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1947 Plymouth Hemi Build


Adam H P15 D30

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The story behind this car goes: I had a 39 Plym Bus coupe in high school and my best friend wanted something similar. He found a running 47 S/D. Well he stripped it down in hopes of making a modern type streetrod. My dad and his best friend helped us do the clip partially set up the chassis.

The floors and rockers were completely rusted out and after it sitting for a couple of years his pops made him get rid of it. He sold it to a mutual friend and it sat for another 10 years. Then I got a call that it was going to be scrapped, so I stepped in and bought it for 100.00. Probably paid too much for it????

Time to get to business (about 10 years ago). Floors and rockers were first, then the firewall had to come back because I was NOT going to run the SB chebby it was set up for. After the floors and rockers were finished I narrowed the rear and redid the trunk and wheel wells. Then all work stopped for a number of years.

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Here is a shot of a narrowed control arm from Fatman. Had to do a little surgery to the radiator support to clear the steering box but I don't know how I could have put the Hemi in there with the stock steering where is was. Clearence is tight and the Firebird frame rails are spaced farther apart than the old Plym ones were. Remember, the subframe was done 20+ years ago. I probably would have done it again the same way but with the new control arms it was just as expensive as a Mustang II kit. I believe the quality of the heavier GM units is better than the Mustang II because they were designed for a much heavier car. I will have to do major surgery to the inner fender panels to clear the cylinder heads so the control arms will be visable from under the hood.

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The 518 is a 727 with an overdrive hanging off the back of it. It uses the same shifter that a 727 would. Mine is NOT a lock up transmission so I can use any 727 torque converter. There is a 2 wire connector, power and ground shifts it into overdrive. Can split every gear if you want to. Much easier than a 700r4.

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i'll be following this build, i've got a 354 for my 48 biz coupe. what front susp are you using? how about a pic of the the motor mounts? thanks

I'm 4 years into putting a 354 in my 46 3 window coupe. Kept the original suspension due to bad(Pennsylvania) roads and clearence issues. Motor mounts are from Hot Heads. Moved the radiator to the other side of the core support. Used a cavilear rack and pinion. So far so good but it's not on the road yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

Hi all,  well life got in the way a little on the Plym build and I had to take a few months off.  I did use the time productively by putting a few thousand miles on the Dodge though.  Sunday I got the inner fenders finished so all that's left is dealing with the front bumper brackets then the body can come off for the last time, and for the life of me I can't figure out where these 2 panels go.  I'm pretty sure they go in front, but remember this car was taken apart 20 years and 2 owners ago so I'm not sure.....  Any thoughts.  The panels are in the third picture, Thanks!!!

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Edited by Adam H P15 D30
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  • 1 year later...

Well it's been a year or so, new career, 4 kids and another old mopar to drive around has kind of put the Plymouth on the back burner. I did lift the body back off the frame to finish weld everything, paint and assemble it. I work on it in the driveway by day and push it under the body at night. Wish I had a 2 car garage. Mocked up the new suspension and finished the front bumper brackets. Kind of goes in spirts

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Edited by Adam H P15 D30
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