It’s been a long time but I finally have time to build a car or two. I bought a 39 Desoto Coupe/ Hayes body coupe/ a tad longer than a regular coupe and a four door sedan

That said I own a 89-90 Dakota and my plan was to put the coupe on the chassis but now I’m thinking I should go mustang 2 or some type of front end / suspension for the coupe and the sedan may be a better match for the Dakota.?
Thoughts

They look to be very solid. IMO, it's a lot easier to use the factory frames and then add whatever additional gussets, cross members and, front suspension you want. I did that with my 37' and found it very simple. A lot of the cars and trucks that have been swapped to a non-OEM frame fit and sit terribly.

What set up did you use, suspension ect , what engine ect?

Thx

As someone that has done several frame swaps (including 7 or 8 Dakotas), and a few frame front clips. I can tell you keeping the original frame is by far the easiest route to go, as long as your frame is not bent, rusty, or missing many suspension parts.

The late 30s Desoto original suspension was pretty good stuff (sway bars and modern shocks make up for any short comings). I suspect most of any needed replacement suspension parts can be found pretty easily these days (I would certainly look into that). Up grading to disc brakes should not be too hard. Your probably not going to keep the current rear axle (modern replacements are not a big deal), the rear leaf springs are just another option on keeping, up grading, or using something else.

Power steering may be as easy as adding a Cavalier rack & pinion, which I understand is a pretty good match to the Desoto frames.

Modern (or old performance) motors and transmissions may require some frame modification, and maybe some front inner fender work, and probably extra wiring to make them function (each one has different requirements). Those modifications wouldn't be as hard as some stuff you will need to do with a full frame swap (which nearly always requires major floor pan modification).

If I was in your shoes, I would pick one of your new toys, keep the original front suspension (you have 2 extra parts cars), upgrade the original suspension with a sway bar and modern shocks, upgrade the brakes to disc and a modern master cylinder, maybe add the Cavalier rack (if power steering is on the list of requirements, or the current steering box in in the way of the motor). Install the drive train (motor, trans, rear end) of your choice, upgrade the probably disintegrating wiring and add what ever wiring is required to make the drive train work, clean up the interior (if the seats are in good shape, they really provide a nice soft ride), add seat belts, and cruise it.

After you drive it for a while, you will know what things you will want to do differently on the next one. It really is a learning curve. The old saying was you had to build 3 cars to get the car you want. the 1st car is what you thought you wanted. The 2nd car is what you learned after the 1st car. The 3rd car is your experience showing.

I used a Mustang II type front suspension which required me to buy a cross member and spring "hats" so was fairly cheap. The rear end was an 8-3/4" Mopar unit. Running gear was a 340 and 727 automatic. Taking this path allowed me to retain all of the factory body mounts and therefore all of the correct body to frame relationships. I placed the engine where I wanted it relative to the firewall. Fabrication of the car or truck then is simply making small additions or modifications according to your build plan.

if the front shocks on the stock suspension are connected to both control arms, it is best to connect the upper shock mount to the frame.
that will offer a substantial ride and handling improvement for next to nothing cost.

With Fatman now closed (Jan this year), the Mustang 2 type suspension "hat" brackets and control arms may not be the best direction to go these days. With the probability of those parts no longer being available, you now may be looking at a complete front subframe again, which would entail at least the front radiator and sheet metal support, and front bumper brackets.

There are other cross member - hat parts options available.

I have long wanted to build a Rod project and even had a few rigs but really needed to get this entire ranch built after retiring and leaving nevada.

But what I want is a driver. I don’t need any crazy big block ect. I had enough E B body big blocks.
I just want something reliable and air conditioning so I can cruise around in the summer. I was only considering the Dakota swap because I own that running Dakota.

I didn’t realize Fatman closed until I started researching parts.

Are there any other bolt on complete packages out there to consider?
Which mopar 8 3/4 fits best or do they all need heavy mods or just the perches moved?

Black one has some cool lines !!

I had a complete Dakota chassis under my 39 Plymouth business coupe (I did not do it, and I did do several modifications to make it fit better) unfortunately only one picture remains of the car from around 2000, and there have been too many vehicles built since then to remember much about what I did. That car (and my current 48 Plymouth coupe on a Dakota chassis) both had Dakota 8 1/4 rear axles (its often called an 8 3/8" rear end now) under them (60" wheel track), and both had/have 15 x 7" wide stock Mopar wheels with 235 75 15 tires. My 48 has opened up rear fenders (cut round), but the 39 had the original fender openings. The tires were under the fenders on both cars. The original Dakota wheels have the center bolt pattern moved outward on the tire mounting rim, so just between the Dakota wheels, and the old Mopar wheels, the tires can be moved 2" in, or out, simply be which wheels are used.

If you have to cut the frame to mount the suspension, I would probably use your Dakota as a front frame clip you already have (if most of your floor pans are rotted away, consider using the entire Dakota frame). I did a 39 or 40 Plymouth sedan with a Dakota clip, they match up well at the firewall, but I used the Dakota front clip back to the trans cross member, to do that I had to remove the original car's X center crossmember. Then I attached the original 39 frame to the Dakota clip near the firewall and attached the Dakota trans crossmember to the original frame to the outer rails where the X used to be. I did all that with the body still bolted to the frame, it probably would have been much easier to remove the body. Do careful measurements before cutting and welding.

My 48 Plymouth coupe's original frame was rusted out bad as it kicked up over the rear axle, and my floor boards were completely shot, pretty much back to the rear bumper. On that one it was easier to put the entire Dakota frame under the coupe, and use the good Dakota floor pan, and the bed floor out of the donor Dakota. I had to shorten the standard cab, 8' bed Dakota frame 7" so the wheel bases were both the same. I removed the 7" right behind the Dakota rear cab mounts. Even then I was able to use the Dakota fuel tank on its original mounting points. I could put the front of the bed on top of the Dakota floor pan and use the center 4 bed mounts in their original position. There may even be a build of my 48 Plymouth business coupe on a Dakota frame here in the Street rod section, but it was done in 2011, so it would be many pages deep.

Pictures, the black car is the 39 Plymouth business coupe on a Dakota chassis with a Dakota 8 1/4 rear end and 15 x7 cop car wheels.
The red car is the 48 Plymouth on a Dakota Chassis and an 8 1/4" Dakota rear end and 15 x 7" Chrysler 5th Ave wheels and the cut round wheel opening

I wanted to add, both of these cars have the Dakota 3.9 V6 in them. The 39 (black car) had a 2bbl carburetor with an auto trans and dual exhaust. The 48 (red car pictured in full below) has a 90 throttle body 3.9 EFI with a 5 speed manual with the single Dakota exhaust. Both have 3:55 rear gears. Both were quick enough to be fun, but not fast enough to get me in trouble. The red car pulls 20+ mpg @70 mph, and around 17 in town (I don't drive to get good gas mileage). The 5 speed does get a work out, I feel like I'm racing everyone, but no one knows except me, I win a lot...

I doubt that there are any direct "bolt-on" suspension kits available. What you do is purchase a "universal kit" and adapt that to your frame. It's a very simple process. Other enthusiasts end up buying a kit for another car or truck and making it fit their frame. You just need to do some research and take measurements to see what is close and what can be made to fit. A few are not here:

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/1953-56-Ford-F-100-IFS-Crossmember-Mustang-II-Front-Suspension,7867.html

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295403057540

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/all-years/ford/mustangii/parts/154632.html

https://teamcpp.com/2024/03/cpp-mustang-ii-ford-f-100-f-150-front-suspension-kit/

Another thing to consider is to simply keep your factory dropped axle and then change/remove springs to get the height you're after. Many take this path and then change the steering box to get a better ratio or power steering or both. On the rear end issue, you're going to have to measure what you have for width and then check on-line dimensions for factory 8-3/4" rear end housings. More than likely an A-body set up will be close.

I believe a 39 Desoto has factory installed independent front suspension, not a beam axle. But it wouldn't be the 1st time I was wrong.

I made an assumption that it has a dropped axle due to the 38' having one. I could also be wrong. I do know however that a few 39 Plymouth and Dodge coupes have been made into gassers but whether they used a factory or aftermarket axle is unknown.

What happened to the Dakota part of the story? If you were to use the front frame portion of the Dakota it would not mater which car as you will use as you would adjust to the stock wheelbase. This is all dependent on the width of the Desoto cars frame of course. Using the original frame or part of it in my opinion is always the best way. I used a '90 Dakota front frame clip in a '56 Plymouth frame, and they are exactly the same width, just slipped together. (with Z-ed drop)

many moons ago ~ 35-40 years we did a 440 / 727 into a 39 DeSoto 4 dr. Don't have any digital pic's as they weren't around back then. We rebuilt the front suspension, made our own Disc brake kit, dual master under the floor, and an 8-3/4 out back. Can't remember what the R/E was out of but it was either an B or E body. I machined aluminum inserts for the dash with Desoto milled into the glove box door. magnum Force later re-did the front suspension and possibly the rear as well.
It was Black lacquer with a grey cloth interior. All new glass and $$ chrome work. Had a six pack with the DC mechanical carbs on it
The car was eventually sold to someone from Oregon or Washington IIRC. I've always kept an eye out for it but have never seen it.