51 suburban project

[iamjeff171]

Figured I would go ahead and start a thread for my project 51 Plymouth.

Will post pictures next...

Right now the plan is to lower it with fatman uprights, and maybe some springs. Haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do for springs. Im sure i will want to replace the springs regardless of if i go lowered on those or not. Also got a fatman power rack kit and scarebird brakes

Out back I'm going to swap the rear for a ford 8.8 and lowering blocks.

Power will be provided by a fuel injected 98 5.9. Dakota r/t engine/tranny. I'm planning on running AC, was thinking vintage air but haven't made up my mind yet.

Any coments or suggestions are welcome.

[iamjeff171]

Heres a couple pictures

[Don Coatney]

What is your location?

[iamjeff171]

Austin area

[oldodge41]

Look forward to the updates.

[MacTexas]

Don't paint it, the patina looks good. What is the car in the background?

[Plymouthy Adams]

Don't paint it, the patina looks good. What is the car in the background?

so..where is all the patina on your DeSoto?

[james curl]

When you say Austin area I assume that you mean Texas, is that right? If so, I am just up I-35 in Georgetown and have a 48 P15 4 door. I will be on the look out on the results of the Fatman dropped uprights installation and wheel angle travel on turning. I have a set mocked up on a 41 Dodge front stub and need to heat and bend the steering arms up high enough to clear the boss on the lower A arm for the upright trunnion. To achieve the same steering angles as stock where the arm moves under the boss on the lower A frame the arms will need to be bent up as close as possible to the rear mounting hole before bending down to match the original height above floor level where the tie rods attach.

[iamjeff171]

I don't plan on painting it for a while. however i will likely need to do something to protect the roof as it is pretty much completely bare and already has a couple small pinholes near the drip rail. havent quite figured out what i'm going to do with that. I have been told epoxy primer is the way to go these days.

and yes that is austin,tx. the car itself is at my dad's shop in taylor, right down the road from james in georgetown.

[martybose]

When you say Austin area I assume that you mean Texas, is that right? If so, I am just up I-35 in Georgetown and have a 48 P15 4 door. I will be on the look out on the results of the Fatman dropped uprights installation and wheel angle travel on turning. I have a set mocked up on a 41 Dodge front stub and need to heat and bend the steering arms up high enough to clear the boss on the lower A arm for the upright trunnion. To achieve the same steering angles as stock where the arm moves under the boss on the lower A frame the arms will need to be bent up as close as possible to the rear mounting hole before bending down to match the original height above floor level where the tie rods attach.

All very true, but there is one additional area to look at with Fatman spindles. On mine the bolts for the two holes at the bottom of the spindle had to be put in from the outside in order to clear the brake disk, and the bolt length on the inside was what limited the steering travel. One of these days I will take off the spindles, have the ends countersunk and then have a set of countersunk allen-head bolts cut down to the right length to clear the brakes; that will restore most of the missing travel.

Marty

[thrashingcows]

Very cool car...er wagon. I like your ideas so far. Will enjoy following along as you progress.

[james curl]

For Morty, I have thinned the steering arms and have the countersunk bolts, but the bottom of the arms hit the flange on the lower A frame trunnion boss. I will reheat and bend them up behind the rear bolt while they are attached to the mock up to be sure that full inside travel of 22.5 degrees is achievable.

[MacTexas]

so..where is all the patina on your DeSoto?

I bought it already painted. You know how styles change, 10 years ago you would never think of a finished car with surface rust showing. NOW, it the latest fad.

[bredlo53]

This will be so much fun to watch!

I don't want to hijack the thread, but we recently bought a '53 Chrysler Town and Country wagon - and are also updating the mechanicals. Plan to drop the entire body onto an '05 Durango with a 5.7 Hemi, garnering us a much needed new frame, AWD, running gear, 12v wiring harness and towing package in the process.

Thanks for sharing your project with us, and hope you can keep the thread updated.

[falconvan]

Great car and it sounds like a good plan. Keep us posted on the progress!

[iamjeff171]

making a little bit of progress (always slower than one would like of course). getting my dropped uprights installed. still need to get hardware for my disk brake swap. it is amazing how much caked on grease there was on everything. good news is with all that greasing all of the bushings appear to be in very good condition. only the drivers side upper control arm appears to have very slight slop in it. I think i'm just going to run it and see if it has driveability issues. fortunately these front ends seem to be pretty easy to disassemble, epecially since the fatman uprights replace the king pin friction fit retainer (not sure what its official name is) with an allen head set screw.

i dont really see where the adjustment is on these front suspensions for wheel alignment. no shims anywhere. good news is the guy i plan on aligning it is smarter than the average bear and im sure will be able to figure it out.

here is a before/after

[Plymouthy Adams]

I bought it already painted. You know how styles change, 10 years ago you would never think of a finished car with surface rust showing. NOW, it the latest fad.

personally i substitute the word latest for the word laziest

just another excuse not to finish the job right..

[iamjeff171]

im definitely not painting it out of laziness. fortunately it also happens to be the cool thing to do at the moment. hopefully will still be cool when i get it running. I plan on making it a realiable driver, and driving it regularly without having to worry about door dings in the parking lot wars. when i get tired of the "patina" i will paint it...

[thrashingcows]

im definitely not painting it out of laziness. fortunately it also happens to be the cool thing to do at the moment. hopefully will still be cool when i get it running. I plan on making it a realiable driver, and driving it regularly without having to worry about door dings in the parking lot wars. when i get tired of the "patina" i will paint it...

My 48 Desoto has "patina" as well. I plan much the same as you.

[mrwrstory]

Vintage Air! Pricey but a good product. Excellent customer service. And they're in TX.

I opted for another. The product quality and customer service was inferior,....and they went belly-up.

Cool car. A suburban is on my list.

[pflaming]

I like original paint i.e., patina if there is enough to show well. Dolly Dodge's full rust patina cannot be duplicated. I found nice color under my ozidized / repainted surface and like it. I can always paint or the next buyer can. It's part of the uniqueness of vehicals, say over tractors.

So I vote keep it, clean it up and rub it down with ATF, as if it were shoe polish, that was my professional painter's advise to me. I washed mine down with lacquer thinner then sanded, too agressive at first, ATF is next.

You may be surprised how much color is under that rust.

Edited February 27, 2013 by pflaming

[iamjeff171]

Made a litle bit of progress. Getting the engine/transmission mounted. I decided that I didnt want to just hammer in the passenger firewall, and also wanted to mount the engine a little further back to give me more room for radiator/condensor (it gets hot sitting in traffic in austin).  So i decided to take the plasma to the firewall. Made a little more work for myself, but i had a good deal of work to do on the floors/kick panel anyway. I think the end product will be much nicer.

 

I will probably end up moving the engine a little further forward then it currently is. The mounts havent been made yet but im hoping to finish them up this weekend.  Let me know what y'all think

 

also, it looks like i am going to be able to use the late model magnum style mounts. I was concerned because they are much wider than the LA style mounts. But they are further back on the block where the frame is wider. The Magnum style mounts appear much better with a lot more insulation for vibration. (the magnum engine can use either LA or magnum style mounts.)

Edited February 20, 2013 by iamjeff171

[chopt50wgn]

Be careful when recessing the firewall. If you are going to use an aftermarket A/C-heater, make sure there is enough room to mount the new piece when the firewall is set back.

[oldmopar]

If a rusted car is in style maybe that is why I have not sold my 52 suburban (listed in classidifeds).

I was thinking that because the paint was old and need some touch was the problem.Maybe I should sand off some of the paint and let it rust up a litte.

I must be getting old as it make no sense to me. 

[iamjeff171]

I am planning on running an under dash unit.