32 sedan floor info.?

[Henry Hopper]

Can anybody tell me what the 32 sedan floor is made from...I've been looking at some pictures of a sedan that have been sent to me and I noticed that the floor seems to have wooden boards almost the full lenght...its steel in the rear section.Is this normal or not, as I've seen adverts for full steel floors for sedans.

TIA.

[V8COOPMAN]

That little '32 has had a whole bunch of mods done underneath besides just the floor..........BEWARE! DD

[IronFord]

Originally Posted by Henry Hopper

Can anybody tell me what the 32 sedan floor is made from...I've been looking at some pictures of a sedan that have been sent to me and I noticed that the floor seems to have wooden boards almost the full lenght...its steel in the rear section.Is this normal or not, as I've seen adverts for full steel floors for sedans.

TIA.

My sedan has the same wood in the same spots as this car. The wood stops at the back of the door on a tudor. Then turns to steel all the way back to the rear. I think the advert you are talking about is for aftermarket floors. If you want pictures let me know.

[DavidG]

The floor does not appear to be modified, assuming that it is of North American origin. In the Tudor sedan bare body photo from the '32 body parts catalogue below, the open areas of the floor are filled with plywood sections. There are four in total with #1 and #2 forming the toe and floor boards in the cowl without any intervening steel cross sills between them. The #3 and #4 boards are isolated by steel cross sills as shown.

[Henry Hopper]

Thanks fellas..

[PeteVS]

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'32 floor boards were made from 3/4" plywood and it wasn't pretty maple veneer plywood either. Just plain old plywood.

Here's a link to an old thread with photos of original '32 sedan floor boards.
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...light=32+floor

[Karl Wescott]

Plain old plywood of 1932 is a lot different than plain new plywood today.

The three important factors to consider are surface finish, internal strength with lack of voids, and type of glue.

"Old School" tended to use more-thinner layers of veneer, and the veneer tended to be about the same quality as the exterior with only small void patches. "Old School" common glues were not water resistant enough for exterior application, hence the need for different "interior" and "exterior" grades.

Modern plywood tends to use trash wood for the interior plies and allow large voids and are often only 5-7 plies. Modern glues work much better than old school so there is no longer a cheaper interior grade.

Common plywood is graded by 3 letters such as A-B or A-C-X. A is sanded surface, B is not, C has a lot of voids, and X is crap. Two letters indicate the interior plies are the same grade as the unsanded side. The third letter indicates the core plies.

If you make your floorboards at least go with a marine grade plywood with at least 9 plies. This should be about the quality of "good old plywood". A better grade plywood available in the Pacific Northwest is a "baltic birch" from Finland or Russsia, which is a 13 ply.

[DavidG]

Apart from good quality, the original plywood was 11/16" thick, not 3/4". The seat tracks will not rest on the steel cross sills if 3/4" stock is used nor will the rear mat/carpet lay flat. The original was likely custom made (in large quantities) given the odd thickness.

[hotrodA]

So, where can you find 11/16" plywood for panels 3 & 4? Or just use 5/8"?

[DavidG]

The floorboards that Roy Nacewicz sells (fordbolts.com) are the correct thickness.

[deuce_roadster]

If you live near anywhere there is a plywood mill, they have big 4' wide belt sanders. Often you can get them to take a sheet down from 3/4 to 11/16 by taking off a ply if you talk to the right people. I know of a couple of places locally that will do that.
Or, you could buy them from R.N.

[jerseyboy]

The plywood I used for my wagon is 11 ply marine grade, that was 11/16. I cannot remember were I got it at the moment, but I got it here in CT.

Keep V-8ing and 4-banging!