Alright guys.... this is my first custom floor so help me out.......... I did a little cardboard work to see if I would like the looks of foot-wells.... and it seems to be just little 'narrow' for me to 3-pedal it down the road....... (clutch, brake, throttle).... as the throttle would almost have to be up on the trans tunnel........ Now I'm thinkin of just lifting up the entire floor and basically just making the wells at the entrance of the door and then the entire floor will be up and level after that...... I have the head room to raise everything up (even being 6'5") Any pictures of some ideas where narrow cab and wide transmissions don't play nice? Should I just channel up the floor and make it totally flat so I don't have to have a HUGE transmission tunnel? I'll then only have to tunnel out where the new 'door wells' would be (I think the 1947 ford cabs the door protrudes SLIGHTLY into the cab past the jams so..... Ideas.. consequence, no consequence.... input or advice appreciated and needed.... Here are a few pictures......... Got the clearance underneath now....
Maybe if you could radius the hump over the tranny instead of boxing it. Maybe that would give you more room to "pedal". You also need a better brew.
But in order for that to happen... I'm going to have to channel up the floor a good 3-4" and even then I'll be 'rounding into the side of the hump for a go pedal.... The 'doghouise' I'll be making will be quick-removable so I can adjust the 14" dia easy pedal clutch every 5-10 k miles......
The biggest concern I would have is cmfort to drive the thing.Us tall guys(i,m 6'6") have a hard enough time fitting into a truck made for a guy a foot shorter as it is, and as they say, big guy-- big feet. I am building a 53 1 1/2 ton long nose on a later model frame and 500 cad, and I want it low. I had to be carefull channelling the floor for the same reason. I stayed automatic because of bad knees, so I only need the two pedals, but I think your Ford cab is even narrower. I think for foot comfort you need to stay flat floor,but every time you raise the floor a little, things like knee room,wheel clearance and how vertical you need to sit are impacted.(I used to adjust the mirror on my vette every time I shifted--it sucked). My suggestion would be to get the seat mocked up and make sure you can pedal and steer in comfort. The whole thing is wasted if you need to hire a 5'6" driver. If you need to raise the cab back up a little to give yourself the comfort you want and need to be able to enjoy it,then do it now while it is still easy. You can always get a slightly shorter side wall tire if the low profile is that important. My opinion is to drive the thing as first importance, look cool secondly. Really like your build, by the way,and the lower cab looks great. Good luck with the rad and intercooler fitting. Paul
Maybe i am missing something, that looks near stock to me and the floor would angle upward to join the firewall just about at the top of the bellhousing and the pedals would emerge from the top of the joining of the floor and firewall. Is it too short for you and you are trying to move the pedals further away? There is more room there than you realize. Try thinking backwards, mockup pedals where you want them and then visualize what the floor would have to look like to accomidate the pedals.
What they said about not raising the floor, making a tight fitting trans/bell hump.. but one thing that may really help, is to use an early Ford spoon type gas pedal. You'd still need a spot to place your heel, but the spoon design helps if there is no room for a gas pedal that is hinged at the floor.
Hmmm. I've got a sort of instinct that wants the floor directly on top of the frame rails. I'd say, cut some new cardboard to fit at rail-top level; trim it so it clears everything that pokes through by no more than half an inch or so. That'll show you how much space you really have. In the first photo it doesn't look like the gearbox rises very far above the rail-top level. But in the other photos it does look like the top of the gearbox is square, so there might be limited scope for rounding or angling the sides. Other thing, ergonomically feet can go either down or forwards: is there any way you can steal a bit of length?
The trans hump is just too big guys..... I have to raise it at least a few inches.... I can't even get two feet side x side..... The more and more I'm looking into it... the more I'm leaning toward just raising up the floor....
That tranny hump is about 3" too wide looking at your photos. And get something other than corrugated for patterns, that shit sucks. I buy BLEM matte board from the art store for 5 bucks a pop. Even old trailer house pannelling would work better than what you have.
Ummmm in the 'stock' application, the top face the transmission never broke the floor surface.... which is located 5 inches lower then the transmission now..... Look at the rocker panels.... the 1x1 square tubing going across is 6-8" up from the floor and is only serving to reinforce after I cut the floor out...
We are not there to see it at all views.. If just looking at first pic, it looks like you are 2x higher than it needs to clear the basic trans. If you could bring the floor down to there it would help the seating and people fitting. And I don't see a need to go straight across/over the trans with rect tubing which raises the floor by that tubing height. You can get creative with tubing along both sides. EDIT: I just saw the last post; so,you were not going as high as the tubing I guess..
Yea I'm sorry maybe I should have stated that they were for structural support only and not as a precurser to where the floor would be.... I'm thinkin a happy medium would be 3" up.... still give a transmission hump but should really move that hump end point away from the brake pedal and more into the middle of the cab (thus making room for a throttle pedal...)
Currently... all cut out.... Well... how about a tool box comparment(s) Small cab.. no storage.... think again..... Putting in the channel and floor riser.... Will also have a large access hole punched into the 'lower floor' which will have bolts for removal to gain access to the hydrobooster and master cylinder underneath via the tool box door...... I figured I would rubber gasket the tool box doors to keep the rattle down... along with turn-handle latches..... i was also thinking of having the hinges and the actual tool box door panel be a nice paper finish stainless steel... The box itself will be 7" high, 35" wide, and mildly 12-18" deep..... This is true on BOTH the passenger box and drive box...... Having a battery box under floor on passenger side is not an option with my exhaust running undernearth...... Driver side battery box not an option with hydroboost underneath.... Will be doing a dual battery setup by the rear axle and running 0/2 cable up to the front (already have the spool of wire for it....) Thoughts, ideas, comments? I was also thinking about maybe having some wall dividers etc in the tool box to limit slide, noise, and organization (figure chain, scissors jack, tools, air-tools, hose all good be stores in compartments......)
I like your cad drawings,and if they are as accurate as your other ones ,I still have a hard time visualizing a guy your size sitting in those seats and being able to use the clutch. To me it looks like your knees would be hitting your elbows Maybe you could stretch the firewall forward a little beside the engine. I doubt that you could do much by the looks of the pictures on your build thread, but maybe it is possible on that side of the engine.If not, I once saw a guy in a wheel chair driving a 4 speed camaro with the clutch adapted to a hand lever on the shifter. (I have no idea how that worked)The tool box idea is cool, but like I said before, I wouldn't do that at the expense of driver comfort. If you need to raise the cab back up a little, it will still be a great looking truck.
I like the idea. Are you just moving the seats etc. up or are you tilting the seats back/lowering the cushion relative to the floor? The latter retains headroom at the expense of legroom, but you say you have some headroom to play with.
Yea I did some 'sitting' in the cab last night with a few blocks of wood and a seat and kept going up until I felt I would be impeeding on either head room or forward looking visability.... and I did indeed have some room to go... (and being 6'5" to boot....) The legs felt okay.. I have to get my pedals mocked up now to really nail that down before the welding wire starts flying....
Here's a pic of mine, which has worked out very well. Getting used to moving my heel from the throttle notch to the brake was no big deal.
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