Body Blocks Replacing

J

John Spragg

Member
Has onyone tried to replace the body blocks on a 1930 Coupe with the body on the chassis ? How can I do it and how do I know if I need to do it ? Also how many bolts actually hold the body onto the chassis? Any help much appreciated please, before I replace the engine, I am going back to the original engine mounts as well. John Spragg Australia. Thank you.
 
I wouldn't do it unless you have ones that are rotten, or you have serious door and hood fitment problems.
 
The body is not hard to lift off enough to get to the blocks. You can do it by yourself with a home made U shaped lifting rig and floor jack. Lift the front or rear first, place some 4x4's, and then do the other end. The couple body is fairly light.

Once you get the new blocks in place, align the bolts with the holes in the frame and use new rubber pads. Bolt everything down and then test alignment of the doors and hood. You may have to add more rubber pads in one or more locations. You can cut slots in the pads so that they can slip onto the bolts between the frame the blocks without completely lifting the body off.

I am assuming that the coupe uses the rubber pads like my Fordor. If not, you can add wood shims as necessary to adjust the alignment.
 
The body blocks have rubber pads nailed to them, and over time these pads compress. There should be a gap between the bottom of your Coupe's body and the top of the running board splash aprons. As the rubber pads compress, the gaps gets smaller. Ideally the gaps between the body and splash aprons are equal and about 1/4". As long as there is some gap and the door alignments are good, the blocks are serviceable.
Since the rubber pads on the body blocks compress, the body mounting bolts become loose so you should tighten these bolts. However, be careful not to mess-up the door alignments. Just make the bolts snug.
 
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Bob, The rubber pads on my 1930 Fordor were swished to paper thin in places and so hard that they broke when I tried to bend them. They were on the car since it was built. I had to add additional one each pads at the two cartage bolts near the front and two pads at the fire wall on the drivers side to get my door to align and shut correctly. My hood now fits a lot better. When I had the body lifted I looked at the frame. It is straight.

John, When you have the body lifted, clean up where the serial number is and take a photo for documentation. Depending on where you live, the Department of Motor Vehicles may want to see it. Also, the 4x4's can be short and don't have to go from side to side. Just short ones on each side. Put the 4x4's in locations where they won't interfere with the work that you need to do. The body may sift a little so carefully align where the bolts go when you put it back down. I did not nail the pads in place. I figured they would stay there with the weight of the body and tight bolts. I think the nails were convenient for the assembly crew.

If you just lift the body a little (4 inches) you don't have to disconnect the electrical wires and the speedometer cable. You do have to take the bracket off the steering column and disconnect the rods for the throttle and distributor. And disconnect the fuel tubing to the carburetor. I may have forgotten something so check as you start to lift it.

I lost count, but I think there were 12 or 14 bolts to hold my Fordor body on. I bought a new bolt set from Snyders because the old bolts were bad. (Damaged threads.) The new bolts made it a lot easier to put things back together.
 
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nkaminar said:
If you just lift the body a little (4 inches) you don't have to disconnect the electrical wires and the speedometer cable. You do have to take the bracket off the steering column and disconnect the rods for the throttle and distributor. And disconnect the fuel tubing to the carburetor. I may have forgotten something so check as you start to lift it.
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Disconnect the choke rod from the carburetor or else you'll bend both the choke rod and the GAV fitting on the carburetor it attaches to. Don't ask how I know that. If you have vacuum windshield wipers don't forget to disconnect the vacuum line at the manifold as well.
 
Would be an interesting problem if you need to replace any of the wood. Or the webbing, or the body bolts. Guess Les Pearson on New Zealand would have a solution. Hope the bolts are not frozen. How practical would it be to raise the body? Pretty sure I saw the diagrams for what body blocks are correct at each bolt location in one of Les Andrews manuals ( red).
Hood alignment would be a problem, and the steering column bracket.
 
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The rear fenders might be a problem. There are 2 bolts on each side the attach to the splash aprons and the other 4 or 5 bolts to the body. Unless you are only raising the body an 1/8" or so these could be a problem.
Rusty Nelson
 
Wrndln, That is another thing I forgot. I took the bolts off where the fenders mount to the running boards and splash aprons. Thanks for reminding me. I bought new bolts for this place too.
 
Reproduction body blocks, like any other reproduction part, usually have to be modified somewhat to fit correctly. Had to modify a couple on my roadster.
 
Post 11 is correct, on my roadster they needed some refitting to clear sub rails,angle was incorrect, not much but enough to cause interference, I used a belt sander to reshape,and a mill to reduce width,some wouldn’t fit into sub rail .Originally they were finished with a dull black preserve.Check the originals against the repro to see if they need rework and check the rubber shims,usually 2 on each block.
 
John, When you order the rubber pads and the bolt set, order double. How is the project coming, by the way.
 
If body blocks are rotten then I would seriously consider separating the body from the frame enough to facilitate any and all soft material replacements in this area, ie the frame webbing, pads and blocks. It will all be deteriorated so might as well.
 
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