Projects Plymouth Business Coupe '47 Build

I bought this a little over a year ago and parked it in the barn. I have been working on my wife's '55 T-Bird. Finally got it running so moved back to the Plymouth.

Found it on craig's list. No engine or transmission, looks like it might have been drag raced. Other than normal rusty rockers and front floors relatively solid.

 

The car was completely taken apart. Everything was in the trunk nicely labeled. Laid everything on the floor and all that was missing was the front turn signal trim. Interior has lots of mice in the seats and a squirrel living in head liner.

 

How cool! Gonna watch this one, keep us updated!

 

Cool! looks like a pretty solid car, what are the plans for the drivetrain?

 

Awesome...great to see another Plymouth build on here! Like daliant asked whats your drivetrain/build plans? I'll tag along and see where you go with it!

 

Picked up a Ford 9" for the rear out of and old Bronco, having the bolt patterns re-drilled. Working on mustang 2 front suspension. Bagging it to set it down. Not to hamb friendly but a late model 5.7 hemi. Have two vintage cars and looking for electronic motor. Will be posting pics soon.

 

Got to work and pulled the body off the frame. 8 bolts and took the front clip off in one piece. Another 8 bolts and the body was loose. Only had to cut off two bolts. Can't believe how easy this is coming apart. Got a few friends and lifted off the body. Going to start on the frame first. Picked up a ford 9" out of an old Bronco and pulled out he guts.
Need to take more photos.
Flipped the frame upside down and leveled it on stands.
Slide in the ford rear axle and set the pinion angle.

Putting in a 4 link so cut off the leaf spring mounts.

 

Having a year sitting collected a lot of parts. Bought a 4 link kit from Thorbecke Brothers. Good people and very beefy kit. Their web site was pretty cool, suicide doors, but has become more traditional. Downloaded a suspension calculator from Dan Barcroft. Did all the angles and calculations for correct roll center and anti squat. Not sure if it works but better than just eyeballing it.

Used the standard bushing mounts on the frame and the swivel bearing on the axle.

 

Flipped the frame over and started on the angle links. Got them all tacked in place. Jacked the axle up and down, very smooth and no side to side motion. Need to get me son over to weld it up. Going to box in parts of the frame around the 4 link brackets on the frame. The is one very beefy frame, no idea why any would do a frame swap. Moving to the front clip next.

 

So, are you still going to cut off the front frame to install the mustang 2 suspension? Gene

 

Nice work on the 4 link! Going to be following this thread. Subscribed.

 

I have read all the posts about the front suspension being pretty good if you relocate the shocks. Last project used a MII suspension and liked it especially the rack and pinion steering. Issue with the Plymouth is the frame rails are tapered so need to buy a front stub frame or graft in from another vehicle. The tread width looks narrow compared to other cars of this vintage. Read horror stories of wheels sticking out of the wheel wells and huge turning radius. Looking at the fat man kit.????

 

Nice car,subscribed.

 

FRONT SUSPENSION
Well after a lot of reading decided to cut off the front suspension. Went and ordered a Fat Man front clip kit. Looks like it moves the tread width out 1-1/2" so I will need deep offset wheel to keep the tires under the fenders.

Kit came on a semi, one pallet about 350#, happened to have a tractor to unload from the truck but you could have taken the boxes off the pallet.

Though I could just set the chassis on stands and start cutting. Wrong, way to light and every time I got it lined up would bump it. Dropped the body back on to give it some weight, became very stable. Spent a lot of time getting everything level and plumb before cutting.

 

Plan on building this thing hot rod style with big rear tires and a jacked up rear.
Once I got he body on, set it up with 1 degree drop front to rear.

I ran a center line front to rear on the floor, then put duct tape down and used a marker & plumb bob to mark the locations for all key suspension components, bumper and clip mounts. Laid the new frame clip under to compare.

Measured and stared at it for a while then pulled out the saw.

Time to cut.

 

It only took 10 minutes to cut if all off. Sure hope it was the right location. Lost more than a few pounds.
Drilled holes in the frame for plug welding the stub.
I chose to get it all lined up and tapped a few holes to temporarily hold it in place. Most people would have hit it with a welder.
Pulled out the plumb bob and doubled checked everything one more time.

My son came over and welded everything up solid. We added a few gussets to smooth the transition.

Here is the final stance looks pretty good to me.

Drive train comes up next, staying all Plymouth but may tick off the old school crowd.

 

Thats gonna be tough looking...gott to tip my hat to you...thats nice fab work!

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Looking good. Looks like you've nailed it.

 

Awesome job! The stance looks great; now i wish I had done the full clip on my 48.

 

subscribed. Just bought a 47 dodge 3 window today. It will take awhile to get it up here to Alaska but I'm looking forward to it. Nice work.

 

Post some pic's when you get it. Pretty easy. Cars to work on

 

Awesome!

 

My son finished welding up the chassis and we cut a deal with the neighbor to sandblast it. Gave it two coats of KBS (~Por15) black paint, looking pretty good. Got it on the lift for assembly. Sure makes life much easier.

 

A few more pictures of the frame. It is a big box frame but only had a few welds and rivets holding it together. Went through and skip welded it every six inches. Fabricated a rear cross bar to mount the shocks and welded all the cross members in place. Got all the pieces and parts lined up and painted. Ready put it together.

 

Well I am still here, now in "Traditionally Styled" forum which fits. Trying to get the chassis done, engine back in, and body mounted. Want a solid foundation before the top comes off.

All suspension components mounted. Brake fuel lines being run. Had a set of Ride-Tech air rides on the shelf for 2 years. One had a blown seal in the shock, sent back and there ar fixing it for free. Good service.

 

Used an old sway bar that fit around the rear axle. Took quite a few tries to get sway bar links that work through 6" of axle travel without binding. Used late model steering rack. Pushed the motor and trans up so nothing projects below the frame. Put the bends in the transmission cross member so the exhaust is above the frame.

 

Missed the upload, Operator error.

 

Brake lines done: Going to run fuel lines and put the motor back in today. The wide whites came from Diamond Back today. Due to front rack pushing the hubs out 1-1/2" over stock ordered custom back space smoothies for the front. Something is going on with parts supply in California, wheels are delayed in definately? Everyone is quoting 8-10 weeks? Might try hacking up a old set of wheels pushing the hub out and welding for test fit.

 

Looks damn nice!

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I put the motor back in the chassis and started all the plumbing and exhaust. Had to re route fuel lines and the emergency brakes.
Wide with walls came in from Diamond Back. 215/60-15 Fronts and 255/60-15 rears. Looking pretty good. Had the wheels made with custom offsets. 5" offset in the front to bring the tires in the wheel wells. Backs are reversed with 2" offset, needed due to the narrowed rear axle. Rears have just 3/4" clearance to the inner wheel well.