Hi everyone i would like to share my adventures on my 38 Plymouth coupe build. Now first off i will let everyone know I was born to love Chevy and never once worked on anything other. But people change. I picked this up in august of 2022. Car was to be made as a Gasser but the gentleman found a Willy's instead and sold me this gem. Mind you we had just moved back from Utah to Iowa so I was slow to start on the project then. Winter finally came we are settled in and I have began the process of the build . i picked up a few books to help along the way. Heres the ones I found. If you know any other i should have that would be great. time to start the build I guess. I have worked on cars before been around a wrench alot so this will be fun. First things first lets get down to the nitty gritty and see what we really have. i am really glad the fender were all not that bad solid no real bad holes or rust on them they will clean up great and with a little lov they should turn out fine. There is slight damage to the top of the radiator cover but should not be to hard to mend. I am looking forward to learning more metal work but i stare at the bottom curve of the fenders and the bottom between the fenders and I wonder can i do it haha. time will tell. So once i got the body down the barebones i started to set my focus on what i knew might be the worst part of the buidl which is the Frame and suspension. if you look a the images below you can see that someone chopped out the mid cross section of the original frame then Boxed in the sides in some areas. Added what apears to be a Mustang II front end. It was added what looks to be around the firwall area of the frame. Put in flat plate across the frame near the mid section of the car and mid process of adding a 4 link in the rear. Hell alot of Stuff was done Not bad. Well not really. Clos einspection of the Front end swap. the weld are really bad. Looks very messy. the 4 link in the rear also is not complete. So what to do , new frame? use the exsisting frame? Well i found a great man in Wisconsin who jsut happen to be selling a complete straight 37 frame. i research for a few days and from what i been told it should be a match or as close to as it can be.
That '37 frame without modifications is a great start. It will make your build much easier than trying to fix a poorly welded original frame. So is your plan to make this a hotrod, gasser, or what? How you proceed will determine what you need to do with this new frame. I built an earlier '35 Plymouth coupe for a neighbor, and the X frame and driveline tunnel created a strong frame, but some issues for future maintenance. Because of the tunnel I ground the rivets off the bottom of the tunnel cover and drilled the holes for 5/16" bolts to allow the cover to be removed if he ever needed to remove his 4 speed for repairs. Otherwise it would require the engine/trans to be pulled to service it as the tunnel stops the trans from moving rearward before it can be dropped. Since he wanted an open fender coupe I cut the frame ends off and welded '29 Ford frame repair ends on it.
So now that I have a fresh frame to work off of. time to find a power plant. i was going to go the easy route and SBC this bad boy but part of me wanted to keep this in the mopar family still. I spent a good part of a month finding motors. I started in the 440 searched and searched found a few lost a few found some more. but the price kept getting higher for what are motorhome engines. Then I stubbled on to the lower end Hemi 331 354. I am by no means a Hemi guy and i reserched for a few weeks shopped around and what I hope to be a gem showed up on facebook market. it was a 1953 331 Long block Hemi with the fluid drive still sttached. Not the most wanted of all hemis for sure but hey I am not trying to build a racer just a driver. Now the image on facebook was not the best but I figure if i can get the engine for a good price at least. if anything I can sell all the parts of it or even trade the engine out for something else at the swap coming up in a month. Here is the facebook image below. I was kinda taking a huge gamble as the seller didnt know the number on the block he couldn't find it also says its not turning over. guy wanted 600 for a complete engine. I shot for 300 range we came to a settled 350 if i pick up that day, So I am off in the truck . I drive across Iowa to Waterloo area nervous as hell cause I am picking up what looks to be heavly rusted engine like its been in the weather since 53. Wife might think I am nuts if this is a bad investment. get out of the truck and look at the engine and well damn his picture did not do it justice at all.
Nice project! Here is a little inspiration. Dad and I built this 1937 Dodge with a Plymouth front end, and a 392 Hemi. You look to have a solid starting point. We started with way less.
Just a little advise on the 331 you have pictured. That is known as the long bellhousing block. Adapting a modern transmission to that engine can ba challenging. The heads are alo the smallest ports and valves on any of the chrysler Hemis. If your looking to make power later heads are a must.
Nice start. I would love to find Plymouth hood ornament like that to add to collection. Hope that hemi turns out ok. Sludge is like cosmoline, helps to preserve!
I know where another hood ornamate is. there is a gentleman his place is called Bobe's Antique in Davenport Iowa he is a relly old man but has lots of items and very hard to find items.
The ornaments I have I picked off derelicts, out in pastures, over creek banks, etc. never lucked into one of those.
Yeah i know about the housing issue there is a the wilcap adapters that fix that to certain transmissions. And I am not going crazy houses yet on the engine or anything like that jsut a cruiser at first.
So, what are your plans? Going with the tube axle and parallel leaf springs along with the 331 Hemi? I think the 35-38 Plymouth business coupe bodies are among the best Mopar has done. I've had a couple different ones in my possession during my past, but never got to build one for one reason or another.
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