'68 Riviera. Might be taking the body off the frame after all. 1. Remove front and rear seats to reduce weight. Might as well pull the old carpet while I'm at it. If you tell me the dash must be removed it ain't happening.. I'll suffer. 2. Remove front clip (nearly done) 3. Disconnect brake and fuel lines. 4. Remove body bushings of course (Done). Remove anything connecting the two. Is there a good and safe way to lift the body off the frame with only an engine hoist, jack stands, sawhorses, floor jack and maybe a high lift jack? What are the tricks for those of us without all the HD tools? I doubt my ceiling joists will handle the load if I use a chain hoist. I only need to get it up high enough to roll the frame out the door and set the body down. I'm thinking two or 3 4x4s between some wood blocks maybe? Just can't see trying to remove the undercoating and all and doing a nice job without separating the two. The undercoat has corrosion under it on the frame (big surprise, eh?). I figure it doesn't cost much more than a bit of POR-15 and a ton of elbow grease. Thanks.
Take your time is the main thing. Once the body is there in the wind, its the wrong time to run around and mess things up and have it fall. 2 people would also be the thing, besides yourself, the more people the better. I put mine up on some concrete blocks,and 6x6s. Ive seen it done with 4x4s, but if you plan on working on the body, better make sure its pretty secure. I used a cherry picker up front on my 70 riv, with a cargo strap going through the molded metal around the 4 front body mounts then up to the picker. In the rear, I used a floor jack, and some wood - pretty tricky but can be done. Your also going to want some sort of supports on teh side so if it starts rolling to one side or the other. Just keep going up slowly, and putting stuff under as you go so incase something gives, it doesnt fall. I have a few pics on my site: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3fz64/buick/id4.html If you check out the link, youll see i stripped the underside to the bare metal. I used a bunch of paint stripper in spray cans, scrappers, etc to get all the stuff off. Sanded it, primed, painted, and undercoated the crap out of it. Looks really nice now, its really a shame when you make under the car nice and nobody knows about the time put into it.
Real nice job on the Riv resto! :TU: I used a similar method to lift the body from the frame....an engine hoist on the front body supports, and a floor jack with 4x4's to raise the rear. Worked nicely! I then blocked the body off the frame using 4x4's. There are 7/16" threaded rods thru the blocks to secure body to frame. This method allowed me to roll the car outside for floor sandblast and paint, and gave me extra working room. I later put the body up on pallet racks, so the frame can be refinished. See this link for a pic: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=60629
