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Anyone put a frame & Must. 11 under a Metropolitan

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by RDAH, Feb 13, 2013.

  1. RDAH
    Joined: Mar 23, 2007
    Posts: 465

    RDAH
    Member
    from NL, WI

    I bought a 61 Metropolitan to fix up for the wife. Got it for junk price & I have plenty of time to work on it now that I'm retired. I've built 3 hot rods & some 50's cars over the years. Just looking for ideas or pictures, drawings or info. that would save me some time. Was on the 20 or so pages on here about Metro builds, but all the info is pretty generic & no real measurants or drawings. Thanks in advance for your time.
     
  2. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Having suffered through having a Metropolitan rag top in high school I'd think that a MII crossmeber would be quite a bit too wide unless you had a special narrow one made.
     
  3. GassersGarage
    Joined: Jul 1, 2007
    Posts: 4,727

    GassersGarage
    Member

    There's one that attends car shows in Southern California. I never took a picture of it because it's not HAMB friendly. Billet everything with a blown BBC and steamroller tires on back. The car gets trailered to all the shows and usually trophies. BTW, the last time I saw it, there was no floor, then again, there was no room.

    Talk about blower surge.........
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrImFZqgvG4
     
  4. Call Fatman Fabrications. They make crossmembers/kits for narrow cars like Anglias and early Willys.
     

  5. I remember seeing one at Goodguys in Charlotte,North Carolina several years ago,,as I recall it had a tube frame and some sort of a independent front suspension,,pro street and huge blown Hemi.

    Way over the top but at the time I thought had someone with a budget could have made a cool car out of it instead of try to wow the crowds.

    Simple build can't be too hard and as another member pointed out,,Brett (Fatman) can probably supply you with a cross member to use the Mustang II. HRP
     
  6. Phil1934
    Joined: Jun 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,716

    Phil1934
    Member

    Fatman can narrow MII up to 11". this makes it 45-1/2" wide. Steering shaft will be nearly centered so some u joints required.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2013
  7. Mustang eleven?
     
  8. Its the same as a Chevy 11, but different
     
  9. Yes you can narrow a mustang 2 down to about 46''. A nice 2 X 3 chassis would work nice!
     
  10. exterminator
    Joined: Apr 21, 2006
    Posts: 1,695

    exterminator
    Member

    I have seen that car myself.I likee.
     
  11. Hotrodbuilderny
    Joined: Mar 20, 2009
    Posts: 1,646

    Hotrodbuilderny
    Member

    A friend of mine had the actual Lois Lane car from the tv series, and he put it on an s10 chassis with a v6. I am not a big fan of s10 chassis even though I have an s10 to chase parts, I don't know something about the whole kit car aspect, but he did it and he enjoyed it. There was also a fat tired one that went to the Adirondack Nationals blown big block, if I remember it was a beige color pretty wild.
     
  12. There was a Met at the Mooneyes show in Yokohama this past December. The fella had dropped a turbo'd 4 cyl Mitsubishi in it. Motor was out of a small "jeep-ish" type vehicle so it had rear wheel drive. Regret I was not able to get close enough to it to see if he had mods to the front suspension.
     
  13. I think every major city has one...
     
  14. mine [57]has a frt made up of tube A arms and a home built crossmember I made from 1/4" plate steel.....it has the shorter uppers that speedway sells for stock cars[with coilovers].
    the stock MustII uppersand coil towers installed on a crossmember [narrowed enough for the tire inside the stock fenders] will place the A arms incredibly close together at the inside.....
    this will then make for having to do lot more setback on your engine....
    no room for a fan blade.....
    Another thing on Mets is the floor where yor seats set is supernarrow between the doors and the driveshaft tunnel,so buckets are not always small enough to use.
    they came with a bench probably for the reason that it fits over the tunnel......
    one big deal is tire turning clearances for and getting your tires on and off with those lowered factory wheel openings
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2013
  15. PKap
    Joined: Jan 5, 2011
    Posts: 593

    PKap
    Member
    from Alberta

    Years ago I helped a friend do a body swap with a Met onto a complete Chevette frame. We did not do a whole lot of modification other than different back sets on the wheels. Although chevettes are probably more rare now than the Nash....


    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     

  16. See about 0:33 ish. Don't help with cross members but its fun to watch.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoYs0jUOi0k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
     
  17. uncle buck
    Joined: Feb 13, 2007
    Posts: 1,876

    uncle buck
    Member

    Can you tell us where you came up with a Chevette with a frame?
     
  18. RDAH
    Joined: Mar 23, 2007
    Posts: 465

    RDAH
    Member
    from NL, WI

    I have put a 2 x 3 frame under a 71 Pinto w/289 30 years ago, but that car had a floor in it & had a good front suspension. Thanks for the info on Fat Man, he makes a Must.II
     
  19. dave lewis
    Joined: Dec 12, 2006
    Posts: 1,378

    dave lewis
    Member
    from Nampa ID

    Finishing 55 metro at my shop right now.
    M II front
    Welder series 56" kit with 8" removed from the center.
    Maval custom narrowed manual rack.
    Tube a-frames.
    91 4cyl mustang rear end narrowed 13".
    170. hp duratec engine.

    I personally do not like the use of M II front end. I see it on vehicles that are way too heavy .
    For the metro...it was a good choice. IMO

    Dave
     
  20. Yep, beat me to it - Brent makes a MII crossmember for this application.

    Steve
     
  21. PKap
    Joined: Jan 5, 2011
    Posts: 593

    PKap
    Member
    from Alberta

    Cut the floor pan out of the Chevette with the sub frames etc, added frame connectors, and braces to the met body. I don't remember if we shortened the wheelbase or not. Was all done in a couple weekends. His wife drove it regularly for more than 10 years with no issues that I can remember before I moved away.



    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     
  22. PKap
    Joined: Jan 5, 2011
    Posts: 593

    PKap
    Member
    from Alberta

    See prev post


    Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
     
  23. RDAH
    Joined: Mar 23, 2007
    Posts: 465

    RDAH
    Member
    from NL, WI

    dave lewis, thanks. Your info should save me some time for sure.
    I'm not getting any younger & any good information is very helpful.
     
  24. RDAH
    Joined: Mar 23, 2007
    Posts: 465

    RDAH
    Member
    from NL, WI

    And for the guys that had a problem with me
    spelling or writing Mustang 11 or 2 or II get
    a life. Go play Angry Birds or something.
     
  25. RDAH
    Joined: Mar 23, 2007
    Posts: 465

    RDAH
    Member
    from NL, WI

    Thanks guys for the info,
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2013
  26. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,460

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    Yes it was a good choice for the metro, it is also a good choice for a huge number of early vehicle upgrades.

    The reason has little to do with the weight of the vehicle rather the weight distribution and how much weight is on the front suspension.

    Because of the way the engine sits back behind the crossmember on most early vehicles the weight on a MII is close to the same as it was in its original location in most cases.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2013
    gearhead9663 likes this.
  27. falconsprint63
    Joined: May 17, 2007
    Posts: 2,358

    falconsprint63
    Member
    from Mayberry

    mustang II won't fit. I preface this by saying that I like their stuff and the folks at fatman are great to work with and as stated they have a kit. that said, the turning radius with his kit is very limited. we had one in my sister's met (with a 302/c4) and ended up taking it to a local race shop an having it re-worked further in order to get what we thought was a workable turning radius for regular driving.

    I'll also mention that you can just swap the braking components from an MG midget to get disc brakes. I'm willing to be they've also gut mg based component upgrades as well--springs etc. just food for thought.
     
  28. blue 49
    Joined: Dec 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,820

    blue 49
    Member
    from Iowa

    I used the Fatman crossmember in a Met. Only trouble is the subframe has to be narrowed so much around the spring pockets that any engine with a low mount starter has to be set back a bunch. This car was not a hot rod (wife's car) so I just used a chevette engine with a higher mounted starter. I know a guy that built a couple and used a narrowed Fiero front crossmembers. He said they worked well. One of his was a 10 second, BBC, extended nose drag car.

    Blue
     
  29. 2nup350
    Joined: Feb 2, 2014
    Posts: 4

    2nup350
    Member

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