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Engine swap 1950 wayfarer


Jakob126

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3 hours ago, Jakob126 said:

Yeah I plan to fab up some sort of 4 link for it when I finally find the rearend I want 

I'm considering some rear suspension mods for my PU also.  The truck arm setup used by Chevy in the sixties (and NASCAR even now) seems to be the easiest to fab and super strong.  Much easier to fab than 3 or four links.   If I use coilovers, tuning height and ride would be easy to do.

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Yeah, the truck arm setup looks interesting.  Not a fan of triangulated 4 links, at least not the OEM ones I've had over the years.  Too wiggly in the rear.  But truck arm or 4 link, you still need something to control side to side movement.  Something that is generally built into a parallel leaf setup.  Wheel hop fixes on a leaf setup can be as simple as clamping the front segment together.  Cal Tracs, traction bars, not slappers, lol.  Some have added a helper spring to stiffen up the front segment.  Mopar made the leaf asymmetrical, front segment shorter than the rear on later models.  If I were to go with 2.5" wide leafs I'd run a set of later model Mopar leafs.

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We put a 318 in a 47 Desoto with a 904 Tourquflite with not too much trouble. Used the stock radiator and rear end, just had the driveshaft modified. The only trouble we had was the left side exhaust manifold clearance. We solved it by finding an upswept exhaust manifold from another 318, but I don't remember which one and cutting a small section out of the steering column housing. Had a welder come out and make motor mounts with no problems.

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9 hours ago, Sniper said:

Yeah, the truck arm setup looks interesting.  Not a fan of triangulated 4 links, at least not the OEM ones I've had over the years.  Too wiggly in the rear.  But truck arm or 4 link, you still need something to control side to side movement.  Something that is generally built into a parallel leaf setup.  Wheel hop fixes on a leaf setup can be as simple as clamping the front segment together.  Cal Tracs, traction bars, not slappers, lol.  Some have added a helper spring to stiffen up the front segment.  Mopar made the leaf asymmetrical, front segment shorter than the rear on later models.  If I were to go with 2.5" wide leafs I'd run a set of later model Mopar leafs.

Panhard rod.   As long as possible and designed to be parallel to the axle at rest.  

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20 hours ago, kencombs said:

I'm considering some rear suspension mods for my PU also.  The truck arm setup used by Chevy in the sixties (and NASCAR even now) seems to be the easiest to fab and super strong.  Much easier to fab than 3 or four links.   If I use coilovers, tuning height and ride would be easy to do.

Yeah I’ll look into that, but for height adjustments I may go with some simple air adjust shocks, kinda on a cheaper budget here 

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18 hours ago, Nomad50 said:

We put a 318 in a 47 Desoto with a 904 Tourquflite with not too much trouble. Used the stock radiator and rear end, just had the driveshaft modified. The only trouble we had was the left side exhaust manifold clearance. We solved it by finding an upswept exhaust manifold from another 318, but I don't remember which one and cutting a small section out of the steering column housing. Had a welder come out and make motor mounts with no problems.

Yeah on my engine when I’m ready to install the 383 I may have to invest in some shorty headers and turn them backwards (derby car style) and run the exhaust that way due to possible fitment issues if I can’t cut out enough inner fender to make it work 

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4 hours ago, Jakob126 said:

Yeah I’ll look into that, but for height adjustments I may go with some simple air adjust shocks, kinda on a cheaper budget here 

What is your plan for the primary spring?  Air shocks don't have the capacity for primary spring, as they are intended as a booster spring.  I've used them in the past for that, nice soft weak springs, either leaf with some removed (not really useable with the truck arm), or light coils.  Then use the air to set the ride height.

Maybe one could use some Firestone air springs intended for truck overloads as a primary spring. 

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On 9/2/2021 at 11:55 PM, kencombs said:

What is your plan for the primary spring?  Air shocks don't have the capacity for primary spring, as they are intended as a booster spring.  I've used them in the past for that, nice soft weak springs, either leaf with some removed (not really useable with the truck arm), or light coils.  Then use the air to set the ride height.

Maybe one could use some Firestone air springs intended for truck overloads as a primary spring. 

Actually I have some extra rear springs out of my ram I may try to use since they have some sag in them. I’m not sure how well they would work. But I’m getting too many suggestions and too many questions when quite frankly I haven’t really decided. One minute I like this setup then the next minute I find another set up and so on. I’m just trying to do this on a budget or else I’d go all out and get coil overs and air bags etc. more than likely it’ll end up with something along the lines of trac bars, more than likely leaf springs and air shocks. Who knows, that may change tmr when I find another method of hot rod suspension. But at the end of the day I’m still very uneducated on the matter as well as fairly inexperienced, I’m just here for the ride learning as I go, using what I learn and learning from my mistakes and lack of knowledge. 

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