I've been doing research and shopping around for the parts I need to change the front and rear suspension out of my 41 Ford 2dr standard sedan. I'm going with mustang 2 in the front and an 8 or 9 inch rear, parallel leafs. Yeah yeah..I know. I'm building this for my wife. In looking for parts, I see 39-40 stuff, and 42-48. No 41.. What is so different, and if its not a big deal, should I use earlier or later setups? None of them really say what the differences are. Thanks!
The 41 ford ford uses the same frame as the 1942 - 48 ford. The front sheet metal is narrower. I put a mustang II crossmember in a 41 ford years ago. Then they listed for the 1941 - 48 ford. After installing the suspension and front sheet metal I found that the spindles were out to far. I had to get special rims made. The rims were 5 inchs wide with a 4 inch backset, They looked like front wheel drive rims. I had a lot of problem getting the tires to clear the fenders. anyway I called the co. i got the crossmember from and told them that I had a 1941 ford and was having trouble getting wheels and tires to fit the car. There answer was "Well on the 1941 ford you need to use the 1942 - 48 sheet metal" I told them that I had the 41 because I liked the front end on it. They told me that you are on your own then. Great answer from a co. that sold you the part. Anyway I got it to work with the rims I had made, and the tires were 165 65 15 I just had to watch how fast I went through the turns. If the body rolled to much the tire would hit the fenders. PS. That same co. now after that same crossmember for 1942 -48 they did away with 1941. The rear I used Poise super slider springs for 1941 - 1948 ford, and a 8 inch rear from a 1968 mustang. It work great no problems.
A couple of places offer those, and some do not. Also I've seen different length tie rod ends on the rack. The guy thats going to help me set it all up says go stock arms and longer tie rods..I think he meant shorter.. I dont know. I dont want to get it all put together and find out I'm screwed. I dont have alot of time to be re-ordering parts, etc.
Well, I'll tell ya what I found out, I could use a new trunk lid for my 41 Biz coupe. I call all the steel and fiberglas reproduction companies and everyone of them said there just isn't enough demand for 41 stuff for them to run a line of repro parts....
gads i,m to old i guess. Way back, I bought a 41 just to get a better ride than my model A! It had hydraulic brakes, radio and heater too!
I guess I cant wrap my brain around the fact that these cars of consecutive years are so different. A couple inches out of a subframe can be done.. Just which one should I go for? And as for the rear leaf setups, how can they be different? The rear end is what you change if shit doesn't line up, so... (my head exploding)
as far as front end clearance issues I'm running a 74 Nova sub with the stock A-arms narrowed 1 1/2", 15 X 6 wheels with 4 1/8" backspace, 205/65 tires these are giving a slight rubbing on hard right turns I should've gone with 195/65's. For a long time I ran 14 X 6 rims and 185/75's but this was an awful small tire for this heavy a car
From my research on my 39 standard. Ford was model standard than deluxe,meaning 38 deluxe parts were the same as 39 standard,39 deluxe was the same as 40 standard,40 deluxe was the same parts for 41 standard,41 deluxe is the same parts for 42 standard. Sounds to me you need to get parts for a 40 deluxe,that should fit on your 41 standard. Ford carried there parts over for the standard models for half of the model year before switching and calling them deluxe.
Plymouth Man, your information is not correct in the Ford line, especially in the 41-48 era. The 41 was the transitional year for Ford and Mercury, the first year the Mercury used the Ford body, the last year of exposed runningboards, various odd sized and unique to 41 pieces and parts. Yes, the 42-48 sheet metal fits the front of the 41 and many many of them were customized this way too. In 39-40 the Mercury had its own body because the increase in wheelbase was made through the body, in 41-48 the Merc had the wheelbase increase up front. The Standard and DeLuxe lines were always introduced at the same time. In 1941 the designations changed to Deluxe, SuperDeluxe, and Special(the 6-cylinder cars). From 1942-48 the designations were Deluxe and SuperDeluxe whether 6 or 8 cylinder.
The 41 passenger frame is one year only. Being a "transitional" year The chassis has some 41 only parts. Other chassis components are 40 and some are 42-48. Wheel width and especially backspace is critical for any LOWERED full fender car, depending also on axle width. Being a traditional guy and not a MII guy, my chopped 41 coupe has dropped axle with stock steering box and I am very satisfied with handling. It has made many highway trips to Billetproof, Primer Nats, Hot Rod Reunion, etc. It does have disc fronts (better for following close) and a 58 Tbird 9".
Probably because he didn't have a clue. I only know because of selling 41 parts over the years. I had a fellow one time who needed a trunk lid for a vert and I had one off a cpe. It fit fine and that's how I found out for sure that they were the same. Yes the entire frt clips from newer will fit. The doors from the same body style will also fit the other years (41-48)and rear fenders are the same except for the taillight hole also. Pasadenahotrod is right there's nothing body wise that's the same as a 40
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