I’ve got a 73 coupe I was wondering if anyone has attempted to change the body mounts one at a time I’ve been reading into it and I see people lifting the whole body off or lifting up one whole side of the car. Just wondering if anyone had tried to change them one at a time just by loosening up one side and sliding one at a time out. Any info would be appreciated

 

As one who has changed body mount bushings with minimal tools and space. I can tell you this.
Your dreaming!
you need to get the body up and away from the frame a minimum of about 3 inches to inable you to get those number 2 and 3 bushings out and in again.
Your also likely to need to repair nut cages and number 4 frame mounts as well.
just accept the fact that you need to get all of them loose. Then do one side at a time. This will involve a number of things that need to be disconnected or loosened. Including both front and rear bumper supports.
THIS IS A HUGE PROJECT !
No short cut.

 

I started out with trying to just replace the rubber mounts but both the rocker channels and the frame mounts had rusted into pieces.
then the while I was at it kicked in and I ended up pulling the body to fix the frame, fuel lines, brake lines, and rocker channels.
way more work then I planned but it had to be done.

 

Body mount replacement is NOT a fun process, nor is it particularly safe if you're not jacking the body with the proper support and securing it properly once it's lifted enough to do the replacement, so make sure you know what you're doing and be extremely careful - your fingers and hands will thank you!. I replaced all of mine on my '69 during a rolling chassis swap.

Cage rust on the #2 and #3 mounts on each side were a non-issue, because that had already been addressed on the refurbished '69 replacement rolling chassis. However, if your car spent any time in the Midwest or East Coast and driven all year around, as they often were back in the day, you'll likely have to address the cages at #2,#3, qnd #4 on each side. #4 is a royal pain as its not on the frame, it's in the body, and if your car is a vert, it's extremely difficult to get to.

It was a learning experience for me, as I had never done such a big job like this before, but I got a lot of support from other members. You can learn from some of my mistakes (the thread I created for my '69 is below). It'll give you an idea of how involved the process is...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...f-frame-3.html

With the body completely lifted off, naturally, it was very easy for me to replace them. My biggest hurdle was re-shimming with a new frame, as each frame will require different amount of shims at each location, which is vital, or you'll never get the doors to close right and the lines to match up.

It was an entire weekend process going back and forth measuring and shimming before remounting the body to the frame. You won't need to worry about that as you are not replacing your frame/chassis.

I think some members on the forum have done one side at a time without completely disconnecting everything to lift the body off, so they'll probably weigh in with commentary and pictures. I basically had to do the same thing when it came time to properly shim each mount, one side at a time, but it was so much easier because the body was completely unbolted from the frame. Make sure that you make a note of how many shims are at each mount location before you remove them, as you'll need to match that with the new mounts and shims.

This Youboob video should give you an idea as to the process. It's a '69 and on the '73 they had updated rubber mounts instead of solid metal units, but the replacement process is unchanged.

 

The best that I can tell when I loosened my mounts , my car doesn't have any shims.
BIt my.doorscand everything lined up fired before I started

 

Never, ever, heard of a car with a frame and body so perfect that absolutely no shims were required. And
loosening the bolts certainly won't give you any indication.