Ideal frame for '48 Ford street freak?

[JollySipper]

I would like to make a street freak out of a '48 chopped coupe. What chassis with gasser-esque suspension will fit under the body of this one?

Something along the lines of the Malco Mustang, maybe?

Thanks for any help................

PS....... What could be done to the stock frame to just use it? Transverse leaves wouldn't be acceptable, would it?

Thanks....

Edited July 28, 2017 by JollySipper

[Ace-Garageguy]

....PS....... What could be done to the stock frame to just use it? Transverse leaves wouldn't be acceptable, would it?

Thanks....

Not hard to use the existing frame to build a gasser, and lotsa gassers got built with transverse front leaf springs, though parallel semi-elliptical is a little more common under a heavy car.

To go with parallel leaf springs, you need to remove the big heavy crossmember and put in lighter tubular ones, and then it's quite easy to make up leaf springs from styrene strip. .020" X about 1/8" will give you an acceptable looking spring leaf, and the ends will be stout enough to support the model.

Something like this modified Corvette. The monoleaf spring is made of the .020 styrene, with simple ends made of 1/8" round rod. Brackets have been fabbed on the chassis for the ends of the spring, and an axle is being made of 1/8" tubing too.

Assembled. The piece of channel is a temporary place-holder / fixture.

Or...this is the AMT '41 Plymouth, which had independent front suspension. It's been replaced with a straight-axle and spring unit from the parts box.

The '57 Ford frame esponds to the same treatment...

Just measure as you go, to get the ride height you want with the axle you have or want to use. It's really not hard.

Or...here are some transverse leaf springs under straight-axle gassers. Just be sure to use some kind or radius rods to keep it square with the frame (the springs do that job on the parallel setup).