lowering my 1947 Plymouth

[richards47deluxe]

Hello all, what is the best way to lower the front of my 1947 Plymouth Club Coupe? when i was a kid we just heated the coils on my 65 impala. any help would be appreciated.

thanks

Richard. richard@sjdist.com

[Kustom52Mopar]

I personally cut about 1 3/4 coils on my car. I don't care much for torching cause they lay down on each other and have to go farther to get lower. Plus you run the risk of goin to far and getting lopsided. But if you go with torch, put 2x4's under the frame for as far as you want to drop so they will stop it and keep from being to lopsided. BUT if you wanna do it right fatman sells dropped uprights, but they aren't cheap and need tie rods altered I believe. Don't quote me, not for sure.

As far as the rear I did 3" blocks, but the springs are narrower than most lowering blocks. Alot of them are hollow on the inside and all the weight would be on the front and rear of an aluminum block. I don't know how safe that is but I made steel plates to go between them so the whole block took the weight and got spring plates from a bone yard that had 3" springs. But you can get some from Speedway that have shock mounts and when you lower it you get more out of your shocks.

Hope this helps

[greg g]

I believe there are sources for shortened springs. they provide about a 2 inch drop and retain the proper resistance for a good ride.

[Normspeed]

I cut the coils on my 53. A little goes a long way. You'll need a realignment when you get it down where you want it. There are some older posts on the forum that describe how to remove the coils without a lot of fuss. Do a search for chop shop, you'll find one method that I wrote up. Have fun!

[BobT-47P15]

I would NOT suggest heating the coils as in the olden days. I did that on

a P15 coupe back in the '60s......rode like the proverbial lumber wagon.

Looked fairly cool however for a $35 car.

[bob westphal]

I heated the coils on my P-15 club coupe and used 3" blocks in back. I did it for two reasons. First, I wanted my car to be a real recreation of a car that would have been done back then. Second, I'm lazy. It's a lot easier to light up the torch than disassemble the front suspension. Cutting the coils is best, though. I didn't have the front aligned and it drives great. I don't know if a cut coil rides any better than a heated one.

[1940Mopar]

I cut the coils on my 40 Coupe. 1 coil from the front took it down about 3 inches as far as i can tell. The great thing about cutting the coils on these old cars is that they will ride a little stiffer than stock which makes them a little more responsive.

As far as the back is concerned, I'd have some blocks made. The normal lowering blocks are too wide for our leafsprings and will not install properly. I ended up getting two chunks of steel cut to the size i wanted 2"x3" and drilled a hole in them to serve as guides to keep them in place.

[FMSPEED49]

cut em, i cut mine, take about an hour to remove cut and maybe another hour to reinstall.

[claybill]

i thnk i have a spare set of cut springs from my 40. dropped nicely and improved handling and response....$50 plus shipping...that way you can

keep yur old ones original..you never know.

claybill

[mackster]

Cut it! Norm did mine and it drop about three inches and that's just how I like it!

[billwillard]

Use a cut off wheel but remember for every 1" you shorten the spring you will drop the car about 2". It can get out of hand fast. If not sure cut 1/2 coil at a time.

[wilmot andy]

I just called plydo about the lowered spindels, $380. I think they were a 3" drop. I already have my front suspension apart, cutting the springs would sure be the cheapest and easiest, but how about the ride? I'm sure the better way to go is the more expensive way.

[martybose]

PlyDo sells the Fatman lowered spindles. I've got them on my car, and they work fine, with one caveat. You can't use the stock drum brakes with them, they are intended for use with disk brakes. I ignored this advice and used the stock drums, and wound up with almost no turning ability due to the backing plates hitting the spindle. I wound up taking a grinder to everything so that it was drivable, but that is not a recommended solution!

Marty, going to disk brakes soon ......

[claybill]

whoa!! i am not so sure the expenzive way is the best way in this case. cutting 1 coil off the springs actually helped a bit with no other problems. cutting 2 coils opened up problems galore!! i fit and handling.

good tip...use a cut off wheel...i have heard that once you release the spring presure you can cut a coil without total dissassembly!!!!!

bill

[1940Mopar]

I definitely think that If you want the really slammed look you need to go with a dropped spindle/upright to make sure that your geometry doesn't mess up. But you can definitely achieve a mild lowered job and dramatically improve your ride compliance with cutting a coil out. I personally removed 1 coil and got nearly the exact look I was hoping for. Before I did it I hollared at the guy who owns my inspiration for getting my car done this year. His car is pictured below. This is how he got his stance.

"The front suspension is stock w/ 2 coils cut and stepped lower A-arms and stock front brakes. It's lowered 4" in back. It rides OK but I have major scrubline issues. If you want to get get your's really low I would recommend mustang II type or volare type front suspension, although I'm not sure if volare might be to wide? I know for sure that a nova/camaro clip would be too wide. My car is way too low for the stock suspension and I am considering a mustang II. I don't have any turning radius problems. The stock frontend is narrow enough that I have plenty of room between the tires and wheelwells. I'm running 5" wheels with 5.60-15 firestones in front."

He's probably lowered it 4 inches all the way around. I'm lowered 3 in the back and cut 1 coil in the front. I have no scrubline issues but I am still sitting lower in the back, and while I don't mind the taildragger look I'm really after a level look. So, rather than lower the front anymore I'm gonna move to 2-2.5 inch blocks to level it out and drive it before I decide whether to cut another 1/2 a coil. I wanna make sure that I don't create any problems.

If you take out one coil you'll be fine. If you wanna go much lower I'd probably put spindles on and get ready to do the disk brake conversion.

[bob westphal]

When I lowered my car, it sat about 1/2" lower in back. I went the old smaller tires in front route to give just right amount of forward rake.

[richards47deluxe]

What a wealth of information. I think I will try the cut spring method and see what happens. I don't have the engine installed yet so it will be awhile before I see the results. I remember the time I heated the springs on my 1959 Impala. Didn't even make it home before I was stopped by the CHP. Got a fixit ticket. Didn't have money for new springs so I removed the heated springs, put in 4x4's to raise the car. Found a cop and had the ticket signed off. Man, what a ride that was. After the ticket cleared I put the heated coils back in. Stayed off the freeway. Was never bothered by the local cops though.

Thanks alot guys for your help. This is my first Plymouth.

[PatS....]

Have a look at this R&C article:

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/135_0501_1951_plymouth_suburban_wagon/index.html

[Normspeed]

What a wealth of information. I think I will try the cut spring method and see what happens. I don't have the engine installed yet so it will be awhile before I see the results. I remember the time I heated the springs on my 1959 Impala. Didn't even make it home before I was stopped by the CHP. Got a fixit ticket. Didn't have money for new springs so I removed the heated springs, put in 4x4's to raise the car.

Thanks alot guys for your help.

Richard, that tale rings so true! The 4X4 is a California home brewed cure for the fixit ticket fer sure.

[48jumpdoors]

so can someone clarify the cutting of one coil? I envision cutting just below the upper end of the coil spring? Thanks in advance!  

[D35 Torpedo]

3 hours ago, 48jumpdoors said:

so can someone clarify the cutting of one coil? I envision cutting just below the upper end of the coil spring? Thanks in advance!  

Cut the bottom of the spring. The part that registers into the control arm. It's really easy to remove the spring. Jack it up and sit the frame on stands. Jack up the control arm under the spring. Unbolt the shock at the bottom will help reassembly. And unbolt the ĺower control arm pivots at the frame. lower the jack and the whole control arm will drop out until the spring falls out. One coil is a great place to start. It's good for about 3 inches. You can get another inch but any more than that and the driveshaft starts hitting the floor, atleast it did in my 50, after it blew out the pinion bump stop. A new bump stop fixed the issue.

[48jumpdoors]

10 hours ago, D35 Torpedo said:

Cut the bottom of the spring. The part that registers into the control arm. It's really easy to remove the spring. Jack it up and sit the frame on stands. Jack up the control arm under the spring. Unbolt the shock at the bottom will help reassembly. And unbolt the ĺower control arm pivots at the frame. lower the jack and the whole control arm will drop out until the spring falls out. One coil is a great place to start. It's good for about 3 inches. You can get another inch but any more than that and the driveshaft starts hitting the floor, atleast it did in my 50, after it blew out the pinion bump stop. A new bump stop fixed the issue.

Thank you for the info, I will take a look at it, I was thinking of cutting a coil from the top, glad I asked.

[48jumpdoors]

13 hours ago, D35 Torpedo said:

Cut the bottom of the spring. The part that registers into the control arm. It's really easy to remove the spring. Jack it up and sit the frame on stands. Jack up the control arm under the spring. Unbolt the shock at the bottom will help reassembly. And unbolt the ĺower control arm pivots at the frame. lower the jack and the whole control arm will drop out until the spring falls out. One coil is a great place to start. It's good for about 3 inches. You can get another inch but any more than that and the driveshaft starts hitting the floor, atleast it did in my 50, after it blew out the pinion bump stop. A new bump stop fixed the issue.

so did you have any issues with handling or weird tire ware after you cut the springs?

[D35 Torpedo]

6 hours ago, 48jumpdoors said:

so did you have any issues with handling or weird tire ware after you cut the springs?

Handling improved. Tire wear seems fine. Best to have the alignment checked anyways. I havent, but intend to, since I've completely refreshed the front suspension recently. I've acctually lowered the car twice now. First time was on the original bagged out springs. Second time was on four door springs. They are a little heavier, so the car isn't quite as low. But it feels firmer and handles better. Both times I took one coil from the front and put a 3 inch block in the back.

[48jumpdoors]

11 hours ago, D35 Torpedo said:

Handling improved. Tire wear seems fine. Best to have the alignment checked anyways. I havent, but intend to, since I've completely refreshed the front suspension recently. I've acctually lowered the car twice now. First time was on the original bagged out springs. Second time was on four door springs. They are a little heavier, so the car isn't quite as low. But it feels firmer and handles better. Both times I took one coil from the front and put a 3 inch block in the back.

thats what Im working on is a 48 four door, another question, what size tires are you running? I would like to run 6.00x16's with this lowered stance to help a little with gearing.