How to lift the body off?

[cavebloke]

I'm doing a body-off chassis restoration on a pre-cat Griff and am now at the stage of having everything disconnected. I just need to work out how to lift the body off. I have a bunch of guys coming round to give a hand but where is best to lift from?

The obvious thing seems to be to get four guys lifting from under the wheel arches. Can anyone who's done this comment on what the best approach is and do I need four or more guys to lift it off?

Cheers,

Simon

[cavebloke]

Having just seen this picture I'm hoping pk500 and friends were going way over the top.

[SteveSPG]

i did mine on my own, just lifting the body and raising the height of blocks holding lengths of wood under each arch (actually the wood is on the florpan not the arches....then rolling the chassis out underneath

id say one on each corner is ok, but you do need to get the body above the engine, so the arches are definitely at chest height...so make sure the lads have good arms, its not that light.

this is going back in, but you get the idea...by this stage the planks holding the body were under the floorpan, not in the arches

[Pink_Floyd]

When I lifted mine off used 8 blokes as you need to get it high enough to get over the engine. It took 6 of us to pick just the body up off the ground and move it to another place, but to lift it off you will need 8 of you + someone to disconnect anything you forgot and to roll the chassis out of the way.

[tom's dad]

You will need people lifting, a photographer and useful to have others guiding and picking up any issues such as wiring that may still be connected. We raised the body by threading timbers through the arches and under the floor pan.

[tom's dad]

You will need people lifting, a photographer and useful to have others guiding and picking up any issues such as wiring that may still be connected. We raised the body by threading timbers through the arches and under the floor pan.

[Steve_D]

Keep the roof on and the doors shut.
Make a mental note of the door gaps or measure them before you start. When the body is of and placed for storage make sure the gaps are the same otherwise the shell will be under stress until it goes back on the chassis.

Steve

[V8Bart]

Never done it, but have had seats out and they have some weight to them so might need 1 less guy if they were out?

[pianosteve]

Just used an engine hoist and a few straps.
It may not be the best way but it worked for me.

[Tanguero]

Off http://vimeo.com/48726971

And back on http://vimeo.com/64001222

[nawarne]

Lifted a Cerbera body - 8 of us did the job...A couple of wives making sure we didn't trip over, and setting up of the tub supports.

The Cerbera had all the interior trim plus seats and doors attached. Yes it was weighty, but doable with 8 guys.
Nick

[Chuffmeister]

Tanguero said:

Off http://vimeo.com/48726971

And back on http://vimeo.com/64001222

Great vids...

[kris450]

Couple of chain blocks for me. Took 10 minutes tops with no sweat, tears or any blood lost. Easy as...

[White S3]

Same for me - Chain block 1man job but a little morethan 10mins as done ina single garage. Used 1 x soft 10m round sling fed through rear wheel arch to hoist on beams above and then just lifted front
end manually to get the angle

Edited by White S3 on Wednesday 18th September 22:44

[Richard 858]

Kris, nice work. What strength / type of roof timbers did you hang the chain blocks from ? Was the engine & gearbox still in when you lifted the body ? I fancy a go at this method this winter. Cheers, Richard (also a deep red 450)

[kris450]

Richard 858 said:

Kris, nice work. What strength / type of roof timbers did you hang the chain blocks from ? Was the engine & gearbox still in when you lifted the body ? I fancy a go at this method this winter. Cheers, Richard (also a deep red 450)

Thank you

The chain blocks aren't actually directly on the timbers. There is a 12ft scaffold pole running across them in line with the car. The blocks are then hanging from this. There are around 10 timbers that the load is therefore spread across. That, plus the fact that I used 2 blocks front and rear, means there was no way i was going to cause any damage to the timbers.

Engine and gearbox was still in (although thats just gone back in the chassis about half an hour ago ) along with the fuel tank in the boot. The seats were out. The plenum and trumpet base was off. This gave us enough clearance to manoeuvre the chassis out front underneath.

It really was pretty simple. Just lifted about half a foot at a time at each end and we were done. Definitely worth having a second pair of eyes around though. My helper spotted that I had forgotten to disconnect the speedo sensor wires. In fact more time was spent on prep work. Making sure the lifting straps and hook were directly down the centre line of the car so as to keep any stresses induced exactly the same on either side, trying to make sure everything is disconnected, clearing space around the car to dive towards if the very worst does actually occur etc

Hope that helps. Any more questions just fire away !

[pk500]

cavebloke said:

Having just seen this picture I'm hoping pk500 and friends were going way over the top.

3 of us took body off using axle stands lifting a bit at a time ! So I got tea and cakes out and loads turned up to put it back on ! When I done my 400se I used a 2 post ramp !

[Richard 858]

Thanks Kris, I'll let you know how I get on ! (do you mean 2 chainblocks at each end or 2 in total ?) Cheers, Richard

[Alexdaredevils]

Give me a shout if you another pair of hands I'm sure we can get enough round to help you lift it

[kris450]

Richard 858 said:

Thanks Kris, I'll let you know how I get on ! (do you mean 2 chainblocks at each end or 2 in total ?) Cheers, Richard

1 at each end, so 2 in total.