Anyone ever do this before? I cut my old floorboards out yesterday they were laying against the tranny causing vibration. I am going to make the new ones removable for better access during maintenance. Any ideas are welcome.
The floorboard shown is available from several suppliers. California Custom Roadster did this one. It was cut to clear the T-400 and trans & converter scatter shields. It's 14 gage, but reinforced with 3/4" square tubing or some bead rolling would do it for 18 gage imo. The body floorboard channel has threaded 1/4-20 inserts that make life easy. (All the retaining bolt holes had not been drilled in the pic.)
Thanks C9 that is what I was thinking. How far apart did you place the 3/4" tubing? I was thiking of using 1/2" tubing to build a structure around the trans as this doesnt suppot any weight. How did you attach the floor to the firewall?
Nice part about the wood floor that Tommy's using is the heat insulation value. I've done these and encapsulated them in fiberglass - one layer of cloth and a coat of resin on the wood and another after laying the glass down. No 3/4" square tubing under my floorboards. (Little brother did that trick with his aluminum floored Henry J race car. He only put the tubing in where a person might put their weight while crawling through the car as well as under the butt area so a passenger could sit in the car and cruise to the staging lanes. I have a pic of the Henry J's bare tubing chassis if it would help.) The 14 gage used in my 31 is very stiff and doesn't require reinforcement. Maybe these pics will help. I looked for some under the car pics in the floorboard area, but don't have any. The floorboards pictured will be removable and somewhere down the line the flat ring at the top of the tunnel will be drilled and bolted to the firewall. The drilled holes with bolts won't be too visible from the engine side of the firewall . . . the big ol Buick does a pretty good job of hiding that area. The steel floorboard is pretty simple. Aside from the weird shape at the top of the toeboards, the sides and rear have a 90 degree break and the bottom of the short break rests on the original style floorboard channel. The 90 degree breaks along with the toeboard bends makes the floorboard very strong and in fact they don't flex when you stand up in the car with all your weight on the floorboards. If I remember right, the trans tunnel etc. were made from 16 gage mild steel. I didn't have access to a slip roller at the time - and now that I don't need one, my pal has one in his shop - so I did series of shallow angle bends on a sheet metal brake. Looks a little weird in the pic, but once the carpets et al go in....
WHan I got my 40GMC it had an oily hunk of plywood ossed in the cab supported just behind the still original steel toe board by a broom handle. The T350 stuck up sorta like yours but didnt happen to interfere with the toe board so I made a new floor out of a piece of marine plywood, cut out around the trans and with "windows" for under floor battery and M/C access. The hump I hammered out of a hunk of VW front fender that my wife fonud in someone's trash car when we were out for a walk one evening and she carried it home because she thought I might need it some day. Yep, She's still a keeper! I fould an early 80's Mustang size battery would fit between the frame rail and the trans in the stock bracket, although I'm currently using an eleven year old battery out of a Honda Civic to fire a V8. some hunks of sheet steel cover the access windows screwd down wit a few trim screws. Some cheap black marine wet or dry "mildew resistant" carpet I found at the discount carpet store across the street from the Post office on Redondo was WAY cheaper than any rubber mats I could find, even Cal Aero surplus. On the hump, I just cut off parts of the VW front fender that got in the way of the part I wanted, which was just behind where the T signal hole is, and when it was close I trimmed it an inch or so big and set it on the concrete follr and hammered the edge flat so it would lay down nice on the plywood and provide an area to screw to the floor. the toe board edge I did the same but up at toe board angle of course. than I cut a hole for the Gennie shifter, and welded half of it up and cut another one in the right place for the shifter.
I've attached a photo of how I did the floor in the A. I removed the old floor and made a frame out of 3/4" square and welded 16 ga over it as the floor. The wood stuff looks good and all but, I don't like the idea of wood in or near the engine. Welding in the frame assemblies is the quickest and easiest way but I'm thinking like you. It's alot easier to work from the top side down these days as opposed to the ground up. I spaced the tubing in the high stress areas about 6" apart. With the 16 ga. it's pretty stout. Some may say that's too much but, the A doesn't have any reinforcement at all so I thought this would be a good way to beef it up a little. Any "slick" ideas on how to mount the panels to the floor, other than panhead screws with w&n.
FH Dzus. Here's a pic of a little tool you can make using 1" aluminum, a 3/8" bolt and a common 87 degree countersink. Although . . . you may want to make the body out of 1" cold rolled due to the 16 gage. This little gizmo works great in 18 gage aluminum or 20 gage mild steel. Nice part about it is, you don't need to take a panel all the way off the car to make the countersink for the Dzus button nor do you need a backup so you can use a hammer like you do with the commercially available Dzus countersinks.
Well I got the remaining floorboard pieces out, had to remove the fuel tank what a PIA. Pic shows the pile of garbage I removed. This all started as a wire repair for the alternator hile trying to find the right one in a bundle that is full of un used wire I decided it was time for a rewire, which led to the floorboard issue, which led to a complete replumb of the fuel system. Should be fun, wish me luck. Mike
This floor was made with 3/4 X 3/4 in. and will lift out. makes things easy to get too. the floor is a 1985 ford Bronco hood.
Hey Duster, did you fab the door to the master cylinder? Got any pointers you care to pass along? I'm to the point of installing one. Thanks!
this is a floor i did for a `32 5-window.... all 18 gauge , with bead rolls for strength . all bolts in. i like having the floor . toeboards . and tranny cover bolt in seperately...makes it easier to work with
in my brothers car, the floor is made out of aluminum sheets, and the whole floor, firewall is about 20 pieces of aluminum, a big puzzle. they're all held together with zeus (sp?) fasteners. just a little S shaped wire which is riveted in under the panel then the the fastener pops threw the hole and turn to lock..you see drag cars with them all the time to easily pop off body panels like a hood. the ones that we used were aircraft ones simply because they're bigger, and stronger.. it's a clean look and quick to remove pieces
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