I had tried posting a link from the 52-55 Ford car social group to this topic. Apparently that did not work for some folks so I guess I need to start over here. I have more pictures over there. I have a '55 2 door sedan that was in bad shape. I have rebuilt the floors, inner and outer rockers, front and rear lower quarters, and lower doors. I tried to be careful with the process and braced the structure while removing the metal one area at the time and fitting back to original surrounding areas. I have still, apparently, ended up with a problem and since the car had so much poor repair to start with, I have nothing to base any corrective action. I wish I could have mirrored a good side to the other but neither was good. :-( The body seems to turn under at the rockers starting at the center under the doors. This is more pronounced on the passenger side and the driver side has its own problem behind the door. I think the car should have a slight taper front to back but I'm thinking the rockers were straight? Someone on the social group was nice enough to help with measurement of the inner/outer rockers down at the pinch weld and I am not far off at all there. I can correct that fairly easily. What I still need is to get the exact location of the top, sill area of the rocker to see if that or the B post is not in the correct position. Everything is welded in sooo I don't want to cut any more welds than I have to. I'm posting pictures of the area in hopes that someone will help me out with these measurements or some advise on how to approach the correction without buggering things up more! There are more pictures on social but I think these will show what I have and need. Here is a cross measure from the roof on each side to the opposite rocker edge. Another from the rocker to the rear floor pan body mount. A final one of the passenger rocker showing its flat at the front a twist under rearward. I'm stuck until I can get this resolved.
My old 55 appears straight across on the bottom of the rockers...I'd love to give you advise but I'm a pathetic loser when it comes to body work.
That angle is very helpful. Tomorrow I'll post a picture of my car's side for you to look at and compare to yours. That might help determine if my B pot is moved out. Thanks!
That is some of the hardest work there is to do, Establishing those many illusive points A and B when the car has been cut apart and reduced to the consistency of jello. It's really hard to see from the pics where exactly the problems are, but I think those are more for measurement points any ways. When I did my car it needed to be taken down to here- Then brought back up. Diagonal measurements are just part of the process, the centerline is critical and then diagonals off the centerline also. It's just a very tedious process. You can have perfect diagonals and be off center. You can have perfect centers and diagonals and be Low on one side. There's a million things to watch and one set of eyes can only watch one at a time. Reading your description of the rocker problem, just on the surface it sounds like the B pillars are too wide with the passenger side being further off center than the other.
Reading your description of the rocker problem, just on the surface it sounds like the B pillars are too wide with the passenger side being further off center than the other. Exactly what I think. Now, how to prove it and get the 'ol girl back in the right spot? I've got to find where those post need to be in relation to the centerline. I was thinking that, if I could get the diagonal, I could place that in the centerline and be back to where she should be. Thanks, for the response!
Run a string line from firewall to tail pan in the center. Use loops of tape around the string with sharpie marks to use as measuring points. It really isn't critical where the marks are or that the line is up or down hill, just that the measurements mirror each other. Convience and strategy is all that really matters. Turnbuckles in the braces make adjustments real easy. I also made a 10' long contour guage and that proved to be an extremely valuable tool.
Wow, Just skimmed your build. You sure have nerve...and skill," well beyond those of mortal men"!! Sorry, I watch/listen to the old superman stuff on TV while I'm working on this. You would look at mine and A) Laugh and B) tell me what was wrong in 5 minutes or less!! I understand the string along the center of the car. That gives me center. I can drop a plumb off that to mark center along the floor. I'll still need to have measurements to determine where the posts go but just the total from another car and use the center mark and divide by 2, correct? Should be easier to find someone that can give me the total. I have the correct measure for the pinch at the lower rockers so putting the B post in the correct place should do it?? Am I on the right track?
Sounds like your train of thought is headed in the right direction. Try a thread with a title that requests measurements for your 55 ford.
I have determined where the absolute center of the car is. My B posts are within 1/8 inch. Pretty close. What I don't know is where they should be. Now I need a total measurement from a good car. I used the area where the wind lace attaches for the measurement. I also put a straight edge along the door and got this. On my car the sheet metal breaks in behind the door if the straight edge is heal against the door and B post. These cars are narrower at the rear but I think that taper is straight front to back?
Ok, I am struggling to get comparable measurements on my car since the interior is all in it. However, I did measure from the inside edges of the bottom of the b-posts and came up with 61-7/8". I measured right where the jamb transitions out of the radius to go straight up (hopefully that makes sense). The pic sort of shows this although I set the tape down to take the pic so it is sitting slightly lower than where I took the actual measurement. Let me know what other measurements I can make to help. I also put a straight edge on my rockers and they are straight front to back under the doors and I don't notice them having any arc to them behind the doors either.
Well, that is about what I have. I got 61.5 on mine. About 1/4 inch keeps coming up but I'm not sure how its making the difference that I'm seeing. My measurement was 1/4 in compared to yours on the spring plate to pinch back by the front of the rear opening but the inner panel is straight and fits to the original inner floor brace. I do have a slight bulge right where the outer rocker and the lower quarter meet. I'll try to "persuade" that down a little and see where things want to move. If I cut the pinch back loose and put the rocker and rear lower quarter to straight back like yours, I'll have a good 1/4 inch gap at the pinch where the bottom of the inner and outer go together. That original floor brace has me perplexed because it is right on your measurement.. Maybe the stock and EMS panels are not off set the same as stock? I'll go out to the rust pile and see what I can find out tomorrow. Thanks for helping!
Not familiar with a 55 so I'm asking - Can you guys establish the rear 1/4 distance from the frame or something else at the lower rear wheel opening? Then run a straight edged or string line down the rockers to see where they got goofy on you.
maybe the ems panels are correct, your trying to find a perfect solution to a unsolvable problem, as i said before it is hard to make a 60 years old car perfectly measurement correct ( it was not built that way) you to make it look correct as per our instructions. it is ok to keep track of the process by dimensions as a reference, but somewhere it just wont add up and your back making it look good
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