VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Putting 29 Sedan body onto frame

Getting ready to put a freshly painted body onto the frame in a week or so.
I did not disassemble the car so I am unfamiliar with it.
I do have fender welting and a long strip of asphalt looking 2" wide material that looks like it may go between the frame and the body.
I cannot find any info on rubber body mounts so I am assuming that all that goes there is the above mentioned strip?
I did find some information about shimming the body at the bolts for adjusting the door openings.
Does welting go between the running boards and front and rear fender?
How about welting between the running board and the valance that the running boards mount to?
Does the 2" strip that I have go between the chassis and the valance, or does the body rest directly on the 2" strip?
I do have all of the rubber materials and channels to re-work all of the glass.
Thanks for any pointers.
Dale

Yes.



Yes.

I came across a ford model a restoration that described the felt between the chassis and the aprons that attach to the running boards.

My understanding is that there is no continuous material that goes between the body and the chassis/frame rails except the 3/16" thick pads at each of the 4 mounting bolts on each side (at leat this is true for '31). These pads can be made from rubberized canvas belting or similar material and are about 1.5"x2.5", with a 1/2" hole in center.

For my '31, each mount location had it's own issues to deal with. The mount at the cowl had to have the pad placed so it did not sit on the apron which is supposed to float free at this point, bolted to a chassis bracket seperately. The second pad at front seat is straightforward, is free entirely of side apron.

The 3rd bolt for '31 requires the apron to sit flat on an outrigger/bracket, then the pad goes on top of the apron, and the body sits on top of the pad. Finally, the rear pad sits between frame and body.

It is important to install these properly, as you may eventually need to add additional shims to align doors, see owners manual. For example if shims need to be added at bolt 3, they get added on top of pad and apron does not move, only body rises a bit.

Since apron/body does not rest uniformally (or at all in some cases) on frame rails, there is little value in installing a continuious material. At least that is the case for '31. '29 may be different? I suspect any material would retain moisture and possibly speed up corrosion.

I am assisting a friend to restore a '27 Pontiac Coupe, and he tells me there was a continuous material installed on that model, although I have no idea. A '27 Chev would be a similar install to a '27 Pontioac.

That is not true for 1929 and 1930.

I guess I stand corrected! Just what was the continuous material intended to accomplish? I assume '29/'30 also used a pad at each bolt? When I restored the body of my '31 I used the Fisher Body Manual and don't recall reference to this material.

The continuous webbing material was full length on the frame....from the cowl back. The running board splash aprons sat on top of the webbing material.

Gunsmoke,
I have never found a continuous strip of material on a 1931. Only the pads at each body bolt that you used on your car.

Did find "Anti-Squeak Running Board Apron to Body, Front (Pass. Cars Series AE, BA) p/n 365570" and "Anti-Squeak, Running Board Apron to Body, Rear (Pass. Cars Series AE, BA) p/n 365715 listed in the August 1932 parts book. Didn't find a listing for 1929-30 or separate pads at each body bolt. So I guess the confusion continues until more documentation can be found. Maybe old Eagle-eye can find more.

I appreciate the replies on this thread.
Even though that is not how it was apparently done in 29-30,
I do like the idea of body pads vs. full length strips tho, as air flow between the frame and the body will help to deter rust and wood rot.
Does anyone see anything mechanically wrong with just using pads on the 29? After all, when the body is shimmed for door alignment, the only place the body touches the frame is at the shim points.
I see only benefits in using pads vs. strips.

As mentioned previously, the running board splash aprons sit on top of the webbing material that is on the frame rails. That acts as an anti-squeak. If you want to use body bolt pads, then they will sit on top of the running board splash aprons.

Thanks. I will run the anti-squeek under the apron, and the pads at the bolts.
Dale

That should work just fine.

Don't know about '29, but the Fisher Manual indicated when shimming extra for body alignemnt, no extra shims should be added at cowl as to do so will adjust fit of hood etc. Since bodies and chassis have likely become somewhat out of original shape over the years, more shims than normal are required in some cases. To get my doors to properly align, I used anywhere from 1/32" to 3/16" of extra shims.

Good info. Thanks
Dale