body off in a two car garage -- feasible?

[Ian G.]

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

I'm going to hang cables/chains from the joists to ensure an earthquake or careless kick to a sawhorse doesn't bring it down. The ceiling is 8 feet. I'll measure the dimensions. It is TIGHT. I'm going to get a plastic shed and stick it in my back yard to free up some room.

In retrospect, I should have pulled off the stainless trim from the driver's door side, as it got a bit banged up, since we had a hard time keeping it stable... I'll need to get a new lower piece.

I plan to just work on it underneath the body. I plan to first finish cleaning the underside of the body with the frame on on its wheels for maximum space, then chock it up again and work on the chassis. I haven't decided yet if I'm goignt o fully disassemble it to get the frame blasted. More likely I will do it in chunks and use a grinder with a nylon wheel to remove the rust/scale and blow the inside out with compressed air. The first part of the chassis I need to do is the rear suspension, because I need to get a mobile welder out to fix some rust-through on the rear driver's side of the box frame...

[Brawley M.]

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

Ian,
I am kind of late getting in on this thread, but I did the body off resto on my 67 in a 2 car garage w/o any trouble. Just have an accurate labeling system and space in the attic to store parts. I used my favorite oak to pull/reattach the body as these pictures can attest. Best of Luck, BrawleyP6230295.jpg

P6230298.jpg

[Roger W.]

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

I see that you attached the 2 front straps to the radiator support. Where did you attach the 2 rear straps?

[Ian G.]

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

convertible top mounting hinge. That made it too heavy in the rear though.

others have stated they used the rear hatch mounting location, but I couldn't figure out what that meant, and I didn't want to hang it from the trunk or rear hatch hinge arms... Anyone know where the recommended rear location is and how to mount it specifically? I want to use that location for the next time when I lower it back down.

[Steven B.]

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

NAIL
-----
HEAD

We had a real hard time getting the body oriented correctly. I'd really like to know what is meant by "mounting position for the trunk/rear hatch"? That's supposed to be the rear mounting spot, but Mark and I couldn't figure out where to connect bolts and clips there, aside from hanging it from the hinge itself and that didn't seem like a good idea, so I used the convertible top bracket. This made the car dip in the back, so we ended up using about four 4x4 stacked on top of each other to lift the back balanced on the rear crossmember to get it straightened out enough. We enlisted a couple friends to help, so it was a mixture of lift party/cherry picker method...

I have not checked Noland's book on Body Lift but that may answer some of your questions.

[Ian G.]

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

yeah I have the book and video. I'll have to go through it again. The video really just shows the team method, and kinda skims the hoist method...

[Ian G.]

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

My Garage is 19 1/2 long and 17 wide BTW.

[Stan E.]

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

I went to the bar and got the six most sober guys to pull the body.Don't forget the spedo cable.Parts car to Duntov in a two stall! Just do it.

[Ian G.]

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

I remembered the speedo, but not the two inner front body bolts. We were scratching our heads trying to figure out why it wouldn't budge :P
I was rushing and should have taken some time to recheck my recheck.

[Tom R.]

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

Curious if any of you two-car garage restos have considered this option or what you might think about its use for a restoration

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