flooring question - replacing truck's wood flooring

I just did wood flooring in my Pete about 2 months ago. I bought the engineered Bruce flooring from Lowes (http://www.lowes.com/pd_24143-972-A...uctId=1171499&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1) which worked perfectly. After removing the seats, pedals, and other things (seatbelts, center cup holder, and air bulkhead fittings) I sponge mopped the sheet metal with hot soapy water and then wiped up and excess with clean rags. Starting in the middle of the truck I started test fitting pieces with them going front to back and working my way out to the doors while drilling or cutting around all the places that need to be. I worked from the center for a couple of reasons. One was just simplicity of a starting point and having the floor square with the cab compared to the door jams of a 379 Pete that are angled. The other was removal of the shifter tower cover if servicing is needed (more on this later). For the onger runs that needed more than one piece of wood I tried to make sure that each one was "locked in" by either a bolt/hold down or fitted tight against the firewall. Once the whole floor was laid and I was sure the door thresholds fit fine and kept the floor tight I used masking tape and marker to label each peice as I removed it from the truck.

Once test fitting was done I trimmed the tongue off of the peices that were in the very center of the cab around the shifter. This was done so I could "pop" the four center floor peices out and be able to access the shifter without removing anything else. Next I varnished every peice individually all the way around to seal them from mositure and hopefully control expansion/contraction. While the varnish was drying I placed heat shielding to help block some of the engine/drivetrain heat (http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/70522/10002/-1). On top of the heat shiled I reused the foam backing from my old factory carpet. This left me at the perfect height to meet up with the bottom of the kick panels. Reinstalling the floor after it dried was pretty straight forward...just take your time so not to get it out of order. You probably will have to use spacers under the seats to keep them at the correct positions and not draw the floor all the way down. You want the seats to have some pressure on the floor, but to much can be bad and distort it.

All in all it took me about 2 whole days to do it all the way I did. It wasn't hard just time consuming to check and double check all measurments/cuts. Do it right the first time so you won't have to spend time correcting future issues. A radial arm saw or miter box is highly suggested so that all cuts are square. Sorry for the long post.

 

The finished product

 

wow, that looks nice!
Not what I'd expect to see in a cab, more like what would be in an rv... or a house! But then, I've only been in a couple of big trucks...
How hard were the pieces to fit back together after you sealed them?
mary

 

I would consider an underlayment. You can go to Lowe's or Home Depot and they sell a foam padding to put under them type floors. It's like 1/8" thick. It's more for sound deadening than anything. But it will add a tiny bit of R-value. It's sold in the same dept.

Looks good PT.

 

The pieces fit together fine after the varnish. I was worried at first about the fit, but it all turned out fine. The floor lookes even better at night with the red LED bullseye light shining from under the dash.

I thought about the underlayment, but decided on using the carpets old foam since it was already available. Plus it put the final floor at the correct height to match the kick panels.

A word of advice though. Some may say to glue the floor down or together...DON'T! The floor needs to float and move around a little.

 

So the boards are only connected to each other by tongue and groove? and the seats are bolted down... interesting!
mary

 

Yes the boards are tongue and groove with the boards held down by the seats, center cup holder, pedals, shifter tower cover, door sill plates, and kick panels. Its actually pretty simple when you get it done. I looked at going with the RockWood flooring panels, but those were close to $1,600 and had a center trim panel that I would of stepped on everytime I got in/out of the sleep. I was not to impressed with their design.

 

I check out"RockWood flooring panels" on the net...
Dang!
I thot some Harley owners had way too much chrome!
Way nice looking stuff, tho....
Mary

 

Nice floor but not my personal taste