Anybody done it, my 36 Convert needs new floors, trying to get ambition up, can this be done body on frame or did you remove the body? How are the floors attached to the body rivets, welds, any suggestions? thanks.
Take the body off. Get the doors fitting perfectly FIRST. Then make a good brace. Triangulate it so the body is ridged, and attach it it where it wont be in the way of the floor replacement. The body is bolted on. (lots of bolts) I break all the bolts I can. Lots faster, and you need new ones anyway.
I dont agree, leave the body on the frame. The floor follows the frame contour very closely, and its no way wou will get the floor perfect without having it on the frame. And considering is a vert, where the floor is what keeps the body together, I would be even more hesitant doing it with the body off. I agree with aligning doors and bracing the door opening first though. So my suggestion is to replace the floor first, and then lift the body off the frame if you want too. -Thomas
I guess I have been leaning to body on floor replacement, I was wondering if it could be done and how the floor is attached to the body. Anyone else?
If you braced to body well to control door gaps, I think you could replace the floor in pieces with the body on the frame. I replaced sections of the floor in my '40. The floor is spot welded to the body around it's perimeter. There aren't really body mounts on these cars - just rubber pads between the floor and frame members. One area of difficulty on my car is where the floor meets the door sill. The floor tucks under the sill in the door opening and is supported by body pads. If you're not after a 'correct' reproduction I think you could butt weld the floor to the sill. C
Thanks for the information, I have found several sources for replacement floor pans that come in sections. I guess I will order the sections and see if I can determine how best to do this. The width of the new sections should tell me how much needs to slide under the body on each side. Hopefully I won't ruin a good car.
I would not take the body off, especially on a cabriolet/roadster. Buy the floor pans and replace the pieces in an orderly fashion. Yeah, the body bolts down onto the X with cork in between, and then there are a few bolts in the side of the body into the side of the frame... no mounts. What shape is the lower cowl and rear quarter panel in?
I helped ( mostly watched ) a friend of mine put a new floor in his '36 5 window coupe with the body off. He bought Bitchin' floor pieces and complained about how badly they fit the whole time he was doing it. I know he built a lot of small pieces to fill in gaps himself. He modified the frame with a tube X member and he is a real fussy guy so I don't really know how bad the floor sections were. He welded it all in before he put the body back on and it came out great. Another friend is doing a '36 cabriolet now and ,like others have said on here,He installed new floors with the body braced and on the frame.
Thanks guys I just got word through the Early V8 club that there is a guy in NC Paul Bradley that makes floors for 33-46 fords. They think highly of his stuff, got on the website and looks reasonable for price full sides $170 for each right or left. They have instructions (holy shit i might read them) that tell you to remove and replace before body removal. Looks like I am inclined to go with them I will keep you posted if the floors are good. Thanks again,
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