1933 model B fordor holes under seat

FrankWest

Well-known member
When I lift by front bench seat out I noticed 4 holes right thru the floor
2 round approx 1/4 inch diameter and 2 rectangular approx 1/4 inch by 1/2 inch symmetrical from the center of the seat out. The seat adjusting mechanism and rail are in place..But don;t know what these holes are for..
Any ideas?
 
While nearly every 32 Ford body style had a different floor, Ford learned that was a bad idea on the assembly line and in 33 they changed to all using the same floor stamping. I suspect the holes you see are unused on your particular body and were used on another.
 
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These are the floor support laid on top of the floor pans (they are normally spot riveted under the floor pans). Are one of these the holes you are referring to?
 

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Here are two photos.. Note. I started filling in one hole with JB weld and then decided not to until I find what there are used for.
Not one of the hole has a spring end through it..this was a remnant from a brake noise damping that was attached under the car, near the wishbone. It will be removed.. the rest of the kludge damping system was already removed
 

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As deuce roadster indicated, the common floor pan in all '33-'34 passenger cars results in unused holes in varying amounts depending on the body type. Likely what you're seeing are holes to mount the separate front seats in Tudor sedans and Victorias.

Evidently some complaints must have been received about dust entering the car through the unused holes as instructions were issued in a 1934 Service Bulletin to insert plug buttons in the unused holes as shown in the illustration below. That illustration also indicates the location and type of fastener used to attach floor mats and carpeting. Given the date of the Service Bulletin, it is highly likely that most, if not all '33s left their assembly plants without the plug buttons.
 

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To clarify something the rear floor pan is NOT the same 33-34 . Pics of the difference have been posted several times here . DavidG has an excellent pic of the underside of his 33 5w showing the spot welded braces on the inner two ribs by the diff hole . 34 does not have those braces and the 4 ribs in the floor pan are different also .
 
As deuce roadster indicated, the common floor pan in all '33-'34 passenger cars results in unused holes in varying amounts depending on the body type. Likely what you're seeing are holes to mount the separate front seats in Tudor sedans and Victorias.

Evidently some complaints must have been received about dust entering the car through the unused holes as instructions were issued in a 1934 Service Bulletin to insert plug buttons in the unused holes as shown in the illustration below. That illustration also indicates the location and type of fastener used to attach floor mats and carpeting. Given the date of the Service Bulletin, it is highly likely that most, if not all '33s left their assembly plants without the plug buttons.
WOW! I never thought to look in the service bullitons of which I have a set.
I was going to check the green book, just to see if they had a floor layout.
Thanks again.

I have a bound set of service bulletin and This page you have is not listed in mine.
so much for reproductions documents!
What are these plug buttons... like rubber inserts..does anyone sell them or do we have to use modified rubber stoppers?
 
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You may not have the edition of the Service Bulletins that the illustration appeared in. It was in the Canadian edition. (As a general rule, the 'thirties Ford of Canada Service Bulletins covered more subjects and contained more illustrations than their U.S. counterparts. In addition to more inclusive Service Bulletins, the Ford of Canada editions of the mid-thirties body parts catalogues are superior to the U.S. editions as they include fastener applications and a hardware catalogue at the back.)

Speaking of publications of limited value, the "green book or bible" published in 1948 leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to originality questions about vehicles produced fifteen years earlier, as in your case. It is easy to forget that it is a service part catalogue and not a catalogue of production parts. Over time and certainly over fifteen years, the number of individual parts that Ford continued to provide for service would drop off progressively. year by year, and if multi-year substitutes were released, they often had different characteristics than the original production parts, especially when it came to appearance. An excellent example of this is shock absorbers.

I recommend that you look for a the 1934 version of the chassis parts catalogue ('33 versions are virtually non-existent). The reprint of it is evidently out of print, but they show up from time to time on eBay and elsewhere and the originals aren't all that expensive either and they have the advantage of being larger, more complete, and easier to read than the reprints. While you're at it, I recommend that you obtain an original '33-'34 body parts catalogue as well (I don't recall it being reprinted). There seem to be a fair number of survivors of those original catalogues and their prices are not that expensive.

The photo of a '33 floor that David referred to is below.
 

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Great news..I have to look for those service books.

Does anyone have any idea where I can purchase those plugs for the holes?
Several vendor have them but the are for 1942 cars and act as a cushion for floor and cross member. If I can't find anything, I guess I will have to make something..Maybe a hardware store will have something I can use?
 
The plug buttons shouldn't be too hard to find as they are standard hardware items. They have multiple spring "prongs" around the inner circumference of the underside and the whole thing is stamped in one piece before heat treating to create the spring tension in the prongs. Those of the era were made of steel and subsequently plated.
 
The plug buttons shouldn't be too hard to find as they are standard hardware items. They have multiple spring "prongs" around the inner circumference of the underside and the whole thing is stamped in one piece before heat treating to create the spring tension in the prongs. Those of the era were made of steel and subsequently plated.
I found these..Kind of like a grommet with no hole.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Rubber-Gr...734932?hash=item3cf349c194:g:i~gAAOSwpDdU4UG7

or these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Hard-Rubb...7712cf&pid=100010&rk=1&rkt=24&sd=261779734932
 
The originals were steel and when installed nearly flush with the surrounding surface. Neither of the rubber examples are any where near flush with the surrounding surface nor rightly called plug buttons.

The internet can be a useful self-research tool. For example, www.plugbuttons.com takes you to the site of a company called Johnson and Hoffman who make exactly the metal plug buttons that Ford used to fill the unused holes. How did I find www.plugbuttons.com? Simply by typing in "plug buttons" in the search bar and then left clicking on "search". It isn't always that easy, but it was in this instance.
 
When you're done figuring out the extra holes in the OP's floor, help me figure out what all of mine were for.
 

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Now with my car in my garage with cement floor, I noticed the circle of small holes too.
Could not see them when parked on black top. I'm really getting old Now! The holes are marked in red.
Now that I know they are only extra holes made for different seats on another model I will be plugging them. I found plastic plugs in a local hardware store that fir these smaller holes and the other larger circular hole with a little shaving. The two elongated holes.. I may fill with one large and one small plastic plug. I will use JB weld to hold the plugs in place. Funny but when I first got the car I saw a wood covering over the differental..I long ago bought the steel concave cover.I was told that the original was most likely cloth??? WOW!
 

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