The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Floor board replacement

I plan on replacing my floorboards and need some advice. I already have the the full size replacement panels, right and left. I have cut the old floor out and have left about one inch all the way around. Here's where I'm at:

50 Chevy Truck Floor

Do I just tack weld all the way around leaving a space between welds and then come back until it is filled in? How do I deal with the overlap underneath? Based on my photo, do I need additional support brackets?

Are there any good links showing how this is done on a truck like mine?

Sorry for all the questions, but I really need to conquer this so I can move on.

Your main floor brackets look good, but I would check them closely. Some guys don't like to overlap because of possible rust issues developing between the panels. The metal really needs to be cleaned very well for good welds. Eastwood sells a weld through primer you can use. Even with a panel overlay you may still have to trim the replacements. I used small sheet metal screws to initially fit my panels. That allows for easier adjustment. And I went through quite a few Sharpies marking cuts. HaHa. Take your time. I'm sure others have their preferences and will chime in. Good Luck with your '50!

I am confused. From your picture, I don't see where you left "about one inch all the way around".
I can see the top of the rocker panel (no floor board metal there).
The toe board is completely gone.
It looks to me that all of the supports for the floor is there and in good condition. The new floor just lays on top and is spot welded to the supports below. You should already be aware of that since you had to drill/grind the old spot welds to remove the old floor.
Your challenge will be dealing with where the floor meets the inner cowl (kick panel). I trimmed off the flange on the floor patch panel and ran a bead of weld from front to back.
Don't be surprised if there is a gap in the middle between your two patch panels. For some reason the manufacturers often don't give you enough metal to meet in the middle.
I butt welded the rear edge of the patch panels to the existing floor.
Carl

Thanks all for the helpful tips.

To clarify, here are 3 pictures with one of the panels just sitting in:

Floorboard

Floorboard

Floorboard

I bought those panels over 20 years ago. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but way back then, I realized the floor boards were weak and rusted. I went to ebay and bought those panels, and cut the existing floor for these to fit. I didn't realize that the floor boards and the foot boards were two pieces. In other words, I cut the foot boards un-necessarily. They were in good shape.. This has depressed me for years. I ruined a good cab. What really bums me out is that you will able to look at the foot boards from under the hood and see the flange is missing and see the overlap.. It made me quit working on the truck for a long, long time. (I originally joined this forum in 1999, I have an entry in" It ran when I parked it" for that year)

Hope this doesn't make any of you sick..

Maybe I can weld a fake flange on(?)

The difference between a novice and an expert is that the expert has made many mistakes and the novice hasn't made any yet.

ha! ha! What I want to know, when will the expert in me kick in?

BTW.. I have been to your web site (in the past) many times. Glad to find it again.

I think I saw your truck in Boca parked at a gas station on US1 a long time ago. (?)

Chuck

Don't sweat it Freebird. The one piece floor board/toe board design is superior to the original design in my opinion.
If you cut your new panels to fit exactly in the hole that you now have and butt weld it, very few if any, people will know the difference.
Carl

An issue I am seeing now, is that something people neglect to see, but turns out to bite them HARD is where the floorboard overhangs at the door opening. In the end, that seam has to be perfectly smooth from the back of the seat clear to the door hinge side. That Lip needs to be smooth across the whole thing.

Dont think you can figure it out later. push the panel so that the lip is in line, THEN deal with the fact that your transmission cover will be short. Thats easier to deal with, then that lip not lining up. Am I making sense? Done two 50 floors and that is one mistake I will never make again! The problem is, the panels you purchased that many years ago were too long. Your first pic shows the problem in the lower left. I would hope they fixed this problem by now, but I doubt it, since these cabs were not uniform by as much as a 1/4 inch in the day.

The remanufacturers struck a balance and this is where its up to you to decide where you want to cut that panel in half if its not fitting right.

So, take both floorboards, put the transmission cover on and tighten securely. IF the lip at the door overhangs too much, you have a decision to make. I chose to just rip the transmission cover in half and very carefully take 1/4" off the cover. This was mostly because the master cylinder hole was in the right place when shoved against the door lip, and so was the battery box on the other side. Make sense at all? If not, GOOD for you!

Wow, some great encouragement and info here. Thanks much.

Yes.. there is a gap where the floorboards meet and yes, the center cover doesn't line up. Never thought about why, but now I know one good reason. Will have to remove some metal to make the sections closer and do a butt weld next to the seat. Better get me some scrap and practice. I saw somewhere to leave some tabs to keep the toe board tight against the firewall to be removed later.

Yeah, be very careful not to remove too many panels at once. You will end up with a real mess because you can take away structural integrity and before you know it, the doors dont fit, and thats the least of the misery. Good luck!

Looking at the pics, the inner cowls and rocker panels look to be sound, so I don't think you will have problems with anything shifting, especially since you are doing the work on the frame.
Carl

I'm seriously thinking of removing the cab not only to butt weld the floor boards to the firewall, but for painting. Bad idea?

With that much floor metal cut out and your doors removed, I would not remove the cab from the frame unless you weld in a cross brace and a couple of diagonals out of 1 inch square tube. You would be risking metal shift and a complete nightmare for realignment in my opinion.

Bracing the cab is no problem.

Hey, whatever it takes, I'm game.

Just from removing the portion of floorboards that I have, the front of the cab has dropped down and would have to be raised and the floor leveled anyway.

I have the space in my garage to do it:

My Garage

My Garage

And a hoist:

Hoist

I know I can do it and feel it would be the only way to get the results I am looking for. I can see some small pin holes in the cab corners, plus would like to repaint the fire wall. I will also make sure the doors fit before welding the floorboards in. The rest of the pan is solid.

Check these videos out, they might give you some insight.

Brand New 1947-53 Cab Assembly
Video Series

NEW Cab Build! (1 of 3)
NEW Cab Build! (2 of 3)
NEW Cab Build! (3 of 3)
How we Install a Cowl
Watch us Assemble a Cab!
360 Degree Cab Lookover
1947 - 1954 Truck Cab Production Line

http://devestechnet.com/Home/Deve1950BResto

you might find something of interest there, and here too..

http://devestechnet.com/Home/MorePix

I found that making a cab cart and then having it lower made it easier to work on. Cross brace first, make sure your cart has a pedestal about 8-10 inches high so that when you want to paint under the cab corners, etc. you can get to everything.

Then, when I want to paint the under carriage, I have a few nephews over and they set the cab on the firewall. One of these days I will design a cab cart that allows one person to do that.

Thanks for the links.

Wow! Pretty intense! Probably better than the original factory.

Lucky for me, my cab is solid. I don't anticipate having to replace any panels.

Mostly surface rust and some dings, I might even be able to save the cab corners.

Cab

Cab

Can any one recommend a vendor with quality body panels? I have dealt with Chevy Duty and Golden State in the past. Looking for best fitting and quality.

Oh boy. This can be a can of worms for opinions. LOL. I think many of us have experienced that any off shore panels are not gonna fit without massaging them. And most of the vendors seem to offer the same product. If you are happy with your last suppliers, probably no need to change in my opinion.

Yeah, Chuck. Chevron station at the corner of Palmetto and US1 in the late nineties. Torn down and replaced with an office building. That's when I started doing the work myself on my rides.

Yes, I have realized that in the last couple days.. basically the parts are all coming from the same place. I am over it.

Getting ready to take the cab off anyway.

Cab Removal


Cab Removal

Ha! Thought that was you!

Yep, That's how I removed my cab until I invested in an electric cable lift. And those bottles look familiar too.

Freebird,
With that 2X triple I-beam, you could pick up the entire truck! Sure beats my cheesy rig. Mine is the same principle, just inferior materials.
Carl

I wish I had removed the bottles before taking the picture.



I figured 20.00 for wood and overkill would be worth it for piece of mind.

Before lifting the cab all the way off the frame.
I would line-up the front floor cross members mounting holes with the frame holes.
Then weld some bracing along side the original cross members, from rocker panel to rocker panel.

I know what you're saying. Sounds like a great idea. It will be a while before the cab comes off. Sure would be a bummer if I took the cab off, put in a new floorboard only to find that the front mounting holes would not line up.

I still have to make a rolling dolly.

Firebird, I am curious why you are taking the cab off before you replace the floor. There is no better platform upon which to properly make this repair to ensure that everything lines back up.
Carl

My thought was to remove the cab and sandblast and paint all the rusty metal before replacing the floorboard, also to be able to get to the frame, which I want to do first. Bad idea?

Another reason is that the engine is in the way to be able to butt weld the firewall (unless I decide to get the whole firewall panel.)

That's one of the reasons I am here. To get help with my truck.:)

Thinking more about this, couldn't I bolt some 1/4 inch flat bar ( or angle), bent on each end, from front lower hinge to front lower hinge to keep the cab mounting holes lined up?

I agree.
But welding the toe board/firewall would be a lot easier
than replacing the whole toe board/firewall panel.
There is a lot of spot welds in that toe board/firewall panel.

Hmmm.. maybe I need to look it again.. Being that I cut a lot of it out, (the whole toe board section), the only place I saw holding it and having spot welds was on the outside top face of the cowl where the top edge of the firewall slides under a lip.. spot welds all across horizontally.. less than a dozen. the vertical sides are free.

EDIT: After a closer inspection: A hell of a lot more than a dozen!

That would work just as long its not in your way, when you start welding in the toe and floor board.

I had to do what you are doing, and welded in what I could get to (which was most of it) on the frame. Once that was done, nothing could move around by removing the cab from the frame, and I could get to the rest of the places which needed more welds, once removed from the frame.
Carl

I went to Chuck the Truck's web site and am now thinking about another option. Leaving the firewall in and buying just the toe board. It has the lip on it that I have been seeking. Then I can cut the floor board sections off the pieces I already have. The toe board can be purchased for 89.00 with free shipping. I also decide to partially weld the pieces in before removing the cab as recommended. Am I over looking something?

I think you've got it. I admire your dedication to restore it to the original configuration. Lots of extra work, but it will be 'right' when you are done.
Carl

Thanks Carl. It's rare that you get to right a wrong. I ordered the toe board today and hope the fitment is half way as how I expect. I have got a lot of good info and motivation from Chuck the Truck too.

The toe board came in. It was only 89.00 shipped. Pretty good fit. With a little manipulation, I think it might work. A little flimsy compared to the panels I bought 10 years ago.

Toe Board

I do have a couple of concerns though. There is no hump in the middle lower portion. It is touching the transmission at the bottom. Maybe I can stretch the metal once it's installed(?)No hole for the foot starter, but no big deal. Also thinner gage metal would make it harder to butt weld.

Toe Board 2


Re-doing some of the stuff I did a long time ago:

Kick Panel

I'm ordering a new kick panel.

I'm even thinking about removing the inner to outer cowl panel that I replaced long ago. I still have the original that is in excellent shape. I have no idea why I replaced it.. Smoked a lot of weed back then.

Inner Cowl Panel

Debating on whether to cut the floor boards out of these to go with the toe board. Or just putting them in as is and not using the toe board.

Floor Board/Toe Board Panels


The Floor Board/Toe Board Panels are really nice, and thick gage, but I really want the lip to show when you look under the hood.

I know it would make more sense to use them by their self and forget about what it looks like. The floorboard would be a lot stronger. Heck.. I could even weld a lip on..I am still debating this..

Lip

Got plenty of time to decide while I order a new kick panel..

Yes ^^^^

WOW! Very impressive work Deve!!

Thanks for a most resourceful website!