You're 100% spot on, Leigh. About the weather, about the opportune time to do major work. The only guys that wouldn't agree would be my delivery guys. Just wait until my new wheels and tires arrive, already mounted and balanced. That poor guy is going to kill me.

 

There are two bots on the bottom of the rad support that go to the big fat front crossmember. They need to come out. They are like body mount bolts 9 & 10.
I would think a 4-5" side lift would work for what you are doing. You will need to go thru almost everything on the body lift checklist though just like you were going to lift it 4 feet.
I cannot think of much of anything that you could skip.

The only advantage of doing the lift this way is the lift itself is much easier. You can lift one side with a floor jack. Place a 4x4 underneath to hold it up. Done.Leave 1 or 2 very loose body bolts or similar "drift pins" (8 inch nails?) in the other side so the body does not shift. I saw one person use a 4x4 lifting block and he added some little metal straps going vertical to act as a "catch" so the lifting block did not slip off the birdcage lip under the door. It's very thin there, and with the frame close by, you are going to catch the birdcage about 3/4 of an inch away from the edge of your lifting 4x4. You really don't want it to slip off. So he made a metal "lip" so it couldn't.

Leigh # ? signing out. I don't know which one I am 'cause there are two many of us! Heading out to the garage for some stay-at-home "Corvette Therapy"

 

Radiator support bolts, yes, those being loosened would be a good idea. I have never has an issue with the steering column at the rag joint but if you are lifting the side more than a couple of inches then it may help; especially when you lift on the drivers side. Just think, once you have all of those loosened you are 90% the distance of lifting the body off completely. LOL. Good luck with your repairs and best of success to you.
I think I will change my name to Leigh and really throw a wrench in the gears here.
David

 

[QUOTE=leigh1322;1601496260]

The only advantage of doing the lift this way is the lift itself is much easier. You can lift one side with a floor jack. Place a 4x4 underneath to hold it up. Done.Leave 1 or 2 very loose body bolts or similar "drift pins" (8 inch nails?) in the other side so the body does not shift. I saw one person use a 4x4 lifting block and he added some little metal straps going vertical to act as a "catch" so the lifting block did not slip off the birdcage lip under the door. It's very thin there, and with the frame close by, you are going to catch the birdcage about 3/4 of an inch away from the edge of your lifting 4x4. .

So, I'm actually going to lift each side of the body from the outside lip of the fiberglass (outside of the frame rail)??
I was thinking it had to be done from under the seat pan area.
Like Leigh #? said, there's not much purchase there.
My photo shows the 3 areas that look like they might be lift points (yellow arrows), and there are also 2 fiberglass flanges at front and back (blue arrows).
I could see rigging something up with the 4x4 the add the metal bars or fingers vertically on the inner side of the 4x4 to slide into those 3 bracket lift points.
Or, maybe hogging out a groove in the 4x4 for the lip of the body to fit in. This way it captures the lip and lowers the chance of it slipping off?

Not sure how others have done this.
I'm also concerned about safety because I plan to (finally) replace my tank-to-pump fuel lines when I lift the driver side. So it will be a little more time with my hands in the crunch zone, compared to just replacing the mounts and bolts.

 

Ok the two blue fiberglass flanges are very fragile you want to stay away from them. The yellow arrows point to the preferred section under the doors. It looks like fiberglass to you but if you feel inside it is really metal, the lower edge of the "c" channel that makes up that section of the birdcage .I can just about get my finger in there between the birdcage channel and the main frame.

Recent pic

Pic of the very front of the birdcage taken from front wheel-well. You can see no. 1 body mount. Next to that is my ratchet strap hook I used to lift the body hooked on to the edge of the birdcage that you want to catch. Under the front fender vent is just bare fiberglass. Between the No 1 and No, 3 body mounts is safe. Those 2x3s are where the frame used to be.

 

Thanks Leigh,
I'm having some difficulty getting a grip on those C-channel flanges for lifting from below.
I tried rigging up some lifting blocks, using short pieces of 4x4s with a notch cut out to fit over the flange.
I lift this block with a floor jack and I can get about 2" lift off the frame, but the C-channel flange wants to roll outwards as I lift, to the point that one of my blocks snapped its "finger" off as it was lifting/rolling. Hard to keep that flange straight and vertical as I lift. I could probably make do with the 2" lift, but I want to get better access to the area between the frame and the bird cage to clean it out and treat it for rust prevention. Plus, my #3 driver side bolt had to be cut at the head, so I'll need to get in there to resolve that (either by coaxing the remaining bolt from the square cage nut, or replacing the cage nut itself). And I also plan to replace the fuel lines while I'm in there, and will need a little more clearance than 2".

Also, is there any real advantage to using the stock square shims in each mount? Or can one substitute normal fender washers for shims (thinking of stainless)?
I'm planning to upgrade to Poly bushings that are made for '69's to replace the aluminum donuts, but those kits don't look like they come with the square shims or bolts.
Probably need longer bolts too, so I will be sending back the full stock kit to CC (with bolts, aluminum donuts, and square shims), and add to my Poly kit with hardware store, stainless bolts and washers - unless the stock shims serve a real purpose above and beyond fender washers.

 

I raised the body equally at 4 spots between the frame and the metal birdcage 1" at a time to prevent cracking any fiberglass.
Once I had the body high enough/6" above the frame I notched the tops of 4" by 4" lumber to hold the body...very stable.

Pic of 1" blocks being installed once the lifting began....I did this at all mounting points just to be safe/avoid cracking fiberglass.....




Pic of one of the 4" by 4" blocks I made....it would habe been even better if I had made the 7" tall.......



Pic of the nasty frame and aluminum spacers I had to chisel off the frame............





Since the car is a resto-mod I cheated and welded heavy-duty nuts into the brackets/then welded the assembly onto the original location/then coated the assembly with LOTS of grease after cleaning - painting each area.

NOTE: I ALSO SUPPORTED THE "NOSE" AREA AND THE "TRUNK" AREA THE WHOLE TIME THE BODY WAS LIFTED.

 

I have not lifted it that way, but I understand your tilt problem.

Could you lift one side up just enough to put two jack stands or spacer blocks under the birdcage on that side? And then switch to the other? And lift it in steps? While keeping it more level?

 

Since I'm going a little more gently, I'm only lifting one side at a time. Starting with passenger side, since I'll also replace the fuel lines while I'm at it.
I'd love to have a full 7" of separation, but looking for only 3 or 4" on one side, while having the opposite mounts just loosely pinned to hold alignment.
Part of the complexity, is I also want to get under the car (for the fuel lines), so I want the whole car off the ground first, then lift the body off of the frame from there.
The Quick Jacks get in the way of my lifting of the bird cage under the doors.
I plan to try next to raise the car with floor jacks and then put 2 jack stands under the frame on the passenger side, THEN try to lift the body from there.

 

Ok - Call out to the "Leighs"!! And Dereks, and , and, and......
I've finished the passenger side - replacing all 4 mounts and the fuel lines while I had it up.
I was able to raise the body on that side enough to have clear access to the #2 and #3 cage nuts, which were turning withing their cages.
I applied the hint from Derek and closed up the cage flanges and drove permanent "keepers" to hold them from getting distorted again and causing the nut to spin under torque again. (details in the other thread)
Now on the driver's side, and I having more trouble getting the body high enough for the same treatment, especially in the front.
I am looking at the column as a possible culprit for holding the body down.
Not sure of the best way to allow the column shaft to pull from the rag joint. I loosened both upper and lower clamp bolts on the rag joint, and I can actually get the splined shaft to move a little rotationally when I turn the wheel. But can't get any axial movement to pull it out, even after removing the 2 dash bolts that hold the column bracket to the firewall from the inside.
How to I get this to move?

Also - What is that funky looking clamp at the top of the column shaft? This was right up against the end of the column jacket where the trans lock-out lever and spring is. I don't see this in any of the AIM or Service manuals. Could it be something a PO added to remove some fore/aft lash in the column? I'd like to remove it, because I think it might negatively affect the column's safety performance, as in the collapsing feature for frontal impacts.
Any ideas on what this could be?

 

yes, you have to disconnect the steering rag joint to let the left side lift. speedo cable, brake lines, possibly grounds.

 

OK - so all 8 mounts have been replaced.
Reminder that I swapped the Aluminum spacer pucks with Poly bushings - I used the 63-67 replacement kit, but needed 2 additional sets to cover all 8 mounts on my '69.
I know all advice I've seen recommended to document how many shims were removed from each spot so that same number can be used when putting new mounts in.
Since most of my mounts had been reduced to crumbling piles of Aluminum and rusty mess, there wasn't much left of the shims to take inventory of.
Now that everything is buttoned-up, I've got 2 shims at each of the 8 mounts.
Right now, it seems the doors are low to the strikers, but it's not very clear.
I'm tempted to remove 1 or 2 shims from each side of the #3 and #4 mount positions.
I'd like to get the crib sheet of what shims to remove/add to adjust what so I don't have to go through a ton of trial and error.
Thanks - looking for some experienced input.

 

Rookie suggestion: Look at the "shoulder" of th door where it meets the quarter panel. Does the door sit higher or lower than the matching end of the quarter panel. Let us know/take pics of the area.

 

It looks like the right door is low to the quarter and I had to adjust the striker all the way down to even stsrt to latch.
the driver's door is obviously high, since I scraped that top rear edge under the lip of the quarter. That side latch also seems to be too far from the striker and jam, since I had to shim the striker 2mm+ to even think about latching.
Are these enough hints to go on?