Well, the car has been locked in storage for a few months, still working on my house remodel. I hate to say this, but it might be 2014 even before I start working on it. Just too many irons in the fire, and I know I'll want dedicate full attention to this build when it starts. I'm glad I didn't have time to dive right in, I have been reading up a lot,this winter. I think I have a realistic view of how to move forward when the build starts. I'm going to pick up a 97 Mercury Mountaineer/Explorer w/5.0 this afternoon. It totaled and I bought it cheap. I'm going to grab lots of parts. This will be my 2nd Explorer rear end, this one is a limited slip w/ 3.55s, the other is an open 3.73 gear. I think I'll need an overdrive trans or new gears with a 1:1 ratio. This will give me extra parts for brakes & axles. The serpentine belt system is also very good for Early Broncos, its a very short/compact set up. I'm taking it because I've got an EFI 351W planned for my EB. Sorry, OT. First question, the Explorer/Mountaineer has rear leafs and control arms. I don't know much about car suspensions and was wondering if this is a good set up for a hot rod? Seems its simpler than 4 links and coil overs, but adds some extra stiffness/control over a leaf pack only. The Mountaineer has its leafs mounted under the axle, like my 39. I'll need to relocate the spring perches to match the Plymouth frame. Why couldn't the Explorer leaf pack be used? I can grab the spring mounts from the Mountaineer. Is it realistic, or are spring rates/designs too far off. I'm a little leery about using 75 year old leaf packs with a modern motor/hp/torque. I've seen some suggest to use a Jeep Cherokee front sway bar on the Plymouth IFS. Again could the front & rear sway bars be used from the Mountaineer? I'm also going to grab the front brakes, pedals, brake booster, rear driveshaft, probably head lights and some interior parts. Hopefully the Early Bronco club I'm in will use the motor and trans for their club build. So many good parts on these 5.0 Explorers & Mountaineers.
I looked at buying a '39 P8 and found out how hard some parts are to get and didn't buy it. It's still listed here on craigslist if any of you guys are interested. http://sanangelo.craigslist.org/cto/3729189844.html.
Swapping springs can be a tricky business. According to the book I have, a 39 Plymouth coupe weighs 2274 lbs, (probably 700 of that is the flathead 6!) a 2 door sedan weighs 2824 lbs, and a 4 door sedan weighs 2829. I can't imagine any newer vehicle being even close to being that light, I'll bet an Explorer weighs in over 4,000 lbs! If the spring you swap in is designed for a car weighing almost 2x as much as the original car, it will ride like an empty 2 ton truck. Of course, if it is a leaf spring pack, you can remove leafs, but how many? As long as the rear axle is centered in the wheel openings, the lenght of the springs and the center bolt location on the spring has little effect, other then mounting convenience. Keep in mind, a shorter overall length spring tends to give a more harsh ride as well. Gene
Thats a much bigger difference in weight than I thought. I thought I had read that the Plymouth weighed 3200#. I was way off. The Explorer is 4200#.
Picked up a very complete (but completely disassembled) 331 Hemi this week. It was apparently disassembled in the 80's for a rebuild but never was completed. It has new pistons installed onto the con rods, and the block was supposedly bored .030. Its sat so long there is surface rust on the cylinder bores & some corrosion on the pistons from sitting in a cardboard box too long. I'll have it checked to see if its usable or if it needs bored again and new pistons. The block is still in Colorado Springs, I have to go back to get it. I brought home everything else. The crank was turned & the cam reground, but both have storage rust too. The valve covers are in very nice shape, has a dizzy, bellhousing chunks, pulley/generator/rebuild original water pump. I'm reading up on everything I can about these motors. The kicker is the old school, ceramic coated, "SAY WHY-AND" dual quad intake and 2 64/65 Corvette AFB carbs. From what I've read the intake sounds like it could feed way more air than the old 51 heads can flow. But I guess it will look cool regardless. Maybe some day I'll upgrade to a better head. I'll admit I had already bought a 5.9L Dodge Magnum motor & trans to use. I had a very short list of "dream" motors I would abandon the EFI motor for. I found the hemi on my Colorado Bronco forum, I wasn't really looking for one. I am going to see if I can get the 46RE trans from the Dodge truck to work. I was planning on using the ECU to run the EFI motor & trans, but now need to see if the ECU can just run the trans. I know its not entirely Hamb friendly, but I'm sure there are lots of guys here glad I didn't screw up my old car with the 5.9L EFI motor. I've gained a lot of appreciation for the look of the old motors and really look forward to using this hemi. I really didn't think I'd have an easy opportunity to get my hands on something like this. I live in the sticks. Finding parts, and getting them to my town can be expensive or a PITA, since I don't have a pick up truck. Seeing the light at the end of the house remodel, and hoping to start on this car in 2014 if everything goes to plan.
The Jalopy Journal
