Lifting a cars body off the frame

NYSpeed Automotive
1

I want to lift the body off the frame on my cutlass.
theres no interior currently, and the motor trans driveshaft, and entire front clip is already off.
Ive got a 4000lb shop crane, also I have an overhead chainfall

Im wondering if theres a safe way to lift the car body off the frame without twisting the body.
I really dont want to spend a ton of cash on rotisories that will only be used once.

Fabrication almost isnt a problem, and I know a welder who has no problem making welds that will hold anything.

Basically I just need to know How to do it properly.
Advice?
Ideas?
Newman?

Reason being, I want to clean and seal / prime / paint the frame.

2

i SEE THIS GOING WELL

3

I see it going like a nightmare as far as the work, But I put it in gen auto to prevent the banter.

4

If Just Karter and Cavi Mike had a child would it even be able to function?

5

I think it will take more then newman to lift the body off the frame…

6

hahahaha I meant maybe an engineer would know of a system that would work.

7

hahaha @ LZ comment.

seriously though… weld/bolt in some support braces after you strip out the interior. remove from frame, do said work, then reinstall and remove braces

a lot of work but should work fine

a guy in my old car club took a late model tbird (89-97 era) and turned it into a convertible. Before cutting the roof off, he welded in bunch of support braces behind the rear seats, along with subframe connectors and it held up just fine.

Just make sure you have enough support that it wont twist/bend/deform

8

Thanks, How would I go about lifting it off tho?
Thats the main problem I see,. Im wondering If I need to like make some overhead rack type thing that can bolt into the bodymounts or something.
I have no experience with this, Ive only ever built race cars, which constitutes of cutting the entire body downn to sheetmetal and rehanging it on a roll cage.

Edit: thanks to whatever mod cleaned that all up :tup:

9

ahhhh, I see what you mean. If it were me, I’d weld some rails in under the body (like a ladder bar that clears the frame) and use that to lift it (use 4 chains in the corners going to the crane). I’m not familiar with those cars though nor the equipment you have available, but if you get creative, it shouldn’t be too bad.

EDIT: and if you have the steel stock laying around, maybe even build a dolly to rest it on once it’s off the frame so you can wheel it around and whatnot.

gl with the project

10

:tup:

try out rod&piston.com… alot of restored cars there.

11

Strip the interior and front end off and have about 6 guys lift it off. Shouldnt be more than 800-1000lbs for the body.

12

Well than its ready to lift of with exception to doors,trunklid and body mount bolts.
I might have to give that a try.

13

lift by hand, walk it off the end of the frame, set on blocks - done

your not gonna ruin the body just by lifting it a little cockeyed, its to stiff for that. the way people usualy ruin them when doing frame offs is by cutting / welding stuff while its off the frame and not properly supported

14

Get new body bushings while its off. lose the doors and trunk lid too

15

My friend had one other guy help him lift the body off his Regal(you also have a g-body, right?). They’re both pretty big but they said is was fairly easy and probably only weighed 500lbs. It was (is still 2 years later) stripped down to absolutely nothing but the frame.

16

shit, even better… alot less work/fabrication involved

17

Yeah its a g-body :smiley:
I’m going to try to figure something out, thanks for all the help :smiley:

18

Remove your doors and trunk.

Brace the doors from front to back so you don’t get any flexing.

Get 6 friends to help lift it and roll the frame out from under it. Then put it on a level surface, possibly evevated by the floor pans where the frame would mount, not the rocker panels and quarter panels.

Replace all your body mount busings while you have it apart.

19

Yeah I brought the idea up to my pops, and he said “theres no where to lift on the body”
I mean I guess 4 off us could lift by the rockers, but behind the wheels is shot.

I guess ill try it all I dont see it happening this summer sadly, id like to slam it together and get a few passes in.