Thread: 1937 Dodge coupe

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I was unaware that the 300C used a strut front suspension. Obviously, the struts would want to occupy the space where the front fenders are on your coupe, so that is out of the question. I was just looking for other donors that used the 5.7 hemi (345 cubic inches) and found that beginning in 2003, the Dodge 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks used it. The front suspension on those trucks is the much more desirable upper and lower control arm arrangement, so it looks like that truck, in a 2-wheel drive mode, might be where I would go for a donor. It was also used in large Chrysler sedans (struts), Grand Cherokee (struts), and Durango. I have not investigated the front suspension on these other models, other than the Dakota. The link below will take you to Dakota clip and frame swaps. There are swap kits to install the 5.7 hemi into the Dakota, if that frame/clip swap would appeal to you. It certainly would appeal to me. One of the fellows who used to post here did a Dakota frame swap into a '47 International pickup. Although the '91-'96 (first series) Dakota was available with a 318 stock (which would also lend itself to a stroked 360 at 408 cubic inches), this fellow opted for a 350 Chevy swap into the Dakota front end.

With donor offerings such as this, with the late model hemi and electronic engine and transmission controls all in place and engineered by the factory, I would have little interest in using an early hemi such as the 331, 354 or 392. It would cost you far more to build just the early motor than you could buy a whole truck for and you could still attach HEMI badges to the coupe. Add the fact that the early hemi motor alone weighs about 750 lbs and the appeal of a modern hemi increases considerably. It's hard to pin down the actual weight of the modern hemi, but an estimate of 500 lbs would be reasonable, with some sources claiming 400 and change.
http://itsme.website/wp-content/uplo...specs-Ypat.jpg

Here is some info about clip swaps/frame swaps that I wrote on another forum. You may pick up some ideas or it may foster more questions, always a good thing.
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Frame_swaps

I just realized that I have already posted some of this stuff at the beginning of this thread. Please excuse the redundancy (old fart).

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