body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

[Ian G.]

I've gotten it in my head that I want to do a body off restoration of my 59. Partially because the frame needs some welding and partially because I want the car to be as fully restored as I can do it. I only have a two car garage, and I'd say a 1/3 of it is taken up with shelving full of parts at this point. So I need to figure out a way to lift the body and just keep it lifted for a while, or maybe lift it as I need and then lower again. I saw a few NCRS members use 2 ton engine lift stands to accomplish this. From what I've read, it seems like it should be OK to keep the doors on, so long a they remain closed, right?

I just want to get opinions on how best to go forward with doing that and any advice on firming up the body so I can keep it lifted for long stretches without deforming it. I was thinking of running 4x4 on the bottom of the body and bolting through it to keep the body firm so I can keep it up in the air indefinitely while I do the chassis. If that sounds like a plan, then if anyone already has the bolt hole measurements, that would be great!

The alternative is putting the body in storage and I don't want to shell out $200 a month for a unit

thanks for all your help!

[Jim H.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

You can always make body dolly big enough to go over the chassis. The other option is to load it into a enclose trailer and leave it in there until the chassis is complete.

[John H.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

I've done seven body-off restorations (and have built six other cars) in 2-1/2-car garages, before we finally built a house with my kind of garage.

You just need to be VERY organized, have somewhere to store all the old and new parts (all our homes had full basements), and have a wife that will tolerate parking out in the driveway (in winter cold, snow, and ice) forever.

[Chuck G.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Here's a thought.

This is my 54, on its' side, laying on tires.

This pic is before I enlarged my current garage.

Chuck

[Ian G.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

I'm toying with the idea of getting 20" enclosed trailer. I see them on craigslist for about the price of a year 1/2 of storage. and then I can resell it lol.

I'm in California, so no basement here. no loft either
My Wife has been incredibly cool about the whole thing. I even convinced her to let me keep the hood in the living room under a sheet. I dunno how I pulled that one off.

[Rod K.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Ian,

I'm in the middle of a body-off on my '57 in a single stall garage. Didn't have room to use a cherry picker lift, so I lifted the body using a cable/pulley system attached to the ceiling rafters running through pulleys mounted to 1" X 1" X 1/8 thk angle clamped under the rockers, powered by a worm drive hand winch mounted to the wall (single cable from the winch ran through all the pulleys, slow but effective & a one man job). Removed the doors, hood, trunk, etc., to reduce weight, and to be able to brace the door openings from the upper hinge to the striker location to keep the body from flexing. I don't think you want to lift it w/o bracing the opening.

I raised the body, then set it on the rockers on some specially built saw horses about 36 inches high which allowed me to get underneath with the frame still in place to do under body work. I had mounting location repairs to do, so couldn't support it there. Supported the front with a separate support, just a post (2X4?) to hold it up relieving the tension. I think the rear is strong enough to support itsself w/o add'l support.

My original plan was to further raise the body up against the ceiling while I did frame work, but have since acquired an enclosed trailer as Jim suggested which I'll use as a mobile storage unit for the body or chassis, whichever needs to be out of the way. I'll build a dolly to mount the body when I'm ready to move it out to do the chassis.

If you'd like any further details, please email me.

[Ian G.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

What dimensions did you use for the saw horses? What strategic locations are the legs passsing through?

I like the idea of building a dolly or saw horses over the chassis, as opposed to laying down $3K for a trailer. but I can always resell the trailer, so it shouldn't be too big a loss reselling it given my life will be easier to work on the car.

[Rod K.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Off the top of my head (it's cold out there, even in GA), I used the plastic brackets available at Home Depot, etc, with 2X6 tops and 2X4 legs to make them about 36" high and 6' long (the length of the rocker), plus added a couple of diagonal 1X4 braces lengthwise and across the legs. Position the legs so they'll fit inside the body mount frame extensions. The 36" height is about the max you can go due to the angle of the legs as the legs will fit right up against the frame when the top fits under the rocker. You could go higher by doing something to offset the top. It's a tight fit vertically, but it gave me the room I needed under the body, and you could do a lot of frame work if you wanted.

I followed the same logic of selling the trailer later, resulting in virtually no storage cost, although I'll probably end up keeping mine.

[Alan S.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Hi Ian,
I did my 71's restoration in a large 1 car garage in my basement. I built a dolly that put the body as near the ceiling as possible and I worked around having it in the same garage. I made it easy to move (8" wheels) so I could position as far away from where I was working as I could. Sometimes even having 1 extra foot made a difference.
I found it helpful to have a place (the rest of the basement) to move large parts and boxes of small parts as I worked on them and finished with them. I realized I needed space for the 2 'BIG' pieces but also a 'zillion' small pieces.
I also found keeping things clean in 1 space was an issue, too. I ended up making a small 'dirty' area in the basement.
It really was a wonderful experience.
Regards,
Alan

[Joe R.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Ian, I did the resto on my 54 in a 2 garage space. I kept the bodyon a cart raised about 4 feet off the floor, and stored some of the parts below it. I stored the frame along the wall to enable some working space. I had no problems at all (related to the space, that is!).

[Thomas N.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

You could definately do a resto in a two car garage, as long as you've got room to store all of the parts you take off the car. Interior pieces and soft items take a lot of space, if you want to keep them damage free. You might also want to consider buying a 4 post lift instead of renting a storage trailer. That way you could roll the chassis on the lift, raise it up and have your body underneath or vice versa, and have the other bay free for doing work. Plus, when you are done, you have storage room to keep your restored car in the garage. I have a 4 post lift and find so many uses for it.

[Ian G.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

I'm looking at getting a 4 post lift. I didn't realize you could get one for under 2 grand. That seems like the best way to go for me. Thanks everyone!

[Mark P.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

Ian - I looked into this and ideally I needed an extra 12 inches of ceiling clearance (I have 8.5 ft now) to put my Corvette on it and to put another car under it. If you don't need to stack cars then it will work fine to get your body up above the chassis. If you ever do want to stack cars you can build a recess into your ceiling like framing a big skylight. Your windshield can then go up into this recess. There are some good pictures on the TDB of those who have done this.

Mark

[Thomas N.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

A quality 4 post is a little more than two grand, but what I was alluding to is to take the rental money and apply it toward a 4 post. I think my 4 post with rollers, aluminum ramps, drip trays and such was a little over $3K. I'm not up to date on current prices/availability.

[David P.]

Re: body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

A quality 4 post is a little more than two grand, but what I was alluding to is to take the rental money and apply it toward a 4 post. I think my 4 post with rollers, aluminum ramps, drip trays and such was a little over $3K. I'm not up to date on current prices/availability.

4 post is the way to go. I had 109 inch ceiling height. Got mine from Greg Smith for $1800 including wheels and drip pans.