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Just got the body off the frame of my 68, and all went well. Managed to get all the bolts out in one piece. Only little snag I had was I missed the seat belt brackets and started lifting the whole *** end of the car off of the floor. Good thing I over built my lift in the garage. Took a while to figure out what was happening because first it was getting caught on the passenger side trailing arm mount bolt. I backed that out and tried again, but no go. Then I remembered someone mentioned something about the seat belt mount so I dug around some more and found what they were talking about. Anyway the frame doesn't look too bad. I was surprised to find aluminum body mount bushings, was that an option or what originally came on these cars?
Next step is work on the body a little, had some rust on the driver's side sill plate support, and the driver's side floorboard cracked where you put your feet. Probably get it all primered and ready for paint, then spray it. Then I'll begin separating the suspension from the frame so I can get that all painted up nice. Then I am going to install a WC 5 speed, so I'll have to fab a support for that, freshen up the 327 and install some good heads on it, and then reassembly begins. In other words, I'll be busy for awhile. Started out as just a paint job, and morphed from there.
Last edited by wrencher60; Jul 10, 2015 at 11:29 PM.
Reason: Added photo
Next step is work on the body a little, had some rust on the driver's side sill plate support, and the driver's side floorboard cracked where you put your feet. Probably get it all primered and ready for paint, then spray it. Then I'll begin separating the suspension from the frame so I can get that all painted up nice. Then I am going to install a WC 5 speed, so I'll have to fab a support for that, freshen up the 327 and install some good heads on it, and then reassembly begins. In other words, I'll be busy for awhile. Started out as just a paint job, and morphed from there.
Who's dolly plan did you use for the body? planning a body off myself and need something that is mobile so I can take the body to FIL's garage to store out of the way and yours looks like it is pretty sturdy.
Hey Wrencher60 , my 69 also had some cracks under the clutch pedal area. Went ahead and cleaned and prepped the inside and outside areas and applied some matting to each side and that fixed the problem. If you do this pull the edges of the matting a little to give it an original look, instead of a straight line cut.
R
Hi w,
Although you say the project has 'morphed' into more than you intended, it appears you have a solid chassis and body to work on!!!!
VERY nice looking (rust free) frame!!!!
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Who's dolly plan did you use for the body? planning a body off myself and need something that is mobile so I can take the body to FIL's garage to store out of the way and yours looks like it is pretty sturdy.
Jesse
I used the plan with the 4x4 uprights and 2x6 frame with 6" casters from harbor freight, two in the front are spinners and two in the back stationary. Rolls real nice. I got the plans from this forum. They were really detailed. Only change I made was 2x4 uprights for the core support cause there is not much weight there. Casters were about 17 bucks each, so it only costs about $100 to build. I also didn't put the screw in studs on the uprights, but if you are moving it around quite a bit, it might be good insurance to have it bolted down. Mine hasn't moved around on the dolly and I've been crawling all over it doing some body work and wheeling it in and out of the garage.
Hi w,
Although you say the project has 'morphed' into more than you intended, it appears you have a solid chassis and body to work on!!!!
VERY nice looking (rust free) frame!!!!
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Benefits of being a CA car I guess I've read about some of the member's nightmares, so I guess I am pretty lucky, but I did soak the bolts overnight with WD-40, in fact just about every frame bolt I removed was squirted down first. Only one that sheared off was a little ground strap metal screw. No problem.
Who's dolly plan did you use for the body? planning a body off myself and need something that is mobile so I can take the body to FIL's garage to store out of the way and yours looks like it is pretty sturdy.
Jesse
dkleather had a post with this link on it, that has a lot of good stuff to know. http://lbfun/Corvette/Tech/vettetech.html. Under Body Frame tab there is a drawing for the C3 dolly by 'kaiserbud' that I used. I didn't use from the B-pillar back since I have a coupe and didn't need the back supported. So the whole thing is only 96" long, a couple of 16' 2x6's cut to length and a 8' 4x4 is all the lumber you need.
From: St Louis MO http://1972corvetterestomod.blogspot.com/
Good luck! No turning back now
Originally Posted by Jesse 982
Who's dolly plan did you use for the body? planning a body off myself and need something that is mobile so I can take the body to FIL's garage to store out of the way and yours looks like it is pretty sturdy.
Jesse
I used Alan71's dolly plans that uses vertical uprights at the body mount locations. Post #4 in this thread contains the plans. Made my uprights slightly taller to make working on the underside easier when that time comes. Also, used a lag screw in the top of each upright to help prevent the body sliding off an upright somehow. The pic below doesn't show it, but soon after added uprights to support the nose.
Spent half a day removing all the suspension pieces and the other half wire wheeling and busting off slag, talk about some nasty looking welds, I guess they were concerned about quantity and not quality, but I didn't find any cracked welds, so I guess I'll just shut my mouth. Another day of sanding and cleaning and I should be ready to primer it. Decided I'll paint the frame and powdercoat the front suspension pieces and replace all the ball-joints and wheel bearings. I had put poly bushings in about 10 years ago and they squeak, so I might go back with rubber. Coming along though. Got the body all primered after a few weekends of body work. Now the real body work will start. Block-sanding. Need to stay focused and get the frame done first
Almost forgot why I got on here in the first place. While cleaning up the frame I noticed two grounding straps that appeared to be cut, one on either side of the exhaust cut-outs in the trans x-member. Anyone know where those are supposed to go or do I really need them? Seemed like all my interior lights worked, although kind of sporadic at times. Just curious.
Last edited by wrencher60; Jul 30, 2015 at 10:35 PM.
Reason: grammar
Hi w,
Although you say the project has 'morphed' into more than you intended, it appears you have a solid chassis and body to work on!!!!
VERY nice looking (rust free) frame!!!!
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
Join the club in doing way more than you intended! Best of luck!
Almost forgot why I got on here in the first place. While cleaning up the frame I noticed two grounding straps that appeared to be cut, one on either side of the exhaust cut-outs in the trans x-member. Anyone know where those are supposed to go or do I really need them? Seemed like all my interior lights worked, although kind of sporadic at times. Just curious.
I believe those connected to the exhaust to reduce ignition noise to the radio.
Thanks Jim, that would explain it, no worries, one less thing to worry about putting back together. Lol. Has anyone out there used Eastwood's Rust Converter before. Some areas of my frame I just can't get in there to clean real good. Supposedly you can treat with this stuff and then top coat it or in my case, I'm going to primer it and then paint it satin black.
Thanks Jim, that would explain it, no worries, one less thing to worry about putting back together. Lol. Has anyone out there used Eastwood's Rust Converter before. Some areas of my frame I just can't get in there to clean real good. Supposedly you can treat with this stuff and then top coat it or in my case, I'm going to primer it and then paint it satin black.
Now I got me a rust free frame, after two days of throwing wire wheels, abrasive disks, flapper wheels, and sanding disks at it, who needs chemicals, old school never fails.
If I could make one suggestion....
It does not say if this is a manual transmission car but I assume it is as the cross member is solid attached to the rails.
Now would be a good time to cut that off and make it removable.
Will be much easier for changing a clutch or trans in the future.
Many guys have done that.
Use the search function for some ideas.
And keep the pics coming
Bman
Body is separated from frame
