Quote:

I tend to agree you are going to be going thru a lot of work with a clip swap and that you would save a bunch of time and labor (and possibly $ by modifying what you have.

I think some of the issues with changing out the front suspension you’re likely to run into include:

Torsion bar location/design. I’m not sure they went to front adjusters, but the early torsion bar cars had rear adjusters and somewhere along the line MOPAR went to front adjusters.

Your mounting points for the sub frame itself, core support, bumper, etc are all going to be different.

Due to the long cover over the steering shaft your steering column in the 60 may be a challenge to hook up.

None of these things are insurmountable, but it will take a good deal of fabrication and re-invention of the wheel, not to mention the time involved.

My own opinion would be to use what you have and upgrade as necessary. The simple way would be to find a 60 donor frame for the V8 frame mounts or simply fabricate new mounts after you cut out the 6 Cyl mounts out.

Besides the mounts you will probably also need the early style BB oil pan which has a bit shorter front sump (it will keep from cramming the engine back into the firewall and creating clearance issues with the linkage heater box etc.

AAJ makes a nice disc brake conversion kit to give you discs up front and if not equipped with PS or a sway bar these can also be retro fitted. Without knowing what transmission you’re going to use (there are no off the shelf automatic OD transmissions for the BB Chryslers) but as I recall the Imperial Club also used to sell a conversion that would allow the original push buttons to operate a 518 (the OD and LU are electrically controlled so that’s the easy part).

While the initial investment for finding and buying the correct conversion parts, from personal experience, buy the time you buy and rebuild the a JY front suspension you’re not going to save any money over the 60 conversion parts and you are still looking at all the conversion work.

Just my 2 cents.



Going by the factory parts manual the V8 subframe is an exact bolt in, including the T-bar mounts, core support, bumper, mounting points. The dimensions are exactly the same between the /6 & the V8. The ONLY difference is the size/rating of the torsion bars, (other than where the motor mounts go.) The steering column is the same as far as stick to stick and automatic to automatic. It is a direct bolt in for the V8 into the /6 car. I already have a complete 4 wheel disc kit. The guy that builds my race tranny's has already built a BB 727 with overdrive and it is sitting next to the 440. He built one for his 440 powered pickup that he uses to pull his race car and enclosed trailer with no problems.
There are some items like some of the trim, floor pans, rocker panels that I don't have yet or haven't put on yet. It needs some body work as we have dis-assembled most of the car down to where we can still roll it around.
Which brings me back to my original question. Does anybody know where a full size 1960 Plymouth is that came with a SB V8 or a BB V8 that I could get the front subframe from? Thanks, Larry.

Last edited by aquamist60; 09/02/11 06:34 PM.