Where to lift body

[John Frank]

In a couple of weeks I will be lifting the body of my 1964 LeSabre convertible off the frame. I have the advantage of being able to do it in an aircraft hangar with a high ceiling and a overhead lift. Anyone have any idea of the best places to put the straps so that the body is balanced as we lift it?

[Don McClair]

The only suggestion that I have is to remove the doors and attach bars between the hinge points and the rear door latch to keep the body from flexing in the middle. I know they do this with the 55 through 57 Thunderbirds. I saw pictures of a 66 Electra that was taken off the frame and they used supported the body directly under the firewall and ran what looked like a 4X4 or larger in the area directly above the rear axle. These support beams extended out both sides of the car. When I removed the body of my 66 Wildcat GS 2 door hardtop, I supported the area under the firewall and under the back seat with several 2X8's. Under the back seat there was some additional bracing and I was lucky I did not do any damage. This was my first undertaking of this type and I had no problems. I used 2 floor jacks and a combination of jack stands and concrete blocks to support the 2X8's. Good luck and be careful.

[Bill Stoneberg]

When I took the frame off my Wagon,<BR>I actually lifer the car, frame and all and supported it and then dropped the frame down to the ground.<BR>We found that to be more secure. I used poured concrete tubes to support the 4 X 4 's and we paced them along the sides.<BR>Bill

[Dave@Moon]

Be very careful in doing this, and heed Don's comments well. I know that in lifting my TR6 body off the frame I'll have to weld heavy bar stock at the tops of the door frames as well as at the hinge and latch points. (I've read several articals on this in Triumph club publications and books.) <P>Convertible bodies on frame cars have virtually no integrity of their own. Without a roof, let alone B-pillars, to help support them when hung they will bend in half without some <I> serious </I> bracing at the fenderline betwen the cowl and the door frame. <P>There may be some kind of special rig/frame that'll spport the body from underneath while hung, but I'm not aware of any. I think this would be a good question to post on a more general mechanically oriented forum, like on classicar.com or wrenchhead.com. <P>Good luck!

[Guest]

I have heard it best to leave he doors on, especially on converts, another good lift point would be the rockers...if I remember the footage I have seen of cars being built, this is where they are supported by.<BR> The prior post up putting car complete on stands or blocks and dropping frame away seems pretty good too....beware or rusted cage nuts in the trunk area...I tried to pull the body off my 1st 66 cat conv....no problems till the last bolt which was the rearmost RH side one....oil and patience is the key...and LOTS of helpers

[palbuick]

I did my 40 convert like Bill did. jacked complete body and frame up, and then dropped the frame down. I made a wooden frame of 2x6. placed on either side of body, and when body was high enough I ran 2x6 across at 5 differen places for support, Under the area of the rear end I raised the frame work about 10 inches to support the back half of he body. I even put wheels on this wood frame, was that a blessing. I rolled the whole body outside of garage and was able to sandblast underside of body, keeping the messy sand out of the garage. With the body about 4' above the ground I was able to get underneath to sandblast, and later to paint the underside at one time. I did this by myself , no other help. What a blessing to be able to move the body around the garage.<BR>If anybody is interested in the frame i made I can try to post pictures, made from all 2x6<BR>and 4x4's. Which can be readily taken apart and used on other projects(honey do list).

[brad54]

For the body on my '56 Chevy, my dad and I spent 13 hours with a floor jack, jack stands, blocks and wood to take it off, and I spent 35 minutes putting it back on by myself using a pair of rented engine hoists. On the front, there are a pair of body mounts in front of the firewall that attach to the frame rails, and in the rear of the tri-five Chevys the shock mounts come through the floor above the rear axel. I put heavy duty eye bolts through all of these mounts (with washers) and hooked a chain between the eye bolts from side to side. Then I hooked the hoist to cross chains and lowered. If you have body mounts that are accessible front and rear, I'd suggest that way. Body holes in the trunk would also work: Pop out the plastic plugs (if there are holes), and run a 4x4 under the floor, with the eye bolts in it coming through the trunk floor.<BR>My car sat on 3-foot tall home made saw horses constructed of 4x4 vertical posts (with 3-foot 2x4 "feet" running fore-to-aft), and 2x6 cross braces, positioned at the A-pillar and just ahead of the rear wheel openings. Use bolts to build a saw horse, not nails, as it will not "loosen up" as the wood dries out. If you have access to steel 55 gallon drums, these will also work.<BR>Next time I'll invest in a pair of heavy duty, large diameter casters and bolt them to the front and rear body mounts so I can roll the car around. The saw horses are nice for storing the chassis under the car, though.<BR>-Brad

[Guest]

I did a '65 Skylark Converible with the doors off and without any bracing what so ever. I think the body is plenty strong but bracing is recommended, just for the hell of it. <P>------------------<BR>buickfam@aol.com<BR>Life long Buick Fan.<BR>1965 Skylark H/T<BR>1965 Gran Sport Convertible<BR>1948 Chevy Pickup with 401 Buick.<BR>"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

[John Frank]

While the body is pretty solid, I will brace the door openings. I know that Buick brought the body over the frame with a lift when they assembled the car, I am trying to figure out where they attached the straps for both strength and balance. There are no openings through the floor pan aft of the rear seat. There are four 5x3 oval openings in the floor pan in the driver/passenger area each opening just in front of where a person would sit. At first I thought this must have been where they attached the lift because the holes (which have screwed on covers)don't seem to have any functional purpose. But if I run straps through those holes it will be awful tail heavy. There is a small hole, about 3/8" diameter, in a flange at the top of each rear wheel well but I am not sure there is enough strength there. <P>Oh what I wouldn't give for one picture of them lowering the body on to the frame on the assembly line!