Ya know, I just keep studying what everyone else has, or is doing and try to figure what my best angle would be. At first I thought the dropped uprights and a disc brake kit would be the way to go. Simple and not too expensive... but when you price them both out they run about $1100.00. The JW Rod Garage catalogue came today and their kit is about $1700.00 and you get rack and pinion steering and all new parts. Seems like the better deal to me. It looks like about the same deal as the fat guy's stub with a little more labor on my part for a lot less money. Would that be your opinion as well? Or is there some factor I'm overlooking between the two that I should be concerned about?

By the way, your car is in the weeds. Did you bag it? It really grabs your attention.

No,I had dropped spindles on the front and the coil overs cranked down in back .
Not real practical but, looked cool

"stance" is everything

If you are up to the task of cutting, welding,etc
Yeah, its a good option ..

Those cars have odd frames, most you can just add a crossmember , these due to the taper and design in the stock spring pocket area, no way to do it without cutting it off and replacing it with something ..

The quickest , least amount of fabrication work
is to use the uprights, shock mounts, etc
from www.fatmanfab.com

The stub somewhat eliminates some of the guess work out, you set it in right place and all the rest will be in right spot ..

Its the most expensive to purchase and to ship

I used a Fatman crossmember on my truck

Post deleted by moparpollack

does any one know the first year a dakota came with rack and pinion ? im searching for answers to doing my 40 dodge as well,,,the current dakota uses stuts,,so i believe 2004 and up are out of the question,,,but i thought 2000 was the first year for rack and pinion in a dakota,,

All 2WD were rack and pinion.

all 2 wd including the first generation ?? 1987

The Dakota I used was an '87 and it had rack and pinion. It didn't have a front sway bar, but a bolt in crossmember.

wel ive done some research,,rack and pinion was an option in 1987,,so both styles are out there steering box or rack,,not all are rack,,

has any one used the stock 1940s ply/dodge ifs,with a fat man rack kit,dropped up rights, and full size front coils ??

my car currently has a fat man rack,cut coils to drop the front,,rides terrible,,anda master power disc conversion,,
my thinking is to keep what i have,and put full size coils back in so i have full travel,and dropped up rights to get the stance,, the car rides hard,,steers great,and the brake kit still needs some tweaking,,, any ideas would be welcome
e mail me please i dont recieve e mails from this site fstfish66@aol.com thanks in advance

If you are blowing the front end apart again, go with good springs. I don't know if the dropped uprights will get you back to where you want to be with fresh springs. Over on the HAMB, they talk about cutting off the lower control arm plate that holds the spring, and welding it back on under the arm instead of on top, where it is stock.

As for the brakes, tell us what you currently have and what the issues are.

I have a vette master and booster under the floor of my 40, along with 2.5# residual valves to keep the fluid from draining back to the (lower) master. Volare rotors and GM calipers on the front, unknown rotors and GM calipers on the back. Haven't put fluid in them yet...

The 47 has http://www.aajbrakes.com/ in front, early 70s Chrysler wagon drums in back. It also has residual valves, unknown MC, no booster. I've got to get it running, but I'm not happy with the pedal right now. I'll probably jack it up on each end and rebleed. That job was done by a shop, and they %^#$ed me off, so it won't be going back for final adjustments.


Lots of choices on these great cars now, you just have to find the level your skill sets and pocketbook can handle.

The area I'd like to see some experience in is the sway bar. My 40 Plymouth came with one, but I've read that it's not much help. I don't want to redo all the work, so a bigger bar with stronger end links would be the goal. I'd imagine that there is some racing company that makes a bar that would work, but haven't researched it yet or heard of anyone who has done it.

well it has 11 inch chevelle rotors,, gm pattern,, i hope to change soon,,,i have replaced the poorly built pedal/master mount with a master power pedal/under floor master cyl,,manual 1 inch bore,,10x2 1/2 drums in the rear,i havent had time to look the car is parked in a trailer right now,,cant get to it,, but i believe the disc pads are glazed,,preventing it from stopping like it should,, i built the brake system on my barracuda and its stops great,,

the fat man dropped up rights are about a 2 inch drop,,i guess i would get coils 2 inches taller then whats in the car now,,,so i have better suspension travel,, or go to a dakota clip,.,ide perfer to make the orignal IFS stuff work,,

What I plan on doing since my springs are shot too is to take them out, measure the height with the car at full down, full up and at preferred ride height. Then borrow a local racer's scales and measure what the corner weights are.
With that, a spring company should be able to find or make a pair that are just right.
With the engine offset, I'm not sure they will be the same on each side.

im not sure if fat man has a brake kit for the stock spindles,, ply/do does, master power brake does, and another company called ECI has a kit,,,also a guy called scarebird, i may of spelled that incorrectly,, do A GOOGLE search on dodge or plymouth and include the year of car in your google brake search,,

Google came up with these:


http://www.aajbrakes.com/

http://www.mpbrakes.com/products/product-detail.cfm?product_id=251

http://www.streetortrack.com/34-54-Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-DeSoto-Front-Brake-Kits-c-1400.html

http://www.tsmmfg.com/1353.htm

also
http://www.rustyhope.com/

i just remembered look for mr streetrod also