Body bolt horror stories

[Ross F.]

I would like to hear from members about nightmare body bolt removal stories, and, of course how they were overcome.
I have fallen victim to "while I'm there sickness", on a 75 small block convert no less. Too many items just needed to be fixed, fuel lines, Rad core support, every bushing is shot, etc. So, of course, while I'm at it, why not clean up that frame.
I've already sawn out the trailing arms, two cuts each bolt because everything is frozen to everything. so, I am gaining experience.
So, now, body mounting bolts. I've been soaking them all for days with PB Blaster. In my first attempt I removed passenger #3. That's where good things ended. #1 driver snapped, but I was able to remove the bolt. #1 passenger snapped, the bolt remains frozen to the body mount. #3 driver loosened until it started turning the nut in its cage. The #2 bolts don't scare me, if they snap, I think I can get to the cages with the body off. Its the #4 bolts that give me the shakes. The Rivet on the body supports and weak, and the supports themselves look shot. So I need some confidence building from the group.
Also I made the decision to remove the frame late, after removing the suspension and sending it away. So, the car is on stands, on a for post lift. I am thinking of strapping the body to the garage ceiling joists. the garage has an apartment above and the joists are 2 by 12, and the steel support beam in the garage is positioned bisecting the joists. I dusted off my LTU ME degree and I am confident that I won't pull the garage down around my ears. So... I am planning grabbing the birdcage fore and aft of the doors, basically the #2 and #3 body mount positions, with straps connected to floor joists, an lowering the car on the lift.
All comments are welcome, including "why am I doing this to a SB '75"

[Chuck R.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

Wish there was an easy answer Ross but the engineers of these plastic beauties were (in my humble estimation) a bunch of sadists.

It's been over ten years since I pulled the body off my 68 but as I remember, I use my die grinder with small wheels to take the heads off the body bolts so I could get the body off and out of the way. Then I heated up the bolt shanks with a torch and wound the remains out of mounts 1-3. The #4 mounts I then just soaked with Kroil penetrant and slowly began the process of gently working back and forth until they released it took me days and even then, one of the nuts spun in the cage. Patience and a delicate touch is key Ross.

Good luck with them.

Chuck

[Bill M.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

on my 66 convertible i had a heck of a time removing the cap screws just in front of the rear wheels. they spun the cage bolts inside the brackets. could not use a sawsall because the rubber cushion allowed the bolt to move back and forth without cutting. finally used a dremmel with small wheels and cut the heads into many pieces and chipped them away. it took about 40 hrs to remove all of the mounting bolts.

[Michael M.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

Because thereare no BB '75s"?

[Graeme B.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

Hi Ross , my # 4 caged nut spun so I picked off the cage and found a 12 point socket that fitted tightly onto the square nut.Maybe I was lucky but it worked for me.

[Ross F.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

Thanks Graeme,
But I guess I'm past that point. Both #4 bolts were soft as butter and snapped immediately. Everything was frozen together. I have everthing disconnected and I am going after the #2 mounts tomorrow. I hope after the body is off, that I can deal with the nuts and cages without too much effort. Car is fighting me every step of the way.

[Paul J.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

I would like to hear from members about nightmare body bolt removal stories, and, of course how they were overcome.
I have fallen victim to "while I'm there sickness", on a 75 small block convert no less. Too many items just needed to be fixed, fuel lines, Rad core support, every bushing is shot, etc. So, of course, while I'm at it, why not clean up that frame.
I've already sawn out the trailing arms, two cuts each bolt because everything is frozen to everything. so, I am gaining experience.
So, now, body mounting bolts. I've been soaking them all for days with PB Blaster. In my first attempt I removed passenger #3. That's where good things ended. #1 driver snapped, but I was able to remove the bolt. #1 passenger snapped, the bolt remains frozen to the body mount. #3 driver loosened until it started turning the nut in its cage. The #2 bolts don't scare me, if they snap, I think I can get to the cages with the body off. Its the #4 bolts that give me the shakes. The Rivet on the body supports and weak, and the supports themselves look shot. So I need some confidence building from the group.
Also I made the decision to remove the frame late, after removing the suspension and sending it away. So, the car is on stands, on a for post lift. I am thinking of strapping the body to the garage ceiling joists. the garage has an apartment above and the joists are 2 by 12, and the steel support beam in the garage is positioned bisecting the joists. I dusted off my LTU ME degree and I am confident that I won't pull the garage down around my ears. So... I am planning grabbing the birdcage fore and aft of the doors, basically the #2 and #3 body mount positions, with straps connected to floor joists, an lowering the car on the lift.
All comments are welcome, including "why am I doing this to a SB '75"

I know it better as the "might-as-wells", from Bob Vila.

I soak my bolts in Kroil, usually giving them a spray for a few weeks up to the point that I try to loosen them. Kroil is a much better penetrant than PB Blaster.

I think that your ceiling joists are probably 2x10, as opposed to 2x12. The only reason to use 2x12s in that application would be for long spans, and you said that you have a steel beam so the spans shouldn't be that long. What you didn't tell us is the joist spacing, which will make a difference. However, if the garage was built to code, the floor uniform live loadings are somewhere around 40 psf, and can be up to 2000 lbs for a concentrated load. So I wouldn't worry about supporting the body with two of the joists, even if they are 2x10. Remember, the bolts are the weak point, and if you go through the side of the joist, the neutral axis is halfway up.

[Patrick N.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

I'll take a slightly different approach- it seems some cars want to be restored and give up their bolts easily, other cars fight you tooth and nail! This 68 I'm doing has been a real treat to work on, I have to say there has been less than 10 bolts that gave me a hassle. The worst bolt was the right rear body mount in the wheel well pocket.

+1 for Paul's comments on doing a Kroil pre-soak

[Phil D.]

Re: Body bolt horror stories

rubber cushion allowed the bolt to move back and forth without cutting. finally used a dremmel with small wheels and cut the heads into many pieces and chipped them away. it took about 40 hrs to remove all of the mounting bolts.

On my brother's 72 which was originally a Michigan car, the #1 and #2 came out surprisingly easy. #3 and #4 we had to cut. #3 backed out a half an inch and wouldn't go any farther. I tried cutting the head of one into pieces with a dremmel and it took a long time and used up a bunch of cutting wheels. Then my brother bought a 90 DEGREE ANGLE ADAPTER for the dremmel. He wedged a small block of wood into the pocket to keep the bolt from wobbling and cut through the shank of the bolt in a matter of seconds.

#4 spun the nuts, breaking the flimsy riveted cages inside the cabin. I climbed inside the car to get leverage on the nuts while my brother tried to turn the bolts from outside. We managed to back one out a little before it seized but the other side presented an extra challenge as the aluminum body mount puck was frozen to the bolt. We had to use the dremmel to cut the pucks into sections and break them off. I haven't yet tried to get the remains of #3 bolt shanks out of the frame. We bought a rust-free frame rather than try to spend so much time and effort to salvage the original so the old frame is still in the back yard.