Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

When I bought my coupe it came with a set on new floorboards, plus a box of Drake's floorboard seals. The wooden floorboards fit nicely -- but the fit of the seals is pretty sloppy. They're also quite thick.


Anyone have any experience with these seals? I'm thinking I could cut them up to fit them better, then glue them to the floorboard before bolting them into place.


Has anyone else wrestled with these?

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Yep, I think you got this.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1629855446
Drake's floorboard seals for 1935 Ford Coupe.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Detonator, There is a fair amount of evidence that Ford used an anti-squeak material as a seal for 35 and some 36 passenger car floor boards. This anti squeak was stapled on to the wooden floor board as the images attached show.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

You're right on Don, as usual. That rubber seal thingie is a Back-order Bob product.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

My understanding, from a parts purveyor perspective is that the first 1935 used a stapled on fabric seal and the last 1936 used a sponge seal. The last 1936 floorboard was slightly undersized to accommodate the thickness of the sponge seal. When the change(s) occurred or if they were a running change ("use existing stock" directive) I do not know.


Checking my 1935 Ford parts book shows a 48-700364-B floorboard dust seal, my 1936 Ford parts book shows a 68-700364 (RH) and 68-700365 (LH). As the floorboards are asymmetric that would imply the 48- is a "universal strip" and the 68- are form fit.


Note that the 48-700364-B implies there was a 48-700364 or 48-700364-A, so who knows what all changes were made (Until Don mines that information from the archives).


My conclusion... you have a 1935 floorboard and a 1936 seal, and the two do not play well together.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1629897476

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...p;d=1629897476
Photos supplied by Don Rogers.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

I have nothing to add to this thread except that I am constantly amazed at the tremendous amount of knowledge on this forum. In addition to the known experts, many others are also very knowledgeable.

Congratulations to all of you!

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Don, the wooden floor boards/toe boards in three of my original '35 sedans have what appears to me to be a typical felt type anti-squeak material stapled around the outer perimeter of the boards.
One of my '35's has a sheet metal toe board on the left, driver's side, and I don't believe there is, or ever was, any anti-squeak material around this board.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

John, I believe that the steel floor board also used anti-squeak material. They used rivets instead of staples to hold on the material. Those rivets are still evident in the enclosed backside view of the steel board.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Don,


The steel toe board in my early '35 phaeton, of which I am the second owner, had much of the riveted-on webbing intact.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

"John, I believe that the steel floor board also used anti-squeak material. They used rivets instead of staples to hold on the material. Those rivets are still evident in the enclosed backside view of the steel board."- Don Rogers

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1629950564

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Update: I was able to make the BD rubber seals work -- after cutting them up, punching holes where they were missing, etc etc. Thanks to Don's original diagram I edge-stapled the seals instead of face-stapling them, which gave me a good flush edge all the way around the top of the floorboard. Thanks everyone for your insight! Now...on to the transmission cover.

Re: Need some '35 floorboard seal insight
 

Don, thanks for the clarification on this. I'll check that sheet metal toe board to see if I can find any remnants of the anti-squeak material, possibly still attached at those rivets.