VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Question #2... What is the body width of a 1931? .

Being I do not have a floor or frame Id like to fab up a new metal sub floor as well as an 18 ga. floor. Before I can start on that I need one measurement. Im hoping I can find some one here that is in progress on a project that can take one measurement for me? The 1931 4 door as mentioned has no floor. The body has been tacked to a rolling cart to make it easy to move. I need to get width measurement at the base of the b pillar. The B pillar on my body has a flange that curves inward and mounts flat to the floor with 3 wood screws or bolt. Two holes are close to the body side and on is closer to the center of the vehicle with a point on the bracket just in board of the 3rd bolt. Was wondering if anyone could give me a measurement across the car using any of these points? I know its a PITA but I just dont know where else to get this measurement? Thanks in advance for any help.
Bob

If your body is in one piece I would think you could just measure it out. I am working in the same area only on a coupe The wood is only about 4 inch wide on top of the frame. Made in 2 pieces about 1 inch thick. If it had a metal floor before I do not know.

I would just set the body on the flood of your work area. Then do a chalk out line of the outside and then do the inside. Move the body off and make you measurements from there. As I understand most of the body's were hand made and not necessary the same size in width. I think you can go from there and make a good fit.
Have fun Everett

The wood body framing was set up in a jig at the factory so each body of its type was dimensionally the same.

My 31 four door that is currently being treated to a new interior measures, 43.25". Measured from the center of the center screws that are closest to the B Pillar. Al W.

Thank you so much. There is about 3 inches of flex on each side. In the 3 inches of flex the doors dont loose or gain gap. The 43.25 will be mt new width. Thank you again now I can press forward.

The doors have a lot of available flex to them. The riggidness of the wood determines thier shape. If you pull out the attaching tacks there is lots of Flex available. Al W.

Yeah, I'm finding these were still in the evolution from the horse drawn buggy. Must of been and exciting time for car builders to watch the technical strides change so munch from year to year. And to think they did this all without calculators and computers. Slide rule and abacus. This is a wooden car! lol Sorry guys I've always been involved with Fords, yeah they have wood in them but nothing like this. Nothing new to you guys I know but very intriguing to me, for now at least.

The precise locating of the body sides as they are secured to the sills is crucial for proper fit of doors, especially so for a 4 door. If the side to side or fore/aft dimensions/locations of mounting hardware) are out even a small amount, the door gaps will be off and as well the curved edges of doors will not align perfectly with body/posts etc. So you may want to put doors in place and have them temporarily fixed in proper position (use hinges and aligning wedge to get proper location) before screwing brackets to whatever base you are going to use. Also if front door post brackets are not in perfect location it will affect windshield sides, and can cause hinge binding etc. So go slow, multiple test fitting. You may want to request exact location of front brackets, i.e. center to center, how far forward of center brackets. Finally, the original cars used 3/16" canvas shims (4 locations each side) to isolate body from steel frame and also to allow final fine tuning of door alignment (add shims in 1/16"increments as needed as per manual advice). Not sure if you plan some similar method, but you will need some means of fine tuning door fit.

Thanks once again, I modified the original picture to reflect correct width for future reference. I'm a little ways off from actually playing with the door fitment but will make it is adjustable enough to do small adjustments until I'm sure it is correct. Im sure it works much like the Model A's in shimming up the cowl for the door fitment and gaps. I will check in with the progress as it happens. Its is appreciated.