When I first posted on this site I said that I was building my '50 ford biz coupe. So this will be the first installment, with more to come as I go. On dealing with the floors. Ill first start with fabricating the panels and then move onto installation. I wanted to make my floors in the EMS style because of the ease of making them and the flatness allows for different seat options. I started by measuring one half of the floor from rocker to tunnel and from toe to seat riser. I went ahead and made them in two pieces although I could have done it in one. So I measured the first piece four feet long by twenty five inches wide. On the rocker side and toe board side I add a half inch for ninety degree flanges, and then turned them (rocker side up, toe side down). On the remaining edges I stepped flanged them a half inch in. After this was done I took the panels to the helve hammer and ran beads in them every six inches for strength. The last thing to do was to locate the frame mount points and stamp in the pockets. This was done by using a die on the helve with a two and a half inch cir***france to stamp out a circle. In the middle of the circle a punch die that is only two inches, cut out the bolt hole. This hole will later be filled with a rubber plug like modern day OEM. Thats it, now all you have to do is make the other side, just reversed. The toe boards I plan to make in one piece with the firewall. You really shouldnt waste your time even making a pattern for it until you have all your mechanicals in place. Everybody will make a few changes in mock up and then theres always those few surprises when body and frame meet, so, this will probably be the last piece to make in the whole build. On a side note, if youre planning on doing a chop, make sure your toe and firewall area are sound before you start. If its not you might want to brace the area (on shoebox fords a major body support is located off the firewall). The piece that fits behind the main four foot section runs in a tricky area up to the frame kick up. I made a pattern for this piece using poster board which made it easy to mark all the floor features. I then transferred this pattern to my steel and cut it out with the plasma cutter. After marking the bead lines on the piece for strength, I took it over to the helve hammer. Using an extension table and edge guide I ran my beads. All that was left to do was to turn edges and make the step flange where the transmission tunnel will meet. Now make the other side and you have the whole front portion of your floor made minus tunnel. I want to have my pipes run down the sides, it just looks so clean on a shoebox thats dropped to the weeds. So, I made a test piece out of aluminum. The top angles were made on the brake. I just transferred the stock measurements to the piece for these bodylines. At first I wanted the rockers to bulge out and have the pipes tucked inside. Right before the rear wheel I planned on make an opening for the pipes to dump out from, kinda like a viper. But, I thought that it would be a to modern of a look. Instead I made the rocker swoop in so the pipe will be tucked in close to the car. This will be hard to explain, but I made a slight bead on the last edge of the rocker before it heads downward. Its the edge below the door. I made it by bending the piece past ninety degrees, then pushing toward the crease in the plannishing hammer. Using a flat die I was able to pucker up the metal at the crease and still leave a smooth surface below it. For the pipe tunnel I ran the rocker through the helve with a rounded die and then eased the machine to plannish it. I guess thats all for now Ill post again when I make my inner rockers and install the floors.
Thanks Big A! When I'm done with the floors I'll post the patterns to scale, it might help someone doing their floors.
Nice tech, those side pipes will be *****in! Guess I got lucky with rust free floors, rockers, doors etc. Keep em comin'.
Excellent post. Im at exactly the same stage with my coupe at the moment. Mine also has rusty front floors and the rockers are rusted through. Im abit held back with having to undo a previous shoddy repair where the rockers have been attacked with EMS patch panels and a mig welder. Ive been looking at the door gaps from side to side and it seems the drivers side gap has all but gone from about the handle down. Im gonna go check that fire wall body mount you metioned as I think hes welded the rockers and pulled this in. Would I be able to correct this using a porter power before welding in the inner rockers?? cheers Andy.
Hey Andy, Before ya try ta push the rockers out, try to see if the door can be adjusted at the hinge area. The bolts that go into the door shell(upper and lower hinge) when loose, control door adjustment, in and out of the door opening. The hinges that bolt to the cowl control fore and aft movment of the door in the opening.
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