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Anybody know of a good book to walk me through doing a body off. Found that the rear pick up behind both tires are rusted right thru. And the rear crossmember on the passenger side is very weak in one spot. I was able to pass thru it wiht a pry bar.
I have owned the car for 9 years and always kept it garaged. Im guessing the previous owner left it out in his yard in the snow. And just got worst from there.
I took the body bolt off near the driver rear tire. Came out pretty easy. So hopefully the rust isnt too bad and I can just fix the frame. Wish me luck. LOL
Anybody know of a good book to walk me through doing a body off. Found that the rear pick up behind both tires are rusted right thru. And the rear crossmember on the passenger side is very weak in one spot. I was able to pass thru it wiht a pry bar.
I have owned the car for 9 years and always kept it garaged. Im guessing the previous owner left it out in his yard in the snow. And just got worst from there.
I took the body bolt off near the driver rear tire. Came out pretty easy. So hopefully the rust isnt too bad and I can just fix the frame. Wish me luck. LOL
There are a couple videos on youtube showing a body lift, but they are by no means instructions.
My wife and I bought our '73 in November 1996, and it was sitting outside. The passenger floorpan was level full with water, which had frozen. It has been in the barn ever since we bought it. I just started tearing into it two weeks ago. The drivers side frame has one spot in the angle gusset below where the brake line is that is rusted through, but other than that, I haven't found any soft spots.
I have been driving mine for the past 9 years and decided to fix some other things on it this year and wait until next summer to drive it. Good thing I did a good check and found this.
There is a post somewhere on the forum (I wish I had the URL) that has a check list for a body lift. Do a search for "body lift" and you'll probably find it.
I remember someone said there was a book that they used also. Explained everything even how to build the cradle for the body once you take it off. Hoping someone will chime in.
This is a pretty good one, the only limitation is that the work features a bumper car, not the later c3s but it has a lot of pictures and some decent step by steps for everything. I paid $12 including shipping through amazon:
There are quite a few great books out there on Corvette Restoration and C-3's in particular. I bought the original edition of this; How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette, 1968-1982 by Richard Newton a few years back and found it to be very detailed and complete. I still find it to be a great reference book on C-3's years later.
There are other books out there that are very good as well and specifically address the C-3's: Corvette Restoration Guide, 1968-1982 - by Richard Prince Original Corvette 1968-1982: The Restorer's Guide 1968-1982 - by Tom Falconer Corvette, 1968-1982 (Sports Car Color History) - by Mike Mueller
All of these gents are considered to be extremely knowledgeable, if not experts, on the C-3's and I think you'll find any of them helpful and enjoyable. Just google Corvette Restoration books and you'll find a myriad of sites that sell them along with some of our Forum vendors.
What year is your Vette? You might be better off looking for a good used replacement frame rather than trying to fix that one. Check your trailing arms also. They might be rusted out and coming apart.