Body off resto ideas?

I was going to leave the body on my '29 on the chassis for repaint, but discovered a lot of rust in the rear seat pan area due to a roof leak. I think that I need to take the body off to get at the rust between chassis and body. I am a novice at all this and don't have the experience or equipment to do bodywork (lift, rotisserie, welder, bead blasting tools) I have ground off the bolts that held the body to chassis back there to get gas tank cover off and it just seems the seat pan edge (about 3" inward) is rusted through. My questions are:

1) If I got everything off the body and had it unbolted, rolled the chassis out, put some 2 x bracing at the bottom, put some 2 x 8 or 4 x 4 lengths of blocking through the window openings of the car and then get some strong guys to lift the whole thing on a trailer does that seem doable w/o damaging the body any further?

2) If I were to have the body stripped of paint is bead blasting the gentlest most time effective method? I was going to strip the body by hand, but if I take the body off it seems worthwhile to blast.

3) Any other thoughts are welcome. I have seen so many cars that have been restored this way, but when you've never tried it yourself it seems overwhelming.

Thanks in advance

Hi Bob,

anything is possible and it sounds like your approach should be safe enough without tweaking the body but I would consider the weight at the bottom of the body panels may bow down and in once you lift so be prepared to limit that bowing effect if possible.

Are you saying you DON'T have a welder, cherry picker or any blasting equipment ? You would need these three items to attempt it but that's just my opinion but as I said, anything is possible...

If you have a place to do it some guys have mobile soda blasting equipment that can come out to your place and blast it for a "nominal fee of course".

Taking the body off one of these cars is not difficult. THINK your way through it so as not to back yourself into a corner. Lift one end at a time and have 4X4's placed across between the body and chassis long enough to use as handles instead of lifting by the fenders. Have stands ready to accept the body. I have my '18 body sitting on 4 Homo Depot metal trestles, I think they are rated for 300 or 400 each. Not sure I would blast the body. Talk to your new best friend, the body man that will do your welding.

Hi Bob,

I did my 34 by myself. Its just a point of having things in the right place at the right time. Use trestles etc and lift a bit at a time using jacks and timber for support. Once up I lowered the body on two large beams I bolted to a trailer ( you'll see those in the pictures ). That way I could walk the body around wherever I wanted to.

With the panels, I used paint stripper in the outside and then on a buffing machine I used a "strip and clean" disc ( Velcro attached ) and this took the remainder of the paint off. I found this quite enjoyable as I could see areas that needed attention. I then had the inside of panels bead blasted. The end result was worth it. I'll attach a few shots of when I was doing the body.

Cheers

Ian

Oh yeah. This is my first restoration too and I always feel overwhelmed. I've just found you have to be organised to make it work and not let it get to you. Post some pics for us when you get time.....we love pics !!!

Hi Bob, good luck in case I forget, this is not a difficult job, just has to be thought through, lifting the body should be easy, I used 4 x 6/1 pulley blocks rated at 300 kg each and chose suitable anchor point in the roof of my workshop. On the body I used the rad shell tie rod brackets at the top of the firewall for the front, now the back will be different for you, mines a rumble seat so I used the trunk lid mounting points. I did mine single handed with no problems, lift it, roll the frame out, drive the trailer in.

Be very cautious of any type of blasting unless the metal is sound, I also made a trolley to move the body around on about 30" high, the easier the job is for your body man the easier it will be on your pocket.

Hope it helps

Thanks for all the ideas! I've got a small garage and small urban lot...I do try and stay organized due to the small workspace. The Home Depot "trestles", the paint stripping idea on the trailer (I found a biodegradable stripper) and the pulley blocks all sound like great ideas. Thanks Ian for the photos...I have been following your wonderful restoration. I may look around and rent some equipment, but I wanted to see what others thought, not having done this before.

Bob, this is our first restoration. We used a fork lift to remove the body from the chassis. When we took the body off, we left the back of the front seat in to help keep the body sides from bowing outwards. We put it on a small trailer supported in the right spots with wood. It sat like that for a couple years before we were able to finally get to the body shop. The body shop ended up sandblasting the cab of our car with no problems, but our body has very little rust on it. The guy they had come do the sandblasting was really careful and took his time. The cab is almost done being painted and we hope to have it back on the chassis this next week. I'll let you know if we find any problems putting it back on the frame! I agree with Ian...stay organized, label things well and don't be in too much of a rush! We are fortunate that we live just down the road from my husband's power sport dealership. He just drove the forklift home one day in the middle of November, lifted the cab off, then drove it back down to the shop! LOL Good luck!! Shannon

We stripped the body of everything (fenders, doors, dash, seat) down to just the basic body from the firewall back, then two of my grandsons and a neighbor helped and we lifted one end of the body, slid a 4x4 between the body and frame - then the other end. Once the body was sitting on the two 4x4's, the four of us lifted the body and carried it to a set of saw horses made of 2x6. It still sits on the saw horses and I am stripping the frame for cleaning and painting or powder coating. I am working on a 1936 Dodge RS CP. A lot of work for sure.

No job is too big if you tackle it the right way... Take lots of photos along the way .. View them in the reverse order and it should go back the same way... Especially helpful if it is a long term project ... And of course you can share them with us as well .. Good luck

Thanks...Shannon, the idea of keeping the seat back in to hold door pillars together is great! BTW, I've been watching your beautiful restoration as well and can't wait to see more photos of it. 35cz8 your comment is something I have money, time and room for...one of my problems is driveway/ garage space...not sure how I'd get any mechanical lifting device w/ chassis and separated body in there too. Good idea on the photos Ken...I take way too few...I do make drawings of how assemblies go together and use baggies w/ notes in them for all the smaller parts, nut / bolts. I organize all those baggies per assembly..for instance "front left wheel".

Photos, lots of photos and from every direction possible. Seems redundant, but with the 50-50-90 rule you will be happy to have taken all of the photos. The 50-50-9- rule is "It can go on one way or the other (50-50 and a 90 percent chance of putting it on the wrong way.

Rob

Thanks, I'll definitely do more photos.

Bob, I can't stress photos!!! Rob is right about in EVERY direction! Literally every direction even if it means laying on the floor to get it! There has been plenty of times we've been working on something and didn't have quite the right angle in photos to see how it went back together! And believe me, I have taken a lot of photos! My husband isn't the best about taking them when I'm not out there in the garage with him! Labeling everything and keeping it organized like you mentioned is VERY smart! I can't tell you how many times we've found bags of bolts and can't remember what they were for!! When we were ready to take that back seat out, my husband just put in a piece of wood the correct length.

Thanks for the compliment on our restoration. I'll have some more photos here soon to add to our post. The cab is painted. Just waiting for the doors to be done & the second color to be applied.

Good luck with the restoration!! You know we are all here to help if a need any!!

Shannon

Thanks Shannon...yes, I will take more photos....especially as the stuff comes off and out from the doors as to take the body off I will have to remove everything. I did take a lot of photos of the engine before taking it apart and those really helped w/ reassembly. I do bag and note every small set of parts. I definitely watch a few restorations on this site, including yours and I learn a lot....I know your car is a little different than mine, but I'll watch to see how you handle the new rubber parts in the doors / windows.....I have seen some new stuff at Myers and Steele, but some of it looks a little different.