A what do you think question..
 

Sittin here thinking about body mount cushions.

In drag racing reducing the flex in the chassis is very advantageous because it allows your shocks to control how hard the tires are planted. That is why replacing the rubber cushions of the body mounts with either solid aluminum or steel mounts are done as it ties the body and frame together creating a stiffer chassis to allow the shocks to control rear axle movement instead of chassis flex.
Although that has nothing to do with why/what I'm thinking.

In restoring my 55 Victoria I will be replacing the body mount pads and bolts. I'm thinking about making my own mounting pads from aluminum instead of using the original rubber type. My thoughts are it should keep the main body, door, and fender gap alignment better.

Am I nuts or what?

Dave

Re: A what do you think question..
 

You're right about solid mounts reducing body/chassis flex but you'll increase road noise transmitted into the passenger compartment substantially. Urethane would be a lot quieter and still reduce flex, albeit not as much as metal mounts.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

55 Sunliner has solid mounts although I have not seen them available.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

I'd say YES

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Without rubber mounts to absorb chassis flex (or at least a portion of it) you may soon see cracks in the body sheet metal as now it has to absorb the flex that rubber body mounts did before you removed them.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

I hadn't considered road noise, nor thought of the body flexing enough to crack sheet metal.

I have seen bodies have major wrinkles in the quarter panels and roof C pilar/sail panel caused by flex, but they were unibody (a camero and a roadrunner)

The body mount rubber that was in the car are likely original and they are as hard as metal or at least useless. I will use the upper washer in the floor boards with the rubber grommet to seal water out.

I'm just thinking out loud, and appreciate the comments, you guy's have given me something to consider for sure.
I want it to be a nice solid car, the road noise would be the killer though. I'm building this for enjoyment while cruising around and I've put the HotRod Power Tour on my bucket list. I really don't want to feel every pebble I roll over.

Thanks

Dave

Re: A what do you think question..
 

A body mount kit from someone like Dennis Carpenter will be about $200.00. Aluminum to steel, even if you protect the surfaces with a coating, over time, is asking for electrolysis and certain rust; yes, it is a four letter word. Sort of depends on how long of a life you are planning for it. You could go with rubber shims, but then you might as well just go with the original body dampening kit. A thin plastic shim could be used as a more permanent protection against electrolysis.

My opinion and worth every penny you paid for it. :-)

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Hadn't thought about rusting either..

Seems it would turn out best to just go back stock. Besides it'd not like I don't have enough to do as it is..lol

Dave

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Do you plan to drive the car? If so, use the stock parts. In my opinion, (not worth much), those Fords rode well, and with a big front stabilizer and disc brakes, they can be used like a much newer car.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

He beat me to it. I second that motion highly.
Besides that, the '55 cars did not have the safety door latches either and if you replace rubber mounts with solid mounts, I would not be surprised if you begin to experience doors popping open when you go over a bump in the road, railroad tracks or anything worse. However that might be remedied by getting a set of 1956 Ford striker plates but you have to get the '56 door latch mechanisms to mate with them.
The shop manual says body mounting bolts should be torqued down 18-30 ft/lbs. On both my body-off-frame restorations, I probably leaned on the lighter side of 18 ft/lbs. IMO, the main thing here is to have an installation that will prevent the body from sliding forward-backward or from side to side. So if the tapered rubber washers on top are good or have been replaced with new ones and the special washers are snugged down good, there should be no horizontal movement of any kind.
My cars are drivers and this Fordor has been thru the wringer for decades yet I have never had a problem with body creep (movement) or doors popping open in traffic even though they were never properly adjusted until recently.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Another argument to consider against having solid mounts is that I think you would find yourself in "shim hell" attempting to find or make shims of different thicknesses where gaps or looseness at some of the mounts might occur. Without paying attention to filling these gaps first, tightening down the bolts might cause unwanted warpage or buckling which in turn could prevent doors from opening/closing properly, etc.

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Decided to go with the stock mounts.

I had already thought about the shim issue. Even stock ones have to have some shimming as the distance between the floor and frame mounts were never the same. Body shops and supply houses have shims in different thickness, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Dave

Re: A what do you think question..
 

Both my '55 car and '55 Courier only had shims located in the exact same place, where the frame curves upward at an angle for the rear axle (which would be under the back seat on the 4-dr sedan. Both shims were 1/16 inch thickness. If it were possible to slide the body backward a little they might not have needed any shims, but the holes at the very first mount (at the cowl-to-frame mount) hit the studs so you couldn't slide it back any farther.