Regarding the differential, I believe it's a Ford 8.8 and they're plenty strong. Also, the drivetrain only has to handle what the tires can resist.

R.

Forgive me for being late to your thread, but my excuse is that I was only referred to this website today by a friend of mine. And to be more specific, directly to your thread.

I have a '33 4 door sedan which I only got about 7 months ago. It looked great until I started digging, so I'm sure you can guess what happened next!

I'm afraid I'm none too good on the computer and I'm too old to learn any better, so I will try to make the occasional comment where I think it is appropriate. One of these years I wouldn't mind putting hidden hinges on my '33...all four stick out like a sore thumb!

Your body looks really good!

You guys probably know that Plymouth outsold Ford in 1933.

It never fails to amaze me just how many so called "original" Fords there are out there.

Now, to my eye, the '33 Plymouth was a forerunner to the '34 Ford, only better looking.

In the middle photo above, you show a pic of the new front end installed.

My '33 has an older Heidt's IFS, very similar to the Fatman unit I rather imagine.

As far as I know, my car was built back in Ontario about 30 years ago. The body seems to be not too bad, but when I started digging in to the mechanical side of things all hell broke loose.

One thing that I should mention is the installation of the Heidt's in mine was definitely not done properly. The instructions (which I looked up) clearly state that the holes in the front of the original frame should be filled in with 11 gauge steel. And then on top of that a 3/16" plate needs to be fabricated and welded in to place.

Unfortunately, neither of these items were attended to and the results were terrible.

We have removed everything from the car now, body is off, and we are correcting all the issues.

Where the Heidt's was welded in, there were several cracks in the frame up to 8" long. The reason for these cracks is that the two opposing frame sides were able to bend in towards each other every time the car hit a bump.

I'm quite sure that as long as your frame has something strong where the IFS is mounted, that there should be no bending. It's hard to see whether or not you have filled in any of the original holes in the frame or not (I'm only using a small laptop). But if you haven't, then there needs to be some sort of steel tube that will prevent the frame twist up front. We couldn't believe how much damage to the frame there was when we started taking things apart.

Back again...the floor in mine has been butchered, obviously not all original, maybe some of it, I really don't know.

You mention wood, was there some in the original floor, or was it elsewhere?

Mine has some wood, but it looks to be a fairly modern plywood (cheap junk) but in good shape. I'm told the car was garage kept since the day it was built.

The 4 door had an old Ford column which had been attacked by a madman with a grinder, and he showed no mercy at all. We have replaced that with a decent looking chrome column, probably made in beautiful downtown Beijing!

Clever idea about extending that dash down. There's not a whole lot of room behind the stock dash.

I see yours doesn't appear to be chopped...YET! Mine has been, but I don't know how much. I would guess around 4" or so. It doesn't look too bad, but I'm an old fart and I would have preferred to have the original headroom.

Widening your rear fenders is going to be a terrific plus.

I don't have the IRS in mine, but I do have a Jag IRS going in another project. It too has the 4 1/4" (108 mm) bolt pattern. Very difficult to find a decent wheel to fit.

I have a 10 bolt GM rear end in mine and when I got the car the back tires interfered with the bodywork. Initially, when I changed tires and rims - I went to a 3 3/4" backspace rim, it was the best I could locate. I still had to add longer shackles in the back (leaf springs still on the car) to enable tire clearance.

We are now switching over to a different 10 bolt which will have a triangulated 4 link, ala standard GM, so the old leafs can go.

The Plymouth frame has a taper all the way to the back, and we straightened that out in order to gain some additional clearance for the tires. It looks as though you have tons of room between your tires and the frame.

That is absolutely brilliant! Pun intended.

cocobolo, I boxed my complete frame in with about 3/16th inch plate steel. Between the heavy crossmember that comes with the Fatman front end and the upper crossmember I also made and added, my frame is very stiff. I don't ever see it moving in or out. My original lower firewall and directly under the front of the front seat were wood which I done away with. By widening the rear fenders and with the rear end I am using, rear wheel and tire clearance is not an issue.
I also agree that the 33 Ford has nothing on the Plymouth when it comes to looks. Plymouth roofline almost looks like a mild chop from the factory.

It looks like you boxed the frame rails, but the x - member still appears to be original. I really don't know if it's necessary to box that part, but just in case - we have just finished doing that today. I am sure that 3/16" plate is more than enough to prevent the trouble my frame went through. It was actually frightening.

Thanks for the info on the wood. I guess maybe that must be stock then, because the angled portion of the firewall on mine is wood, and that extends also back to the front seats as did yours. And there's not even sheet metal covering it. Not sure what we will do about that, but it will either get covered with sheet metal, or removed and made from scratch from sheet metal.

I'm afraid I have no experience with body work, so widening my rear fenders is likely out of the question. Our solution was to narrow the back several feet of the frame, which will also mean we will need to narrow the rear end. That will give us room for the new rear wheels and tires, two different ones of which we are considering at the moment. I wish I had 1/10th of your bodywork skills.

I think your sedan is unchopped right? Could I prevail on your good self to let me know what the height of both the front and back windows are please? That way I should be able to find out how much it has been chopped. Thank you in advance.

I did not box in my x frame. I really don't see a need for that, but I did weld it solid where the rivets held it together in the center and the outer corners at the frame rails.
my has not been chopped, I like the way it looks stock.
here are a couple of pictures showing the window measurements. Any other questions, feel free to ask.
I have been looking for the back glass interior trim moulding for years and cannot find one. if you ever hear of one, please let me know.

Thank you very much, I sincerely appreciate that!

I'm inclined to agree with you about the x member, and we welded all the rivets as well. But having now welded the x member, we find that the frame won't twist at all. This is not to say that the application of a few hundred horsepower won't do the trick.

Since I am at the other side of North America from you, I will ask the local rodding crowd if they know of the moulding you seek. Do you happen to know if the 33 and 34 mouldings might be the same?

Thank you again.

I assume they are the same but don't know for sure. if the 34 were a bit different, I guarantee I can make it fit.

i always got a chuckle out of pennsylvania,s inspection code stating a 12" minimum windshield height when mopars were less than this from the factory. i can't recall any instances when tops for these vehicles were raised to accommodate the "law". that "law" is still on the books, but it has gotten to the point of being ignored with the street rod regulations in effect, and even those requirements are being ignored to the point of almost anything goes now. provided, the workmanship is done to very good standards. i was one of the individuals in the group that helped create that law, and also offered insight and suggestions for it's regulations. i am proud of the time and effort i put into that project, even though it was a difficult challenge.

About 9" front and 5" rear on mine. Ya, when I went to the Arizona DMV to get mine registered, the cop checked - NOTHING! They just assigned their own VIN to the door jam ( even though I had a C of O with the manufacturers VIN ) and that was it. They only recognize their VIN, including for insurance. If you look at the windshield lay-back on some of the newer vehicles, doubt some of them would pass the 12" Penn. minimum law if measured perpendicular to the ground.

SRPM Street rods has a garnish moulding for a '33 coupe...I have no idea if that would be the same as for a sedan. Might be worth checking out. I'll keep looking.

[/quote]About 9" front and 5" rear on mine. Ya, when I went to the Arizona DMV to get mine registered, the cop checked - NOTHING! They just assigned their own VIN to the door jam ( even though I had a C of O with the manufacturers VIN ) and that was it. They only recognize their VIN, including for insurance. If you look at the windshield lay-back on some of the newer vehicles, doubt some of them would pass the 12" Penn. minimum law if measured perpendicular to the ground. [/quote]

My car was brought into British Columbia from Ontario. In order to get registration here, the car has to be inspected. Allegedly, this was supposed to have been done...but it must have been done by a blind person. I'm thinking that a few greenbacks may have changed hands here. Hence, we are rebuilding the entire car.

Always with the questions, here I go again.

Are you putting any sort of either heating or a/c in your '33?

I was hoping to be able to use a defroster of some kind, but there just isn't any room under that front windshield. There is a very small channel which I can barely get my finger in below the window, but we can't see any way to get warm air through there.

I'm wondering if there is a way to add a narrow hood - for lack of a better word - across the top of the dash to pass warm air through.

We are looking at the Vintage Air heaters, either with or without defrost as well as the a/c. Trouble is even the small a/c unit fills up most of the very limited room under the dash. And we still need room for the new electrical panel. It's tight for sure.

I rather imagine that you have some fairly cool days in Ohio, just as we do here in the frozen north. Not that I plan on driving the car terribly much in winter here, but you never know. Maybe a Christmas parade or something like that.

Why put it under the dash?

If you can run vent hoses thru something like a narrow console put the unit in the trunk.

...and if you get one of those fancy, bottom tilt bench seats you can put the fusebox under there.

Yep, just like Howard Hughes’1954 Chrysler New Yorker or his custom 1953 Buick Roadmaster, .......and coco has just as much money as Howard had.

(Make fun of my wheels, huh? I don't get mad, I get even.)