wood body blocks???

WILLIE

WILLIE

Member
Hey guys, I need a little help here. I've never scene a forum with so much combined experience such as here. So I know someone can explain these body blocks. I have a '29 briggs fordor. With the first block in place, (slid inside the sub-rails), the body sets flat on the frame with the doors a little out of place. But it looks like when the rest of the blocks go in place, it will raise the body up 1 1/2" or so, and it will be at a strange angle. Can someone please explain. Thanks... Oh... And some of you old pros. don't laugh, some of this stuff is new to us kids... :D
 
The Briggs and Murray '29 Fordors all have a wooden subframe which is an integral part of the body structure. It is my experience that the subframe rests directly on the steel chassis frame with only several layers ( as required for leveling ) of fabric reinforced 1/16" rubber between the subframe and the fabric pad which is on the steel chassis. Could you post a few pictures of the body blocks you are using?

Gar Williams
 
Hey guys. The frame is very straight oddly enough. Gar, I think you have answered my question. I ordered the body block kit for all '28/'29 passenger cars except Tudor Sedans. I just assumed that they were for my fordor Briggs. But it looks like you are right. These cars don't use the body blocks. I just need the welt and to use shims to aline the doors. I'm learning as I go. Thanks...:o
 
The original rubber pads on my '29 Murray 155A Town Sedan and a friends Briggs 60B Blindback were made up of layers of 1/16" fabric reinforced rubber. Most of the locations had four layers of the rubber.

I purchased identical fabric from McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com) and ended up using four to six layers at each body bolt location to align the doors and cowl. You will have to play around with the number of pads at each location pads to get were you want to be. There is very little "crush" in the reinforced material which is not the case with the material supplied by even the "best" parts houses. The pads were actually tacked to the body subframe originally. I glued mine together since I didn't have the luxury of a high "body drop".

Gar Williams

Here is the material http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-rubber-sheets/=izj6vb
 
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I have a variety of original pads that I don't have time at present to document. However I've never found pads thinner than 1/8". I found I had a complete set from a Fordor so I took a couple pics.

body_pads-fordor.jpg


body_pads-fordor-2.jpg


These are plain rubber. In my stuff I also have some with a single reinforcement layer but also 1/8" thick.

body_pads-fordor-3.jpg


These are 1/8' reinforced pads. Note they had to shim one side higher to raise the rear of the door.

body_pads-fordor-4.jpg


Unfortunately these were still tacked to the floor sill when the body was painted. They are 3/16" with a single reinforcement layer. This is the most common thickness found for the rectangular pads. They obviously had to raise both center pillars (two pads each side) for proper fit.

It's important to note that the bodies were pre-shimmed on jigs when the bodies were constructed and only occasionally changed when the body was fitted to the chassis.
 
Bob: You can select whichever thickness that you prefer. The ones on my '29 Murray Fordor were made up from 1/16" material. Gar Williams
 
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