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FLOOR BOARD THIMBLES


dibarlaw

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I just received my 2 thimbles from Gregg Lange who has reproduced some Buick items. Marvel carb floats, Robe rails, Foot rest ends and such.  They came out great! I bought 2 for my Master and Standard touring cars. These are specified for just about all open Buicks from 1912-1925. The originals were die cast and most crumbled away over the years. Gregg had them made in aluminum and brass.

This is what I did to polish them up before I installed the one in the Master since there was still the hole in the board with a remnant of the original.

 I was able to chuck it up carefully in a 4 jaw chuck on my 10" South Bend lathe.

Started with some filing, then #100 emery cloth, #240 down to # 600 W/D abrasive and some WD40. Final polish with some Simichrome polish. This took about a half hour.

 I cut out the linoleum covering the hole and had to use a 1/2 round file a bit to match the contour of the new part. I was able to use the original screw hole!

 Thank you Gregg for your service to the hobby!

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You can hook your finger in it to lift the floor board out.  Easier than prying the board up with a screwdriver and wrecking the board or the covering.

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From the Big parts book, this is the list of cars that these went in.   You will also find it listed in the parts book specific to your year.  Last year being 1925.  Basically for all open models.   Gregg did a really nice job casting these, and they still show the part number cast in the side.   Hugh

59e8cd8b89272_floorboardthimble1.thumb.JPG.a328abae999163f8bb6ab45ca672947e.JPG 

 

 

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My 24-45 does not have this hole... 

 

Until I flipped the first floorboard over, and there is the hole, with the screws hole.  So apparently the linoleum has been replaced and covered over the hole. 

 

Does this gentleman have a stock or inventory of these thimbles? 

 

Don

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Did all the open cars of this era have linoleum on the floor boards? What was it like?

 

My 1923 started life as a closed car so may not be as Buick built the truck in that respect. I'm just wondering if it helps to preserve the floor, then perhaps I should consider adding to my floor. 

 

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Derek, 

     All open cars in 1923 had linoleum on the floorboards in the front of the car.  A touring car had carpeting for the back seat area.  The trim on the floor is aluminum T shaped molding.  It is nailed on to the sides of the floorboards.  Most linoleum was gray, but they also used maroon and perhaps a few other colors. 

Hugh

  floorboard-larry.thumb.jpg.c4912f4472ae5f2cc3922828316d2343.jpg

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On my 1922 Model 48 Coupe the complete passenger compartment has carpeting.  The folding front passenger seat when opened allows access to the battery box directly beneath the seat.  With this arrangement there is no need to have a thimble to lift any of the floorboards.  There is a sheet metal cover over the top of the battery box.  On my 1920 Model K-46 Coupe the complete passenger compartment also has carpeting.  This car is noticeably smaller than the '22 and does not have the fold-up beneath the dash passenger seat.  Instead it has a somewhat small triangular seat that is attached to the right front door pillar.  This seat swings out for the passenger to use and then swings under the dash to allow passengers to enter and exit the car.  The floorboards on this car run the full width of the body and rest on the body sill plates.  There is a drilled hole in the one board to allow sticking one's finger in to lift the board out to gain access to the battery box.  There is no thimble in this car's floorboard.  I haven't got a clue as to why the engineers did not place these thimbles in the closed models floorboards.  The lip around the top certainly did not take up much space and would have barely been noticeable beneath the carpeting.  Why John Beatty's car has the carpeting in the front passenger area probably has something to do with that model being a fancier model than the rest of the open models.  That's just my guess here.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

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John, 

    Thanks for the correction on open models with thimbles.  The 1925 Master parts book lists for the thimbles models 44, 45, 49, 57.  These are 2 person roadster, 5 passenger touring, 7 passenger touring, Town Car.  So correct on Sports open models not having thimbles.   Hugh

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4 hours ago, Leif Holmberg said:

What I can see in my books they are used from at least 1919 up to 1925 .(maybe earlier too?)4 cyl,6 cyl, + Std.and Master models

Leif in Sweden.

 

Might that coincide with the year (1926) that Buick stopped using linoleum and the aluminum edging? 

 

My 27's each have a small access block that can be pulled out to see the battery and check the water.  I use this access hole to pull the floor up.  

 

Also in 27 two boards are cut to fit around the shift housing, where 24-25 has a shift housing hole in the middle of a single board.  Not sure if 26 is similar to 27.

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On 10/18/2017 at 9:43 PM, dibarlaw said:

John:

Here is what the thimble looks like installed and the floor board in place.

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I have now received and installed my thimble, a device I never knew existed, in my 24-45.  This was the last final piece and step in my restoration! (insert sarcastic eye roll here lol). 

 

But the time to get something, is when you see it. 

 

Thank you Gregg for the fast shipping and great work to offer these thimbles! 

 

I am posting APPROXIMATE measurements for the hole location that already existed in my floorboard, under the linoleum.  However it looks like the hole on my floorboard may be located differently than the picture above, and my boards are not currently installed in my car, so maybe my location is wrong and my floor has been replaced, I'm really not sure. 

 

For what it's worth, I took the picture from underneath, and the aluminum trim is at the top and right of the board, the bottom edge of the board has no trim in the picture.  The measurements are made to the edge of the board, even though the red line at the bottom of the picture is crocked, sometimes PowerPoint doesn't cooperate.  The 1 3/8" hole size should be approached slowly, so the top side doesn't end up being too large for the edge of the thimble to cover. 

 

I too had to file and relieve the edge of the hole for a slip fit.  I did a poor job of trimming the linoleum on the money side, resulting in cracked linoleum next to the thimble edge. 

 

Thanks to Hugh also for helping me with this, I am satisfied with the result! 

 

 

 

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Don, 

That looks fantastic.  Thank you for the detailed measurements.  I know how much fun powerpoint can be to work with.    Also thanks for the notes and about being careful drilling this hole.  Now I am starting to wonder about what side (passenger or driver) the thimble goes on, and the edging detail.   It seems the hole is for battery access, so why would it be on the drivers side?  Here is a photo of the bottom side of what looks to be 2 original master floor boards.   There is a cut out notch for some purpose, and the long edging is on opposite sides of the two pieces.  Hugh    

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Edited by Hubert_25-25 (see edit history)
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Hugh:

I thought about that also about the battery access from the other side. I turned the floor board around but it is does not match  up on that side. Still a few things to attend to on the drivers side. Transmission check, clutch adjustment. Besides, the direct access to our batteries requires the shift tower board to be lifted. It appears on my board the hole was bored at a bit of an angle to accommodate the sweep of the thimble.

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7 minutes ago, dibarlaw said:

 It appears on my board the hole was bored at a bit of an angle to accommodate the sweep of the thimble.

 

I noticed that on mine too, but the hole angle didn't help the fit.  Filing of the hole was still required. 

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 stock or inventory of these thimbles?     my 25 roadster  is going to need one also .   wood floor and door posts  is first on my list to make door post might take a few days to make floor boards don't look to bad to make i do have old wood floor most of it  .    if any one has a broken one i will make pattern and cast some

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Sligermachine

 

Gregg Lange has already made some !

That is what Larry started with in his original post

$30 postage paid .

Great fellow to deal with , mine just arrived today

Contact him as follows:

glange0@charter.net

 

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