Railroadman

This is a long one. Yesterday was the long-awaited body lift. I'll describe my adventure, point out a few things which are problems in doing this, and of course since you love pics.....

First - a word of thanks for several on here, and if I have left anybody out I'm sorry, the whole group has been helpful. Bob, (82x-FireVette) was most generous with the lifting sling, Barry (Hermn59) sent a great checklist. Chris (Ellwood13) and I have been comparing notes as we are both roughly at the same stage of the work. And Kent (OutOfSpec) not only walked me through modification of the lifting strap, but he was the lucky (???) one to get the panicked phone call when the car was in mid-air! He talked ME down and the car UP. Thanks guys!

Between buddies who are not yet retired, and one who is out of state, the guy thing didn't work for yesterday. I used the helper who has done everything from re-railing boxcars to chain-towing an old truck to putting up with me for many years. She's a keeper!

I built a body dolly using the Noland Adams plans, but with 15" vertical instead of 14". There are 2 problems in this plan. First is he made the plans for a coupe, and a convertible needs additional support on the rear end. So I found a diagram on line with dimensions, and improvised an addition for the back similar to what Adams did for the front. Since the body hangs down lower than the rear-most mounts, I used 2 pieces of 4x4 rather than a horizontal 2x4 which would not have worked. Here's what I wound up with:







The second problem is if using a motor hoist as I did, the legs of the hoist extend under the car and thus under the dolly and there is not enough clearance. I used 4" casters, probably 8" would have been right if you can find them.

Because the Corvette Central lift sling comes with such long straps I could not use it as made. On Kent's advice, I ordered 4 ratchets (" 2" Ratchet Short End With Wire Hook") from Ratchet Straps USA, who can be found on line. They're from Ohio. I cut the sling and made 4 straps. I used a clevis to gain 6" of height, I put that on the motor hoist instead of using the hook that was on there. I put towels between the 2 forward ratchets and the windshield, but once the lift started the ratchets were no longer in contact with the glass.

Another issue is the hooks on the straps may be fine for a perfect car, but with rust and crud and distortion, I had to hammer them on. Forget about trying to spread the hooks wider unless you have a good press or Jaws Of Life - that's some tough metal and it just sprang back to original when I tried altering it.


SO IT'S TIME TO START THE LIFT:

I figured to stop every 4 pumps on the hoist and do a walk-around. It did not take long to find a problem - despite having the checklist, and despite looking everything over, I had only taken the rear bumpers off, NOT the brackets. So things came to a halt while I snapped off 6 bolts, ground off a 7th, and was able to maneuver past the last one. It was at this task I found the jury-rigged reducing valve for my old air compressor must have a small orifice - I had pressure but not enough volume to run my impact gun.



So onward and upward, I did find one ground wire I had missed, easily unbolted. But as the car went up, the rear was way higher than the front and I started to get a bit nervous. OutOfSpec had kindly offered his phone number and I recalled seeing HIS car with quite a tilt in the lift thread ( https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...questions.html ) . So a time out was called, my wife took a couple pics of mine and he sent some shots of his project and we decided to keep going. The tilt reached a certain degree and then everything came up at that same angle.



Somewhere along here I decided it would be easy, and advisable, to remove the gas tank. Used an angle grinder to cut the straps (and NOT the tank itself! ) which took about a minute.

Now I bought the car knowing the frame had serious rust issues and figured I would likely have to replace it. In the course of prep work a couple weeks back, the right side kickup let go. SO I rigged a couple small ratchet straps to hold it more or less together. With the body well up in the air, I put my "engineer" at the throttle of the F150 and prepared to pull the chassis out. Note the wood blocking forming a ramp to get the rear tire up, over and down past the legs of the hoist.



Well, the first tug determined that the wheel did not want to climb the ramp, and was going to slide the hoist, body and all, ahead of it out the door. So a Plan B was needed. I jacked up each corner of the chassis and put wheel dollies under each tire, then rolled the hoist and body back as far as I could. By sliding the chassis on the dollies the other way, I got them clear of the hoist legs and was able to have her gently back the truck up pulling the chassis with a chain. Stopped a couple times to re-position the chassis to clear the door. Worked nice as could be.....

UNTIL






Well, that settles the question of whether that frame can be saved after all!

SO at that point we just pulled the whole shebang far enough to roll the body dolly in.

I mentioned the height issue on the body dolly. We used wood blocking under each wheel to gain 4 inches off the floor.



After that, it was just a case of slowly lowering the body down, stabilizing it and lining up the dolly. The dolly kept wanting to roll off the blocks so I finally screwed a couple of 1x4 boards into the blocking.to prevent the wheels from moving. Here's the better half steadying the nose.



After it was set down, we rolled the hoist out and then used 2 floor jacks to raise the body dolly just enough to remove the blocking.

Final pic:



A ton of cleaning up, putting away etc yet to do but that was enough for yesterday. I am building another shed to store the mower, chairs, and assorted crap but that will take a while so for now I'll have to deal with moving stuff out. And there also is the small matter of the chassis. Or should I say the two half-chassis'!

Sorry if this is longer than "War And Peace" but 1) thought it was quite an adventure and 2) I really hope it helps the next guy to tackle the project. I'm reasonably handy but by no means an expert so if I can do it, you can too.

I'll be glad to pass any experience I can on down to those planning something similar. And thanks again to those who helped me make this happen.

dmaxx3500

good job,keep up the pics

elwood13

65tripleblack

Good job! If the rest of the frame is in good shape, have you looked into a vendor like Street Shop who might be able to supply a new middle section that can be welded in.

TIP: Laying down an old carpet under your work area will make the project much more comfortable.

I had to do some work on the left horn, weld in new rail end plates both sides, fabricate new # 3&4 body mounts and weld in a new rearmost crossmember. Some work with body filler after sandblasting, as well as a three step process using hi-build primer resulted in a product as smooth as a baby's ****.

Patrick03

Thanks for sharing your story. I've enjoyed following the adventure. My body off may happen this fall and I've learned a lot from your postings. Your frame cracking in half must have hurt to see! Ouch! Are you going with a new one from that company in Michigan that makes them?

Patrick

Rob_64-365

I may pull mine this weekend, so i am following closely!

Railroadman

At this point I'm undecided, if a decent used frame comes along at a reasonable price I'll go that way. There's a lot of stuff to do before I have to make a final decision so I'm not feeling under the gun.

As for the frame breaking, the seller told me before I made the trip that two people had turned it down because of the frame. At inspection I could tell it was not good, but couldn't say just HOW bad. I just assumed for price negotiations that I would have to replace it. So it really was not devastating because I was prepared for it.

Rob, good luck this weekend and if I can answer any questions I'll try.

firstgear

The worst is over......it’s great to have a solid mate who is more than willing to assist....mine does as well and its great to have them help! Enjoy the adventure!

MOXIE62

I would not put a dime in that frame. If it's that bad on the outside, think how bad the inside is.

Rob_64-365

Thanks, i hope to get it lifted anyway, i had the #'s matching engine being redone, so I decided to do an underbody clean up this winter, i have redone all the rear suspension, and carrier, they all turned out great, and my frame looks really solid, i just want to clean and paint it, so i got a case of the "while I'm at it's" & ordered the dual master cylinder, all new stainless brake lines, offset trailing arms, and frt & rear disks.... i purposely ordered the ones where the body has to come off, cuz i am too OCD!! and bolt on ko's with new redlines, just cuz they were not available foe 64's, and i would like for that to bother the purists.

Railroadman

TripleBlack, hard to believe that's the same frame in the before and after!

Moxie, I agree, that is not worth fixing, although the front half seemed solid what little I bothered looking at.

One thing I did before making the move was took a wire brush looking for the frame number. I'm not into the "numbers matching" mystique but since it was apparently all original, if it was worth it I would have considered it. But I could not see any trace of the number. It's only a 250 hp car and never going to be worth a ton of $ even if the frame # was there. So my inclination at the present is keep my eyes open for a 65-67 chassis and convert to disc brakes in the process.

Railroadman

Rob, that dreaded "project creep" will get ya every time. "As long as I'm doing A, might as well go ahead and do B,C and D while I'm at it!"

I SAID I only want a POS I can drive and enjoy, but I'm already starting to figure on adding items to the list.

Rob_64-365

Yeah, I have a very original car, it was originally riverside red (i bought it as is) but when I looked into having the trailing arms rebuilt, it didn't make sense to go back to drums, as I will never have the car judged, or at a show, so that right there made my decision.

midyear

just remember that the 64 frame has 2 additional body mounts that wont be on a 65-67 frame (or 63). each year has a few particulars on the frame that makes them unique, 65 runs the lines in the same place, 66-67 lines are run different, 67 the emergency brake stuff is different, and all the 65-67 frames will have a different front crossmember for the big block balancer clearance.

gilbybarr

Wow....that picture of the frame broken in half. Just be glad you were not driving it at the time it decided to give up the ghost! Good luck with your project!

Subfixer

My 64 frame was just as bad, it just didn't break when I lifted the body off.
I ordered a back half from Vette Products of Michigan. My front half was solid.
New replacement was from the transmission cross member back.

I was looking for my old post, but the photobucket pics are gone.....

Railroadman

Am I correct that those 2 extra mounts are not necessary? If you have the 5 on each side, the two toward the middle are not critical?

Railroadman

By the time we got done yesterday we were both pretty well whipped. I hope to get out there in the next day or two and spend some time. My impression so far was as you say - the front did not really seem bad at all but it should be much easier to get at it now.

Easy Rhino

Just Wow! I'm glad that frame didn't let go while driving it!

Looks like your drive shaft, exhaust pipes, and brake lines are the only things keeping your rear third in the same zip code.

I do know where what appears to be a decent C2 frame is for sale (no connection).

I appreciate your lengthy and detailed post. It will help when I go to lift mine someday.

ptjsk

Wow, that's great! Nice milestone getting it off that old frame and onto the solid dolly.

Now, you know for sure the way you're going (or not going), with the old frame.

You will be turning the corner soon, once you decide on a new frame.

Pat