VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Running Board Brackets

Just about to begin stripping my 1938 chassis for restoration. Finally the fun stuff! While still in one piece I need to straighten and align my running board mounting brackets but tricky without a body for reference. They were quite bent and I've now got them close enough to start measuring. I've levelled the frame so the running board area is level front to back and side to side. I've attached some pictures.

I assume the running boards should be close to level front to back?
I assume the running boards should be level from the frame outward? (prefer outboard edge a tad higher myself for strength)
The brackets appear that they should be at a right angle to the frame?

I really have no reference height from the ground as all 4 were bent to some degree but I'm trying to work off the best one and match it. The running boards have 4" of front to back adjustment and 1" of side adjustment. I suppose I could shim the boards or bend a bracket as necessary during dry assembly so really think "close" will be good enough prior to blasting and painting the chassis.

I have been looking at the service manuals and pictures of the 1938 chevy running board brackets and they appear to be straight which would make things way easier.

Each of my brackets are about 2.5" longer than the Chevy and drop down at a 40 degree angle and then level out. The fronts have more drop to them than the rears. Because of this drop down it is hard to establish the proper height without the body so I think it's just a rough straighten for now and adjust once the body and boards are in place. Might make a template to try to match both sides to each other.

If I decide to remove these to match them to each other, is it possible to bolt them as tightly as the factory rivets? Boy those rivets do hold tightly.

Tim I think it would be much easier to straighten/adjust them if attached to the frame. Perhaps a four foot piece of pipe slipped over them would give all the leverage needed. If you do remove them I would put them back with rivets.

I feel the same way Steve as it took an hydraulic porta-power to straighten them just a little bit and the porta-power struggled. The brackets are VERY tough and the rivets hold better than any bolts I've seen.

While I slept last night my brain decided that I should bug my friend to take some measurements relative to the frame on his car. His needs restoration but between both our cars I should be able to get something close enough to tweak fit during assembly.

I don't know if this will help or not.

Thanks Tiny, Yours are nice and simple without the weird angles like mine but I'm curious to compare the locations. Always great to see your pictures as your car looks like my twin and gives me hope that someday all these parts will once again be assembled into something...

Hi Tim, I removed the brackets on my 39 CDN Pontiac because the frame was too wide for the acid tank. I bolted them back in with Grade 5 bolts but later shimmed them lower because the runningboard vulcanizing left a bigger top edge where the running board tucks under the body. Fitting the running board between front fender and rear fender so it looked snug was where the work was on my car. The 39 front sheet metal height is adjusted thru the core support and cowl sides and takes some tweaking to make it look right. The rear fenders also have some variability and need to be tightened down in a certain pattern.

Thanks Mike, was just searching old emails from you last night! Was looking at my Fisher Body Canada emblem and verifying the colours were correct. That discussion was 15 years ago!

Good to know they bolted back on ok. I think I'll get them as close as possible and leave removal for a last resort during install. I'm working on the chassis so that I can test fit the front end as I know there will be some challenges with all of these pieces having some adjustment.

I wonder what the differences are between a 1938 Chevrolet frame and the Canadian Pontiac frame.........intresting.