Bradley Floor Pans

[philipswanson]

I am thinking about replacing the floor pan in my 40 wagon. I see Bradley makes a pan for this car and many others. I was wondering if anyone has used there floor pans and how they worked out.

[alanwoodieman]

used them in my 40 wagon--used the full style

[rotorwrench]

The problems folks have had with Paul Bradley are very numerous. If a person did a search you can see that his service is problematic. He doesn't make enough parts to have them on the shelf. If you want one of his products you have to stand in a very long line and wait. When you pay up front, that makes it a big problem for folks that want the part within the time it takes to ship it to you. Folks have waited over a year and calling him likely just puts you farther back on the burner. His products are good but is business model sucks.

Some of the 1940 stuff is reproduced by other sources but I don't know about the wagon. It's mostly the coupe & related styles that are available.

[flatjack9]

His product is outstanding. I just had a friend order floors for a 39 and got them right away. I put them in my 36 years ago.

[swoopNZ]

Go to Dennis Carpenter ( or Bob Drake ) and get the full front floor section.
Saves having to mess around with welding the old tunnel section back in.
Looks much cleaner.

[philipswanson]

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Originally Posted by swoopNZ

Go to Dennis Carpenter ( or Bob Drake ) and get the full front floor section.
Saves having to mess around with welding the old tunnel section back in.
Looks much cleaner.

Yes but is the front section the same in the wagons as the coupes/sedans????

[40larry]

The 1940 wagon front floor is different from the other models. I installed the Bradley floors in my 1940 wagon and they worked out ok. I bleieve he has copied the 1939 floor design as the center sheet metal cover opening over the transmission matches the longer 1939 design. The only choice you have is Bradley... if you get one.
40larry

[JR48]

I'm still waiting for my (pre-paid) order of floor pans - it must be at least 2 years now! I've tried calling, but it's a little tricky dealing with this long distance from New Zealand, however, I'd still like to hear from them.

[hotrodA]

The best way to deal with Paul is face to face, looking at the parts.
If he says that he has what you need in stock, I would try and find someone who could pick them up, pay for them with your $$, and ship them to you. I've bought from him twice, and got lucky. I happened to fall in to the cycle for his making what I needed. I also called every week for six weeks and kept the pressure on him. Getting his phone person, Marie, to relay messages is futile. They fall on deaf ears.
Floor pans are NOT his only business, so do not expect prompt service.

[philipswanson]

Did you guys who used the Bradley pan on wagons, did you have to remove the body from the frame? I need to do it with the body still on. This would be my route if I do it. What about bracing?

[Kube]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

Did you guys who used the Bradley pan on wagons, did you have to remove the body from the frame? This would be my route if I do it. What about bracing?

Bracing? Yes, and a lot of it - the prime concern being to keep the cowl where it needs to be. I'd suggest doing it piece by piece vs. a huge "chunk" at one time.
You'll probably need Bradley as the pans that the others reproduce are not the same as a wagon.

[philipswanson]

I meant to say, I would leave the body on the frame. I want to do it as a complete car minus the interior, brake lines and gas tank. Is this doable without allot of baceing?

[rotorwrench]

Is your wood framing still intact or has the body been disassembled? The reason I ask is to know whether this is the reason you want to keep it together or not.

Wood bodies add a bit of a problem to floor repairs. A person welding on there doesn't want to catch the wood on fire. I would imagine that the only thing that could be braced by normal methods would be the cowl. All the other stuff depends on the condition of the wood structure. Bracing of the wood structure would complicate things if you want to keep repairs to a minimum. Folks that scrap all the wood & start over likely wouldn't have to worry about replacing the floor as much. But some form of alignment would still have to be considered during the build up of the body.

I was looking at this guys rig and man what a brace he has there. http://www.montereyspeedandsport.com/album/1940-woody/

[philipswanson]

It's a totally original/restored car. The wood is beautiful as is the car as a whole. Only trouble is the restorer never fixed the floor right. Only pop riveted in repair panels. He did a decent job but pop rivets are everywhere underneath. Maybe I should just weld in the repair pieces properly and get rid of those nasty pop rivets and leave his panels in. They are not correct however. I definitely don't want to take the whole car apart.

[Kube]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

I meant to say, I would leave the body on the frame. I want to do it as a complete car minus the interior, brake lines and gas tank. Is this doable without allot of baceing?

Rotor has this exactly spot on in his advice. If the body is to remain on the chassis, very little bracing is required. Keeping the cowl in place is the priority.

Me? I can't quite imagine how you are going to do a good job with the body on the frame. How will you finish the welds on the bottom side? Paint?
Perhaps you can post a photo or two as to what you have there.

Wagons are an entirely different "animal" than other models as anyone that's restored one properly will testify to. Let's see some photos and I'm certain there's a few of us that will be able to offer proper advice.

I hate to assume but am thinking you are simply looking to patch your floors. If that's the case, I suppose the direction you're inclining to take will suit your needs.

[philipswanson]

I can e mail you some pictures of the floor. I don't know how to post them to the Ford Barn.

Thanks, Phil

[rotorwrench]

A fellow I once knew would weld in pieces of metal as small as a dime to patch a hole on the old Model A bodies he liked to restore. The patches got larger as the holes got larger. As long as the metal was thick enough to act as a proper structure and be weldable, he wouldn't remove it. Now I've seen plenty of metal parts where this isn't practical but it just depends on how bad the cancer is. He showed me how he hand formed a lot of shapes to replace the rust and since then, I've gotten pretty good a doing it myself. I've made floor bucks to form my own floors using draw steel material of correct gauge. I don't know how Mr Bradley does his but he may do a lot of his own forming. I don't think he has dies and presses for them but he may have partial dies that he has made up to form specific indentations. I know I wouldn't wait for Mr Bradley to do anything for me. My process is slow but it's good enough for my purposes. I use an aircraft torch with oxy/acetylene to do all my welding just like my mentors have in the past.

Posting pictures is fairly easy as long as the jpg file isn't too large. If you push the go advanced button it will bring up a lot of options including a way to add attachments. Select that option and attach your file as long as it isn't too big.

[philipswanson]

[QUOTE
If you push the go advanced button it will bring up a lot of options including a way to add attachments. Select that option and attach your file as long as it isn't too big.[/QUOTE]

????????????????? Way beyond me.

[v8fordman]

Actually, Mr. Bradley has two presses which roll beads into floorpans...one groove at a time. Each groove has its own die to form the correct groove profile. Now for all of the critics, let's think about how many different floorpans he makes..how many different lengths of grooves...how many different shapes of grooves...do I need to go on? Not only that, but the location of the sheet metal blank on the press must be symmetrically placed on the opposite side of the press for opposing grooves to be correct once finished. (How do I know this...my friend blanked out Paul's pans on his laser and I occasionally helped with the laser) To put all of that into perspective...if a pan has 20 grooves and a run of 100 pans is done, that means Paul and someone else (it takes two people on the press for most pans) has to pick up and place on the press, future floorpans, 2000 times. Want to make some floor pans? Labor intensive, huh? I think his pans are as good as any on the market, but I will agree that there shouldn't be any money exchanged until a part is ready to be shipped.

As a maker of some reproduction parts, all critics should take their turn at making a few. There have been numerous threads on this forum criticizing Bob Drake, Dennis Carpenter and other folks. I don't think anyone should criticize others until they have put their money on the line to make a part. Each time a new part is made, there is risk involved with the one who steps up and makes it. It's easy to sit in a recliner and talk about how bad something is made or why don't they make this or that? Some of those same folks are the ones who have some of the most beautiful cars and claim to have restored them when in reality all they did was pay the bill for someone else to do the work. They couldn't weld in a patch panel or use a body hammer if it hit them in the head...much less get their hands dirty.

[Tinker]

Many yrs of seeing a bradley post, I'll give my observation.

You will receive them or you'll be shifted into the no man's land. I can only imagine the calls every day. So do you say yes? Yes send me your money... as they are near to be stocked.......only to be working on a run of other pans? I don't know. Maybe pick 2 pans for a yr run and advertise this is it, and next yr we are doing these yrs. I'm sure the signup would be huge and you'll be back logged, but why take a full check if you aren't going to send anything back.

Currently you have to be local or; lucky to when they are made. Are they hard to make and are they best pans available currently... YES. But is 5 yrs okay.... maybe, maybe not. Best of the best.








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