Floorboard and trim questions

[Reno Speedster]

The floorboard in my 22 (not original) was banged up and broken so I made a new one out of some wood I had in the shop. I need to add some cleats on the bottom. Can anyone tell me how wide they are and how far from the ends of the board they were mounted? Also, it appears the cleats were held on with screws or nails, but I can’t tell from the photos which one. Can anyone tell me what was used?

Also, am getting ready to mount the trim piece on around the hole for the parking brake, but I don’t know how it was originally done. From pictures on line it looks like the trim piece around the handbrake may have been installed with small nails but I can’t be sure if this is true or what type.

[Rich P. Bingham]

Somewhere on the forum there's a blueprint of the floorboards that may be helpful. I found slight differences when I replaced them in my '13 runabout, cleats for mine were 5/16" x 1-1/4", nailed on, inboard of the lever slot on the left, similar distance on the right. Looks great !

[Mark Nunn]

Cleats are nailed from the top board and protruding nail points are bent under bottoms of cleats. I will look to see if I still have a drawing.

[Reno Speedster]

Thanks mark, I didn’t find it when I searched the forum.

[Scott_Conger]

this is the general idea...

[Reno Speedster]

Thanks Scott. That helps

[Scott_Conger]

Morgan

when I rewooded my '23, I shiplapped the two boards and boy I'm glad I did. Over 8 years the boards shrunk and now rather than having an 1/8" gap, it is still physically closed via overlap, and no water/mud can come through. I kept most everything true to stock with the exception of shiplap on front floorboards and the turtle deck floor.

[Humblej]

Morgan,
I have the Ford factory drawings for the later floorboards, and I have original 1924 floorboards, so can't say for sure regarding how it was done in 1922, but I would think it is the same. The later Ford factory drawings, floorboards are 5/8" thick [correction: should be 9/16"], made up of random width boards joined with tongue and groove to get the correct width floorboard. The ends of the floorboards have a large groove cut in to take a wood spline. The spline provides a cross grain stiffness and will keep the floorboards from warping and will also strengthen the weak areas near the hand brake and pedal cut-outs. As Mark stated, the cleats are fastened with nails that protrude thru the bottom and are clinched over. The pedal and hand brake trim pieces are riveted on. Floorboards are painted black.

[Mark Nunn]

...floorboards are 5/8" thick, ...

Jeff, I was not sure if the drawing showed 5/8" thick. I tested 5/8" and it was too thick to fit under the floorboard hold-downs on my '26. I had seen 9/16" which is what I milled my lumber to and it fits perfectly. The top of boards are also flush with tops of the surrounding steel components.

[Scott_Conger]

I, too, dealt with the 5/8 vs 9/16 thing and it was 9/16 which fit into the 9/16 rabbet in the sill.

this post has John Regan quoting Benson archived drawings and will give you the exactly correct dimension for your car: https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/8 ... 1257782159

[Humblej]

Oops, my mistake, its 9/16" thick. Scott got me to review the drawing and I had it wrong.

[Rich P. Bingham]

There is probably more uniformity of dimensions for the later bodies. The original floor boards and the sill rebate in my Wilson-bodied '13 are 5/8".