Hi

I am a new guy here, so forgive me if this has been posted before.

I am working on a 68 roadster. It has seen better days and I would like to get the body off to do some work on it as well as powdercoat the frame and get the suspension/brakes all sorted. I built a wooden support for the body and have removed the front body mounts and this is where I am a little hesitant/stumped.

Should I remove the doors/hood/top and then lift the body up?

Should I leave it intact?

Any other advice, tips, instructions, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

If you going to use starps to lift it I then would leave the doors on it. If you are going to lift it with five or six friends then take them off.

Make certain your wooden support provides for some support under the nose of the car. Leave the radiator support in place, it's a great place to support from and adds a lot of strength up there.

Thanks for the advice so far.

This is the support I built -- http://www.vetteprojects.com/cthulhu/misc/c3dolly.pdf -- seems it supports the front and middle, but nothing for the rear. I noticed on the same site that they made a similar version for a C2 which required straps to support the back end --http://www.vetteprojects.com/cthulhu/misc/c2dolly.jpg -- any idea if I need these straps for the C3?

What is the best way of lifting it, friends lifting from the sides or a Hoist?

Thanks again

Either hoisting method will work. My preference is straps and a engine lift. Carefully inspect your rocker channels for rust as they will carry most of the load when lifting by the conventional method.

The straps I used were configured to lift at the latch post on the door jamb and the lower door hinge. Prior to lifting I removed the doors.

I used large adjustable tie-down straps. I was able to thread the plain end over and under everything under the car and then simply adjusted them for a level pick from a chain hoist. In my case it was a very good thing I did not use the straps that hook on the rocker channels, they were toast. Probably would have dropped the body.

yea, i just did this last week to mine i used the body lift straps. my doors were off it would have been better if the doors were on it would have taken up more slack in the straps but i got it off with out too much trouble. the body dolly is the same as i built and it works great. iwas working on the frame today got alot done the motor pulled, all thats left is the front & rear suspension

This is the homemade setup I used. Worked well.

 

Excellent, thanks everyone, this is the kind of info I was looking for and the pic is helpful also. If I understand correctly, some of you used straps that hook to the body channels and some threaded the strap under the whole body?

Hopefully I will be able to do it this weekend or next at the latest, still need to get the rest of the body mounts off, I think all I have left are the hard ones.     

Paul

ok, I got the body off this weekend. It wasn't pleasent, got hooked up on a couple things. Thought I would share and maybe get some advice on how I could have done things differently. ok, here is the account...

Removed all the bolts in the front half of the car and it went pretty good. The four in the rear caused problems as the nut in the cage would just spin freely. I managed those by cutting them in half with a reciprocating saw. The next problem I had was with the cable loop in the transmission tunnel. That was a bear as I didn't notice it until I had started lifting the body and realized the frame was also lifting after a certain point. I ended up cutting that cable with a sawsall as well since I had limited room with the engine hoist attached.  

All in all the frame had no rust and looked quite good. The body has several holes and crash damage, but seemed very solid when being lifted. Onto the fun stuff now I guess.