Body removal

Finally ready to remove the body from frame.Josh and I removed the body with some difficulty and brain storming. Thanks again to Adam for cutting the wood that will support the body.Enjoy the pictures and text.

 We have the gantry frame in place and the and the lifting strap being connected.

 Lifting strap is in place and has tension on it.

 The body starting to be raised.

Since the bodies were hand made some times the body was not true. Pictured here is one of the shims that leveled the body to the frame.

 The above two pictures show the chassis and one of the rear body mounts.

 We have cleared the trans and shifter.

 One issue we came across was the distributor was in the way as well as the alternator and A/C compressor .They were removed by my support staff (Josh).

 So pictured above the body has cleared the chassis and the fuel tank.

 

 Now one more thing the valve covers are about one inch to high and will not clear the transmission tunnel.I did not take into account that the centering pulley and chain hoist lowered my lifting height by five inches. NOW WHAT TO DO?

 

So Josh came up with the idea to remove the front tires and we placed the front rotors on carpets. Then connected a chain from the chassis to my FJ and pulled it out. This worked because the garage floor is epoxied.Wheels on chassis replaced. No problem.

 

 

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 Here we are lowing the body down onto the carrier. Its new home for a little while

Body and chassis in the garage for now.All done for now.

And I still have plenty of space.

Now Emily wants work done to her car!

Thanks Rosemarie for your help with the rack and refreshments.

Gantry Frame

I was going to build a wood frame to remove the Corvette body but since there was a sale on a metal manufactured frame I purchased one.

 Here is the frame I was going build

 Josh and I with the completed frame.It took about 2 hrs from unpacking to completion

Getting the frame in place to remove the body.

Body Mounts Removal

There are eight locations that the body mounts to the chassis. There are four locations on each side in the same positions.

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The mounts are located in front of the door in the engine compartment.Next in the passenger compartment in the foot well.Then in front of the rear tire an access panel has to be removed to get to them and last behind the rear tire access bolt head from inside storage area. Here are some other pics.

 Most of the removed bolts

 Access panel removal at rear tire

And you have bolt  in a hole to remove.It took about four hours to remove all the body mounts. Now for the body to be removed.

Corvette Update

A lot has taken place with the Corvette. I will post in the order the work was completed.

Wiring harness removal

I completed removing the wire harness from the engine compartment and the passenger compartment and the wiring harness to the rear off the car was removed earlier. There was about 12ft off wire removed from the car as you will see.

Interior clear of wire

Engine compartment clear of wiringE

Engine and passenger compartment wiring

Brake power booster removal

Unfortunately, removal of the power brake booster is not as easy. Although it is connected to the firewall with only four studs and nuts, the nuts are located high on the firewall behind the gauge cluster and above the brake, clutch and gas pedals and a position switch for the brake pedal.  I used several long sockets and universal joints to remove the four nuts. All told removing these four nuts took about three hours. Although removing the nuts was not overly difficult, it certainly required a fair bit of patience.The position switch took an hour to remove ONE screw I could not get a socket on it.

Now on to removing the rest of the wiring harness from the engine compartment and the interior of the car. I will also be removing the fuse block from engine and interior of the car.
Also the body bolts will be sprayed with rust buster so they can be removed easily.Ha!

Steering column removal

I removed the steering column so I can restore it also to make it easier to remove the power brake booster which is in need of repair.Also to clear out the interior of the car.

                                                  The above picture is the steering column attached to the steering box rag joint

       

                                                       This picture shows Steering  column and brake booster removed from car

                                              Finally removed
Next the brake power booster removal.

The Dolly Build

                                                         To start with

                                                         Half finished

                                                 Weight testing the finished dolly

                                                   The crew

This weekend  Josh and I assembled the dolly for the Corvette body to rest on while it is off the chassis it took about three and a half hours. Some cutting and screwing and continually measuring.But at the end no cut or bruises we had a furnished product.Thanks to Emily and Rosemarie for refreshments.