Mopar Flatheads On Mountain Highways

[Ulu]

I drove my old P 15 Club Coupe up and down to Yosemite and Kings Canyon and the Giant Sequoia Forest. It was NOT stock having a carburetor from a slant 6, a glasspack muffler, and a  lightly milled head, front and rear lowered with staggered low profile Michelin sport radial tires, & 3-speed overdrive from the later Flathead Plymouths + 3.90 gears.

I had the same problems. Handling was a fabulous going downhill, but it was hell on the brakes.  When going downhill you simply have to take it out of OD or relegate yourself to abusing the brakes.

The only alternative would be changing gear ratios and tire sizes to try and get a more favorable Cruise ratio for these roads. Normally I think 4:10 gears would be called for. This would allow the overdrive to kick up without the car speeding as much. 

Anyhow I was very happy with the performance of my car as far as handling on mountain roads and I had spent a lot of time changing all the bushings, King Pins and steering gear in that vehicle. I also had high pressure KYB gas shocks all the way around and the rear sway bar from a 74 Thunderbird.

I had removed all the packaging from the rear springs, made my own silencers and clamping.

I also switched to a Spicer U joint drive shaft as I was not happy about the high torque performance of those Detroit cup joints.