1946 Plymouth Coupe with mystery front end

[Leonel21]

Please help. A pastor inherited my young teenage son a 1946 Plymouth Cooupe. We want to start with the suspension. We found out the car was clipped and now has a chevy front end. I am not a Chevy guy and can't figure out what it is. My son and I after looking at tons of pics think it's an1978 camaro. Can anyone help by looking at pics. 

[MackTheFinger]

Most likely Camaro. Most of the parts like ball joints, calipers, and the like are interchangeable between Camaro, Firebird, and Malibu. If in doubt a decent parts place will be able to figure it out. Overall not a bad thing if it was installed right. Nothing wrong with a good small block.. ?

[p15-1948]

Can't remember what the front frame horns looked like, but I used a 1973 Olds Omega front end on my 48.  Omega was the same as the Chevy Nova.  

 

[knuckleharley]

Quote

 

It doesn't really matter what it is,you can find any parts you need for it by taking off the part on it and using the parts number stamped on it. Chances are you won't have to do that many times before it self-identifies. Pull the drums and look for the parts numbers on the calipers,wheel bearings,etc,etc,etc.

 

If you need a part like a tie-rod end,take that to the parts store and match it up. Won't take long to figure out what you have.

 

BTW,my 48 Plymouth coupe has a 78 Camaro frame clip,piece of trash 305,and I THINK  a turbo 250. I will find out when I redo it,and I will be redoing it before I drive it again because it backfired under the hood and caught everything on fire while I was riding down the road.

 

Damn good thing I carry a fire extinguisher.

 

The car rode and drove like a 78 Cameo while it was on the road. In other words,good,and tracked like it was on rails.

 

When it goes back on the road it will have a balanced and blueprinted 412 SBC with a roller cam,roller rockers,"long rods",strong Comp Cams cam,.060 over bore with Keith Black flattop pistons,and Dart 2 cast iron heads with big valves and a 750 Holley carb on a high rise aluminum intake.

 

The block was assembled by a friend of a friend that works in Richard Petty's engine shop.

 

The 350 trans I am using has been rebuild with a manual shift valve body and heavy duty everything. It has a custom torque converter bolted to it with a higher stall speed.

 

Using it because I already had it and had pulled it all out of maybe the fastest junk 3/4 ton van in the state. Took the van for a test drive after getting it all put together,and my 10 drawer tool box and 10 100 lb bags of sand for my sandblaster were in the back. Got going down a straight road at maybe 35 mph and put my foot in it,and the speedo was going past 100 MPH before I could get my foot out of it.

 

Should do a fine job of moving that little Plymouth down the road.

 

BTW,can't really bitch about way the Plymouth was slapped together. Only paid $3500 for it and it looked nice under all the plastic and shiny paint. There were tornado warnings flying in the area in Texas where I bought it,so I just took it for a quick spin around the block before driving it up on my trailer and heading home in a hurry.

 

 

After getting it home and up on a lift,I discovered there was only 1 bolt holding the engine in place. The trans was sitting on custom trans mounts,but they had no bolt holes in them,thus no bolts.

 

I also found out why the speedo didn't work. It wasn't even installed in the tranny tailshaft. Instead,the tailshaft was wrapped with paper tape. Still haven't figured out why,since the speedo cable was jammed up under the undercarriage,and plugged right into the tailshaft.

 

Did some bracing work to the frame clip,which was done perfectly,but unfinished,drilled holes in the trans mount to bolt it down,and drove the damn thing for maybe 3 years before the fire happened.

 

The biggest disssapointment was all that plastic under all that shiny paint. Nothing that can't be fixed,but WHY would anybody spend all that time and effort to fill something with plastic and paint over it without even removing the rust first?

 

Would have already been back on the road if I hadn't started getting sick. All that time I was driving it instead of working on it,I was searching for and finding better trim,having all the chrome redone,buying a new Ron Francis wiring harness,new custom digital dash insert that fits behind the stock trim (shown below),etc,etc,etc. AFAIK,I have every single part needed to tear it down and put it back up as a first class driver car that I could have enjoyed for years.

 

This is one of those cars that will get sold at my estate sale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Adam H P15 D30]

As stated, that is Camaro or similar, 2nd gen with front steer.  You will have to modify the radiator support to fit around the steering box but it will fit.

 

It is hard to see how they grafted it to the Plymouth frame but what I can see doesn't look too bad.  I have seen some sketchy subframe jobs!

I cut the frame just ahead of the steering box and it clears my front fenders by an inch or so.  Bumper brackets will also have to be modified.

 

For the V8, you may also have to modify the inner fender panels

 

I found the track slightly too wide for a P15.  This could probably be handled with a custom offset wheel set, I opted for Fatman narrow control arms.

Also note the radiator support you will have to fab.

 

Steering is close but manageable

 

After looking at your pictures again, your engine is too far forward and will interfere with your radiator.  Move it back as far as you can.

 

Please post close up pictures of where the 2 frames meet.

[p15-1948]

On Our 48 we had to modify the inner fenders for the 318, but we used some rubber like material from a pickup inner fenders.  Sorry, do not remember the make or year of the donor truck.  The Nova front track was a little too wide also.  We narrowed it 3/4 of an inch and it put the tires inside the fenders nicely.