C2 Body Removal Help

[Andrew P.]

Re: C2 Body Removal Help

Hi Wayne,

I just did a complete body off and back on on my 64 Roadster which was also a rustbucket (now very nice). I can email you tons of photos, plans for the body dolly, etc. I also have the Noland Adams Tape and the Lift Harness. It's not difficult but on a 45 year old car, it's also not a fun job. I have a full-size 4 post also but I can't it high enough to lift the body off the chassis. Harbor Freight's 2ton collapsing lift does the job perfectly. They are about 200.00.

You NEED the support cables and they NEED to be snug. Go to home depot and get 4 eye bolts the same thread size as the door latch and hinge bolts. Get two turnbuckles. Get some steel cable and eight clamps to clamp the cables after you loop the ends through the turnbuckles and eyebolts. The pic above is correct but you don't really need a bracket in-between. Also, temporarily, you can use two adjustable ties (walmart about 4 bucks each) and run them from the upper hinge to the lower part of the deck lid support. Not too tight but snug enough to keep the body from breaking the birdcage in half.

I only made one error in my whole body-off proceedure. If I were to do it again, I would invest in a pre-fab spinning body dolly. It is REALLY hard to detail the birdcage lower rails with 2x6's running the length of them.

-Drew

[Andrew P.]

Re: C2 Body Removal Help

Ah...

And here's the checklist. I also have hundreds of reference photos since my car was in pretty bad shape. I can make available for you to download if you like.

-Drew

[Gerald C.]

Re: C2 Body Removal Help

John,

This link brings you to his website to order his book. I didn't see a link to the article. My question is: I'm considering doing a body pull on my 67 convertible with the hardtop on the car. Do I need to remove the doors to brace the body from flexing or will the hardtop stabilize the body enough in order to prevent it from flexing?

Jerry

[Gerald C.]

Re: C2 Body Removal Help

We were just notified of John's passing. He was always very helpful to me on this site. One of the good guys!

[Richard M.]

Re: C2 Body Removal Help

John,

This link brings you to his website to order his book. I didn't see a link to the article. My question is: I'm considering doing a body pull on my 67 convertible with the hardtop on the car. Do I need to remove the doors to brace the body from flexing or will the hardtop stabilize the body enough in order to prevent it from flexing?

Jerry

Jerry may be best to start a new thread as this one's quite old....

To answer your question though, I suggest you remove the hardtop to reduce weight, but leave the doors on. The body will flex a bit but it's wise to add a ratchet strap(just snug) from the radiator support to the dash area(through speaker hole to the z-bar/birdcage). I usually have the wiper motor out and feed the strap through that hole.

After you drop it back on to a dolly the strap can be removed after supporting the nose lower radiator support mounts. Also be careful of the rear floor area to make sure that's supported from underneath.

Remember the factory photos showing body drop. They picked up the entire C1,2 body assemblies by the rocker panels/wheel wells to install them on the frames.

Rich
PS Post 17 has a attachment, not a link. Download it.