it unless your frame is absolute junk...seeing how you are in California I suspect its in great shape, a frame swap is alot of work and usually only broke ass fools like me who live in the rustbelt undertake them to save the rusty crap we have around here .

 

"Jerry's dead, Phish sucks, get over it"


I think your rant is all the more ironic after reading your signature line.

Ray

 

Having had a 41 Coupe myself, I would say keep the stock frame. Do a Parallel rear leaf kit with an 8" or 9". Up front you can do a drop axles etc. or if you want a bit better handling and things like power steering and disc brakes there are many Mustang II front ends that work great in these cars. Either way the LAST thing I would do is a frame swap,especially an S-10 that isn't shaped right for these cars in the first place.

 

You guys fight like siblings.

Don't remove the existing suspension. Just install a monoleaf on the rear or just remove some leaves on the old one. Dropped axle for the front. It will handle perfectly. Much cheaper and still traditional.

 

AMEN to that.

Not to mention that he runs a 400 SBC (which didn't come out until 1970) in his glass bucket with radial tires and started a thread about putting a "Non Traditional" BBC in the car. Irony indeed

 

Is there something wrong with the OG frame? Just cause your older brother knows cars doesnt mean he's steering you in the right direction. You could refurbish the original suspension and brakes and get that car sitting pretty for less $$ and hassle than a frame swap that you might regret a year down the road..

 

Well Jim, we don't all live in Rhode Island!
Here in the steamy southland I'm looking at a heat index of 117 today ... been almost that bad for weeks.
Our humidity rarely drops below about 80%.

Anybody who wants to bumkick my air conditioner can go suck a fart!
After they get themselves unstuck from their 'traditional' naugahyde upholstery, that is.

 

I guess this is the wrong site for me then. I'm using an '83 S10 chassis under my KB-2 as the 'traditional' chassis looks like swiss cheese. I figured it was better to be safe with a solid chassis than run the 'traditional' chassis. Apparently I was wrong. Congrats Jim. You're one user clsoer to 'how it used to be'.

 

I have gone the chassis swap route before, the original frame and chassis were already butched and rotten, and while it was nice in the end it was a lot of work. To do it again I would have saved time and money to find an other OE frame and been just as happy.
While the S10 swap is not HAMB friendly, it has been done succesfully many times over the years and that doesn't mean you can't hang around, there is a lot to learn here, I think the point some are trying to make is that you don't try to order Chop Suey from a Taco Stand

 

jimv, ive made some of the same style posts, and in the few that i have made ive realized a few things.

its easier to just flame and cry and moan about how it used to be, but in truth constructive suggestions/critcism go a long ways further in the malleable minds of others. to holler and chastize, berate or whatever just doent make someone change thier mind. this is a first for him and if "we as a community" want to steer him to the light, we need to nicely and openly offer up a better more efficient way of getting the job done.

it also just doesnt help to even make a trad arguement in this forum unless your a moderator anyways. as ive always had the complaint that what is or was trad through the long "era" this website defines, isnt necessarily trad through the many decades it spans. ie 4 bbl carbs, radial tires, new paint types, hei's, header styles, etc, heck even sbc v-8s or for that matter anything other than a flathead. what was used in one decade through the long era defined was not used or maybe even available in another decade within the same era. this is an arguement better left to the mods.

wanna promote more trad? give the guy an option and make it sound advice. that just gets them thinkin. otherwise flame some and they just wont return or listen.

 

"Heat Index of 117"??!! Try that is what it was in my shop at 3PM yesterday!! And about 160 when you jump in the car at that same time with the windows rolled up! Just gigling a little 'cause I share the same thought as you! I would love to live in a place where A/C wasn't a complete necessity, but rest assured I'll be thinking of our oh so traditional Rhode Island brother enjoying his roadster in Janurary!


Now, my .02 for our '41 owner above. You would probably be best served by keeping the original chassis under your car as long as it is in servicable shape. As stated above, many companies make kits to put later model engines into these cars and suspensions too. Keep it as simple as you can for your first go round in the world of hot rodding, because until you get to them, you will never understand how taxing the thousands of little probems to solve you encounter will be. Best not to start by making big problems where you don't have to. And just for the record, If someone were to drop a clean '41 - '48 Ford body at my house with no underpinnings, I wouldn't hessitate to look to a chassis swap. Maybe not S-10, but something. 'Course, I've done this stuff a year or two.

 

Yes, this IS the wrong sight for you. International trucks have never been considered for hotrods

 

Better tell these guys too then I guess.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265484&highlight=international

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=176

join the group above and post soem questions there....alot of fat fendered ford guys can help with questions... and this way the girls don't cry if they dont like your post.

 

Where's the Effin' "LIKE" button damnit!

There was an video segment on the local news today about a guy here in Oklahoma who took an egg, put it in a pot, and stuck it on the dash of his closed car. Laser temp sensor showed temps of 181 degrees, and the egg was well done just sitting there with nothing other than ambient or contained heat!

 

Never mind all the bickering about the good old days. They'll wear themselves out.
The best advice is the guys telling you to procede slowly - check out some cars you like, talk to some people, and read some magazines. You will find that there are a million different ways to go about building your car, ranging from all stock suspension to chassis swap to big-money custom chassis and everything in between.
General advice:
1. Don't try anything you're not confident you can finish.

2. NEVER trust someone who claims they know exactly how to do something and it's easy.
(They are usually full of $*!# and will butcher your car and then walk away. Trust me on this.) The exception to this rule is if they have a car just like yours and they are helping you do exactly the same modification to your car. But even then only if you can see and drive their car! Some guys will claim to have done something and they're full of it! I chopped a top with a guy who claimed to have done it before and it was obvious he'd never done one before in his life once we get started. This includes brothers!

3. Investigate multiple options before doing anything.
I bolted a Mustang II front suspension under my '53 Chevy because a magazine article made it seem like the only logical choice. Here on the HAMB I have learned how easy a Jaguar suspension swap would have been and wish I'd known then what I know now.

4. There is a search function here on the HAMB (up near the top of the screen) - use it!
Everything you could possibly ever want to know is buried somewhere here on the HAMB. The only trick is to find it.

 

shows how much YOU know...............or don't!

Ray

 

The stock frame is a perfect platform unless is is full of holes. That said I have found that Chassis Engineering makes a decent product. A traditional rod will be the easy way to go. There are a lot of ways to build a rod but why reinvent the wheel? If you stick to traditional basics you have a better chance of completing the car and there will be a lot of folks that will steer you in the right direction. Sell the s-10 for scrap but the rear may be a trading chip or usable.