Projects 1940 Desoto Coupe coming home.....

I've made a deal on this Desoto and I'm taking off tomorrow morning to bring it home. This will be my next hot rod project. I have a 56 Desoto hemi that I may put in it but may also go BBC. I have some surplus parts from other projects to throw into it. Probably will get heavy into this one after the first of the year. The plan for now is no running boards or bumpers and to keep the front suspension. On the back end I would like to go with a 4 link and a 9".

 

Looks like a good start. Keep us posted.

 

Sweet! Of course I vote for the DeSoto-in-a-DeSoto swap. You got some pretty fierce patina there; what are your plans for rust removal?

 

Those are good looking cars. I vote for the DeSoto Hemi.

 

I vote for the hemi 2. Chevy engines belong in Chevys.

 

X3 on the Hemi. JW

 

Why go to the 4-link and keep the stock front end? The leaf springs in these weak?

 

The hemi is missing some parts and so far I haven't run across them anywhere. I haven't even checked it out to see if its a runner as it is. The Chevy motor/trans I already have and its a runner. So it may get that to begin with. With the V8 I will need to upgrade the rear suspension first for traction so I'm not changing anything on the front until that's done and its a driver. Then I will worry about doing something to the front if needed.
As far as the patina.....I have a dustless blaster. It needs some floor repair and has a couple rust through spots on the lower body.....but compared to the 39 I looked at a few months ago...this is literally twice the car that one was. The 39 had most of the bottom 6 inches of everything already gone.

 

My '48 plym has a 12 bolt on original springs. No problems running an Olds 455 & then a 331 hemi with them.

 

Hi from over here in Yoakum, Tx. The car looks solid & does have some good lines & shape so it should really look nice when you get the body done.
I left my Chevy Coupe stock on outside and just a bit sneaky under the hood.
Keep up with some pics as you get into it.
Good luck, Jimmie

 

I eyeballed this car on CL for awhile.. Kept picturing a tail dragging early custom. But it would have had to wait for the sedan to be done first. Glad someone picked it up and glad to see it will be built.

 

x 5 on the Desoto hemi - had the same engine lined up for a 39 Desoto coupe mated up to an AX-15 Dakota 5 speed manual. Great package

 

What are you missing from the DeSoto? Parts aren't that hard to find here. I sold some extra DeSoto Hemi parts and don't have much left, but they're around.

The '56 is a tall deck 330ci, real nice engines. You can get adapters for any transmission you would want.

I've got that same engine in the car in my avatar. It runs cool, gets pretty decent mileage, and will light the tires at anything under 35mph.

 

I need a harmonic balancer, flywheel and starter from what I remember.

 

I don't think this one was on craigslist. I think you saw the one I passed on. It looked pretty good in the pictures but everything on the bottom was rusted out. I called that guy back a couple months ago and he said all he had left was what he could strip off it and he scrapped the rest. It was rusted out, had been burned on the inside and a tree fell on it.
This 40 is from Oklahoma.

 

Ah could be, it's been awhile since I looked. Good luck with the build.

 

Well, any engine that old should have a new balancer put on it anyway, and when you adapt to a later transmission, the original flex plate and starter get replaced with later model parts .

In my case, the hot heads adaptor uses a 318 starter and comes with a purpose made flex plate.

 

True....but that's a lot to invest just to see if it runs....so it will have to wait awhile

 

I understand. They don't give those adaptors away. It sure would be cool in there, though.

Either way, cool car with nice lines. Have fun with it and show us more pictures please.

 

actually....I have the balancer but the rubber has let go and its coming apart. Might be easier to just get it rebuilt. Anyone know of a place that does it?

 

found several places. Rebuilding one isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I may just go that route.

 

I used a HB made for small block Mopars like 318 or 340.
The markings had to be indexed 90° tho. Just found TDC and marked either side every 2° To 10

If you're interested, I have a starter from a '56 331 Hemi that will (eventually) find its place in the 40 Chrysler

 

are the 330 and 331 starters the same?

 

I don't know, but you might decide what transmission you want to use and work that out before getting a starter. Odds are, if you use a transmission adaptor, the original starter won't fit.

 

They should be if they're both for the '56. '56 was 1st year with 12V & last year with the 146 tooth count. Being a 1 year only thing they're probably scarce. be better off deciding what modern tranny you want & start from there.

 

If you put the BBC in there, it's just another car with a Chevy stuck in it.

 

Nice find! I picked up a 40 desoto coupe about 12 months ago. Very nice cars and not too common!
What engine was in ti when you picked it up? Any consideration in keeping the original 25inch flahead 6 if its still in the car? Great engines because Desotos/Chrystlers had the bigger of the Mopar flatties. Ive also installed a pair of fatman dropped spindles that adapts to a disk brake converstion.
Ive put this project in the backburner to finish a few others Ive been working on but plan on getting back to it in Spring '15

 

It still has the 6 in it but it's stuck. If I'm going to spend a bunch of money on a motor it's going to be a v8.

 

A leaf spring solid rear end can hook up, Chrysler proved that in the sixties and seventies muscle cars. The front end is good, rebuild it and give it some better shocks and a Jeep sway bar. There are disc brake conversions if you need one.

 

You didn't ask, but I think you will be happier with a good pair of leaf spring than a 4 link. A standard 4 link is great for drag racing, but not so great of a design for street cars.

A triangulated four bar would be good, but more costly and more work than staying with a leaf spring setup.

Given my experience, I would go with a nice new pair of leaf springs( wider than the original springs). Chassis engineering rear springs work great and are inexpensive. If you are really worried about wheel hop ( I wouldn't be), get yourself a pair of Caltrax bars and it will hook .