With the roof section stabilized, the next effort would go in dealing with the floor pan, but on this occasion it would be done from the underside. There where some clearance issues that needed to be ironed out, along with the preservation of the steel with its exposure to all the miles I want to put on the car. (The photo at the left is actually the finished product.)The way that I accomplished these two issues is to suspend the body from a chain hoist in the warehouse, and stand it up on its nose. Now the '34 ford firewall really doesn't lend itself to standing up on end, so with a frame built out of wood I was able to balance it while the chain hoist kept it in position.
I spent hours grinding and reinforcing the floors so they would provide a super stable foundation. The rear axle center chunk had minimal clearance between it and the floor, so a tunnel of sorts was fashioned out of a 55 gallon steel drum, recurved to fit. The hole in the center of this curve is the access panel for the bolts that hold the spring to the crossmember of the frame. Actually after everything was assembled, the hole had to be modified for clearance. AGHH!
The subrails were reinforced where they tied into the body, so the foundation was substancial, although not exactly like Henry would have built it, but that is another story.
Here you see where I have painted a steel primer, crudely applied with a brush! As low as the car sits, my concern was to preserve rather than show off.
Here you can see the chain hoist suspension system that was rigged up to hold everything in place as the work was proceeding.
At last I have it all tied together, and acting like a real car!
More on the final steps to get the body ready for its long process at the paint shop.
