Guys that have pulled the body off the frame I have some questions. Sorry, I know most if not all have been asked before.

Gut the interior first?

I know at least 3 body mounts are going to be a rusted PITA! Soaking in liquid wrench the best option before starting? I figure I will keep them soaked for at least a week.

What did you use for straps? I know some of the vendors have strap kits but the just look like regular tie downs.

I’m trying to decide on putting in a 2 post lift or a 4 post. I like the idea of a rolling 4 post but I will need some kind of rafter hoist to raise the body and then roll the lift out of the way correct?

I do all my own car maintenance as well as my parents and kids so the lift choice isn’t just for the Vette build. Advice on which type of lift is also appreciated!👍

Once the body is off, what plans should I use for a dolly that will allow for bodywork and full cleaning and detailing?
I have a welder but I’m not very good so wood and bolts are my best option.

My garage ceiling is 12.5 tall. I am a tall guy. Getting up and down off the floor is not very comfortable so being able to do things standing or sitting is important.

Thanks!🍻

 

Two post vs. four post is a holy war. AFAIK the only correct answer is "both". 4 post would be easier for storage and oil changes, but if you want to do anything where the wheels are coming off, or you need to work on suspension, you can't beat the 2-post.

Anyway.... I used a 2 post to lift my body. Not sure how you'd use a 4 post for that! I didn't use straps, I made adapters for the lift arms and raised it with the lift. They look like this:


Then I rolled the frame out and lowered the body onto a dolly. (and in reverse to get it back on the frame)
My garage ceiling is 12'8", and the 2 post has worked great. I actually only have 11' under the garage door.

 

Bonus lift: When I picked up my car from the auction I had to improvise because I only had 24 hours to move it, and whatever the local Harbor Freight had in stock. Here it is lifted by a strap and an engine hoist. Not recommended, but nothing broke! (They wouldn't let me use that lift in the background!)

 

No need to gut the interior but pulling the seats will provide the most efficient way to reduce the lift load.

You need to support the nose, irrespective of what method you use to lift. There is a LOT of moment arm on the front and you can overstress the fiberglass just forward of the cowl. Lots of posts on how to do this so read up.

Soaking the body mount bolts beforehand is the standard approach but be realistic that it is not a perfect process. You need, however, to get at the area of the captive nuts.

The body can be safely supported on a wooden dolly. Don’t overthink the design. 2x6s work fine with 2x4 cross braces. Be sure to include the ability to support the nose.

 

Here is my body off

 

I wish I had a lift when I separated the body from the chassis, but where there is a will there is a way. Instead of lifting the body, I lowered the frame. First I built a set of blocks that were about 14" tall and put them under the wheels. Then I disconnected everything connecting the frame to the body. Next I built a simple wooden structure that would support the body when I lowered the frame. Finally, I lowered the frame until it was sitting on the wheels. This gave me full access to replace the fuel and brake lines, the gas tank, and it made removal of the trailing arms a piece of cake. The front bushings were shot. Now, as you can see, the front clip was removed prior to doing this, but adding a simple support to that area should be a piece of cake.

I did not detail the frame or the suspension, but I did replace all of the worn out parts while it was separated. And if I needed to, I could roll the frame out from under the body for even better access. When I was done all I had to do was to jack the frame back up into place. I took my time and things went very well.

Warning: Advice about to be given...The vast majority of the body work should be done after the car is securely bolted to the frame, after the door hinges are known to be in great shape, and after the car is firmly sitting on the wheels/suspension.

Her it is before it was totally lowered down.

Gave me plenty of access to the body mounts.

Access to the trailing arm bolts made removal a breeze.

Plenty of room to get to the tranny even with the body over it.

Detail of the way I used the outside edge of the birdcage as the main support.

Here is another view of the main support I built that grabbed the outside bottom edge of the birdcage. I was very surprised to see them looking so good.

This proved to be a very stable support for the body as I worked on the chassis. Trust me, I shook it from side to side and back and forth to make sure it was not going to go anywhere. After I got it all bolted back together, I started the paint and body work.
Good Luck,
Mark

 

Yes use penetrant.
I chose to buy a 1 Ton gantry crane (palletforks.com) & straps made for the lifting of the body (Corvette Central /Body Lift kit) a use $50 dollar dolly ( I'll post Alan 71's dolly) and a 4 post TITAN Classic lift (you can spend a lot or less it all depends on use / 220V or 110V). As for the interior as was mentioned the seats out give you less weight and easier access to the #2 bolts. If your going to strip the cars interior anyway do it before you lift the body IMO.
Mandatory is an Assembly Manual.
Also a checklist of what to remove "before lifting the body."
FYI,here's what i got so far:

REDWING's list

Here is a list of the things needed to be done to remove the body.

Remove:

From Rear;

1.) The rear bumpers and support rackets

2.) License plate bezel and exhaust bezels

3.) Valence panel

4.) Ground strap from antenna

5.) Gas tank ground and sending unit wire

From Front;

1.) Remove the hood

2.) Valence panel and air dam

3.) Unbolt nose support from frame (will stay with body)

4.) Starter wires

5.) Ground straps (more than one place)

6.) Carbon can vacuum line

7.) Oil pressure gage line from motor

8.) Throttle cable from motor

9.) Coil wires

10.) Heater hoses and A/C compressor from motor. I straped the compressor to the fender.

11.) Alternator wires and temperature sending unit wire

12.) Fan and shroud, transmission cooling lines, radiator hoses, and radiator .

13.) Unbolt master brake cylinder from power boster.

From Center;

1.) Parking brake cable and brackets from under seat area

2.) Shifter cable and down shift wire (automatic) and speedometer cable

3.) Battery ground strap from frame

4.) Rocker moldings



also: seatbelt cables, count shims for future refference.
Rear exhaust valance must be removed.

*****Photo everything before and after removal/ Bag & Tag all parts !
Write down all notes/findings daily if possible for reminders.





Another way to lift the body with a 4 post lift



Hope this helps ! Enjoy and be Safe !

 

All great advice. The only thing I would add is soak the mounting bolts top and bottom for a week re-soaking morning and night. Use Kroil or Bead Blaster. The best solution is a half and half mixture of acetone and ATF or automatic transmission fluid. Be prepared to grind or cut bolts that won't come loose. Good luck. Jerry

 

With regards to lifts, I have a 2-post that works for everything very well, including my 1/2-ton truck maintenance. I got it from a local dealership that was upgrading from 7k to 10k lifts, so I’m only into it for a grand, including my mods to reduce the height slightly. (11.5 foot ceiling)
The lift was a game changer for me, as I get older I didn’t want to do any under car work cause it was so tiring, now it’s a breeze.

But, I still want a 4-post lift to be able to store another car on the other side of the garage during winter…

 

I went through this process last year with my '69. Two post lift worked awesome - payed a mechanic a couple hundred bucks to use his lift. The key was to make sure EVERYTHING attaching the body to the chassis is unbolted. I don't care how careful you are, you always forget something, so the key to using a lift easily capable of ripping the body from the frame (and causing great damage) is to have an operator SLOWLY raise the lift and raising it a bit at a time, and at least one (two or three is better) 'spotter' carefully observing each corner of the car every second of the process.

The one regret that I had was trying to keep the car in one piece as much as possible - in other words, the least amount of disassembly required to get the body off - I lifted with the headlight buckets, doors, rear deck lid, and complete interior, and it made the body much heavier. Although nothing serious, I did cause some very minor damage to the body that I had to pay the bodyshop to fix (I could have done it, but wanted it done right) - despite being so insignificant, that stuff just drives me crazy because I was trying to be so careful. You can actually see the damage I caused in the picture on the lower rear quarter panel and also the bumper mount/corner.

And that nose is so flimsy as you lift, so it must be supported sufficiently, otherwise it just bounces around and that's not good - removing the head light buckets really helps lighten the load - you wouldn't believe how heavy each of those headlight assemblies are - other than the plastic trim piece that encases the headlights on each, these units are made of steel!

I ended up removing all the doors, headlight buckets, signals, tail lights/housings, convertible deck lid, convertible top, emblems, mirrors, etc etc AFTER the fact because the painter said to do it, as I'm having it repainted, and a color change at that. What do they say about hindsight?

Interior (seats, carpet, etc) is still intact though - I didn't remove any interior pieces that were not required to lift the body off the chassis.

 

I used normal ratchet straps. They are much more adjustable in length than the one piece "lift" strap you can buy from the vette vendors.
Plus the hooks were just right to slip under the edge of the birdcage.

 

Did you install 'hanger bolts' at the body mount locations on your dolly? Did you install them before or after setting the body on the dolly? Thanks for your advice and help.

 

I installed the bolts after I set the body on the dolly. They were lag bolts.

 

Thank you