Question: Lifting body off frame?

[retired ralph]

How flimsey is the body off the frame? Lifting points and any pre- cautions? Are there any instructions on what to unhook and how to go about it. Thanks Ralph

 

[Yoda]

Fellow Retiree

Recently, like within the last week :eek we just happen to have another member doing a "Body Off" on his 1969 :dance

Here are the two threads from the C3 General Discussion Forums

We Have Lift-Off and More Photo's of Body Off Thread..

fine69 (Ralph, yep he is a Ralph too ) mentions Noland Adams body lift workbook as one of his reference's for the body off and restoration process

Just an observation (I have NEVER DONE A FRAME OFF!) it looks like Ralph used the body mount points as lifting points. I'm sure fine69 can provide you with great detail on this process :dance AND what I find amazing... he states he did the body lift BY HIM SELF :eek :BOW

Bud

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

You really don't want to separate the body and frame unless you have to, or are just a masochist. Your task list will instantly quadruple in length as will the cost of doing whatever it was you started out doing.

Make sure you pre-arrange support for the nose of the car, it tends to droop significantly.

 

[fine69]

How flimsey is the body off the frame? Lifting points and any pre- cautions? Are there any instructions on what to unhook and how to go about it. Thanks Ralph

The body is pretty stout, but the nose will need to be secured. I used two tie-down straps - attaching them diagonally-- one side connected to the hood-release spring and the other side connected to a radiator core support bolt (criss-crossed).

My biggest obstacle was removing the two #4 rear mounting bolts and #3 on the the right side - I had to grind off the heads.... I'll deal with these later.

For the actual lift, I attached tie down straps to the rocker panel.

Don't forget to remove the emergency brake cables and seat belt cable underneath. Also be sure to remove the front bumper support "horns".
I also removed the gas tank so that I wouldn't have to lift the body as high.