Maine Vette

Over the course of my vacation I decided to pull the body of my C3 from its chassis one last time to make installation of the engine and transmission easier, and to allow me to finish painting the underside of the body. As I started work on lifting the body I thought it would be neat to create a time lapse video showing how the lifting frame I developed works. Here's the end result. I can't get the video to embed so you'll need to click the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZBRwEFZpKM

A bit of background: When I first started my project I lifted the body from the chassis using an engine hoist with pretty poor results. This method left the nose unsupported, was cumbersome, and simply didn't have enough lift to allow the body to clear the gas tank and carburetor. In the end I had to drop the chassis onto the rotors by removing the tires so the body would clear the chassis. Moreover, the engine hoist was maxed out on it's lifting capacity and needed a little help when sliding the body off the frame rails. It just wasn't a good solution.

I also knew that at some point I would want unrestricted access to the underside of the body so I could complete an inspection, make repairs, and do some painting. I knew and engine lift or body dolly simply wouldn't work for this task. So, after a bit of brainstorming, I devised a simple lifting frame that could be cheaply constructed, allowed the body to be lifted and dropped by one person, and provided easy access to the underside of the body. The end result is what's shown in the time lapse video above, and in the following pictures:













What's interesting about this rack is that, provided the body is properly secured to the lifting beam, you can lift the nose or the rear of the car by varying amounts to angle the car body. Doing so provides better access to areas of the body and makes working on it that much easier. It worked out extremely well for me and was constructed for about $200 - well worth it in my eyes.

I've uploaded some plans and photos for the lifting rack at the following link. Any questions just let me know! Oh, and feel free to pass this around.

http://www.corvette-restoration.com/...ng%20Frame.pdf

oldalaskaman

thats an excellent lifting fixture

CA-Legal-Vette

A very clever solution. It's a little limited in that you could only use it without a windshield and I'm not sure it would work on a convertible. Still quite ingenious and much more controlled than straps and an engine hoist. Well done

alconk

Mann that is great......

oldgto

Man, I only had to take off the front clip, and that took me a hell of a lot more than a minute!
GREAT video! The whole setup is pure genius!

Maine Vette

If you used 2x4x10's for the legs you could run the carrying beam over the windshield and over the rear window area. You'd probably need to set it up outside though. Not many folks have 12' ceilings in their garages.

The lifting frame worked really well for me - it was way better than the engine hoist method I used the first time through.

Glad you guys liked the video.

CQRT

Very cool . . .really enjoyed the video.

thanks !

cgc

Surprised you didn't use the garage door opener to lift the car

Maine Vette

Don't give me any ideas - I still have hte body drop left to do...

The chain falls did get a bit hard to reach toward the end. I probaby should have just got a step ladder, but stepping up on the tires seemed to work pretty well.

929nitro

That is very good.

Vette5.5

Pretty cool. And if you had access to an older garage with an open joist ceiling, would be even be easier tripling up a couple joists. Strange, so many freak out about doing something like this, as really the best way. I don't pull body's much, but engines all the time. I'll see people doing major work on engines while still in the car, and scratch my head on why.

Maine Vette

I know what you mean. For the day of effort it took me to build this frame it's saved me many times as much headache dealing with engine hoists, body dollies, etc. If you had an open joist or trussed roof that would be even easier. A little bit of creativity (mixed with some common sense) goes a long way. As they say, work smarter not harder.