Fabricating a New Floor

The next project was to deal with the lack of a floor. I started by Cutting out the floor and lower fire-wall from the Ranger cab. This was then cut to size and fit inside the 1938.

This picture shows the ranger floor and the modified firewall.


By doing this I got the transmission cover body mounts and seat mounts all in one operation along with the gas, clutch and Brake pedals and mount. The rest of the floor was then constructed from flat sheets and angle all welded together.

The tricky part was fabricating the rocker panels which had a curve and I had no model to work from only pictures of other cars.



After fabrication of the missing floor all the body panels were again assembled to the body and the laser level was again used to ensure proper center line and alignment of all panels was maintained.

This picture shows the finished floor from the bottom looking forward.



Next the seats were fitted and the rear seat brackets modified as required to fit to the new floor.

Body Mounts

Stage Three Body mounts

As I wanted the body to be isolated from the frame I relocated the body mounts on the frame to match the locations I had chosen on the body. two at the extreme rear of the frame, two at the rear door post, two at the front door posts and two at the very front. To ensure the proper fit and location of frame to body I placed the frame under the body and using pieces of wood etc shimmed the body in place on the frame. Then using a laser level set vertically check to ensure cent re line alignment and correct position of wheels in the wheel wells etc. The body panels were then installed and correct alignment of doors and panels was made. A front sub frame was fabricated to attach the front of the fenders and side panels along with orginal inner fender panels.

Selecting the Frame

Stage two was to determine what frame would work.
After a many hours on the Internet I determined that the Ford Ranger had the same wheelbase and wheel track. next I went to my local used auto parts supplier Arnprior Ottawa Auto Parts (AO)who were most helpful and continue to be in the selection of parts for my car. At AO I was able to measure the frame to ensure that it would work. From AO I was able to purchase an almost complete 2003 Ford Ranger.

The frame was an almost perfect fit, requiring the front to be shortened by 10 inches as it was too long for the front of the vehicle. The engine mounts had to be relocated back 10 inches to position the engine in correct relationship to the fire wall and to fit between the fenders. This also enable the use of the original 38 radiator. The fire wall had to be shortened to provide adequate room for the engine (a 5 lire Ford Mustang engine) and also work well with the floor pan I was to use.

The Starting Point

This was not the car I dreamed of building but it was the right price in the right place at the right time. The car as I purchased it August 14, 2006 had all the main body pieces no floor and an S10 truck frame that didn't quite fit and was slightly crooked.
The first task was to research what frame and engine would fit with the goal to keep it all ford and use a minimum of different models.