I just picked up a ‘31 Vicky project car. Some mods (not very well done) have already been made and will need to be reworked. I’m seeing issues with doors and will need to replace the entire floor. Are there any interchangeable doors for a ‘31 Vicky and can aftermarket body sub rails be purchased for the ‘31 Vicky or do other sub rails work also?
According to page 183 of the Restorer's Model A Shop Manual by Jim Schild, 1930-31 Victoria doors also fit the 400A convertible sedan. That probably doesn't help you out that much, since those cars are pretty rare...
Doors are Vicky only. 4 door slant window 4 dr doors have some similarities but are taller and shorter. Door jambs- a 4dr jamb can be modified and used by splitting down the middle this allows the doors to fit flush. Windshield header- a 4dr slant windshield is closer than regular model A, some guys have done really nice job grafting on a 32 header. Sub rails , I made my own from steel but the rear floor pans dip below the frame. Post up some pics, what’s the major problems with your doors?
As @milosmith said, 400-A and 190-A doors interchange, but convertible sedans are more rare than Victorias, so your best bet is fixing what you have. I've done the splitting the 4 door B-pillar trick and the 32 header (and windshield) that @31Vicky with a hemi mentioned above. I made my sub rails front to back from 1x2 square tubing.
most Vickys has wooden floors... if yours did see if the 2 rivet body # tag is still there... if so, it can be a life saver when registering the car... not the 4 rivet pattents tag...
Do you have a photo of the sub rails? Where the inside of the bottom of door meets the inside of the body?
Click on the Miss Vicky link in my signature for details on my complete build. The link takes you to a main build thread and on the first page there are links to all the other smaller, more specific threads. Model A frames along the doors are straight and the rails are closer together than the 32 frame I used so the gap between the frame rails and doors is filled by the really wide factory wood sub rails that overhang the outside of the frame. To fit the gentle curve of my 32 frame, I notched the door bottoms length-wise to match the new sub rails and 32 frame with a little 3/4 inch channel. Here are pics of the sub rails:
Looks to me like the car has been channeled some. That’s a neat modification but subrails can be a *****.
Body fit was a progressive science. While it had improved from 28-31 it seemed to take a leap forward with the 32 cars. Getting different (rare) doors will also have similar fit problem. With the A it's either close enough or gee I want to spend a lot of $$ or 100s of hours getting 1/8" gaps. If it's not a mega dollar show car build just line up the body lines, get the contour right and call it good.
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