Question body removal and the mistakes i've made

[George]

So had some time off, and figured I'd better get at removing the body from the chassis. So built this frame to lift it, ordered the sling to make it easier, then realized I need more height, so I added the A frame part of it.
Quickly realized even though I have14' ceilings at the peak the sling is to long. I have considered trying to make a fixed pulley at the top of the beam and a spreader bar for the sling, but would hate to think that this may still not give me enough vertical lift, so got a little frustrated yesterday and walked away from it for a bit. The other spots I screwed up on is the length of the frame and placement of the truss, frame should have been longer in length and the truss should be further forward. The issues this brought up was that I was going to use a come along to lift the body , but the car is to far back now it is in the way of the angle of the pull, I was going to pull from the 2X10 at the back of the frame.
So laying in bed last night contemplating this, I think that I am going to try and get some slings between the body and chassis and bring the loops to the top, hopefully this will give me enough room to lift.
The other thing I was wondering if I take a ratchet strap and hook it from the front to were I am lifting is that enough support, or should I be putting some sort of strut from the lifting point to the front so it all lifts on the same level.

any feed back is appreciated, Thanks George

 

[Rruuff Day]

Structural engineering wasn't my discipline so I'm afraid to offer advice...lol... other than good luck and I hope it all stays holding...

 

[Dave91TM]

So had some time off, and figured I'd better get at removing the body from the chassis. So built this frame to lift it, ordered the sling to make it easier, then realized I need more height, so I added the A frame part of it.
Quickly realized even though I have14' ceilings at the peak the sling is to long. I have considered trying to make a fixed pulley at the top of the beam and a spreader bar for the sling, but would hate to think that this may still not give me enough vertical lift, so got a little frustrated yesterday and walked away from it for a bit. The other spots I screwed up on is the length of the frame and placement of the truss, frame should have been longer in length and the truss should be further forward. The issues this brought up was that I was going to use a come along to lift the body , but the car is to far back now it is in the way of the angle of the pull, I was going to pull from the 2X10 at the back of the frame.
So laying in bed last night contemplating this, I think that I am going to try and get some slings between the body and chassis and bring the loops to the top, hopefully this will give me enough room to lift.
The other thing I was wondering if I take a ratchet strap and hook it from the front to were I am lifting is that enough support, or should I be putting some sort of strut from the lifting point to the front so it all lifts on the same level.

any feed back is appreciated, Thanks George

I just googled "How to remove the body from a 1978 corvette", there seems to be a ton of info. Try it , hopefully you'll get some answers. (BTW nice wheels)

 

[OL Yeller]

What could possibly go wrong? Good luck...take your time...no sudden movements

 

[Murray20c8]

One thing I'd do is bolt the pulley to the beam so it doesn't hang down as far. No difference in the strength other than the strength of the bolt.
Can you not shorten the yellow straps? They are obviously too long. If not then tying them together near the cars roof will shorten them some.
Or perhaps putting them through the pulley.
It also looks like you have the car sitting on stuff elevating it 6 to 8 inches. Removing that would also allow more lift.
Barring all that dig a hole to sink the car in!

 

[charliebates]

So had some time off, and figured I'd better get at removing the body from the chassis. So built this frame to lift it, ordered the sling to make it easier, then realized I need more height, so I added the A frame part of it.
Quickly realized even though I have14' ceilings at the peak the sling is to long. I have considered trying to make a fixed pulley at the top of the beam and a spreader bar for the sling, but would hate to think that this may still not give me enough vertical lift, so got a little frustrated yesterday and walked away from it for a bit. The other spots I screwed up on is the length of the frame and placement of the truss, frame should have been longer in length and the truss should be further forward. The issues this brought up was that I was going to use a come along to lift the body , but the car is to far back now it is in the way of the angle of the pull, I was going to pull from the 2X10 at the back of the frame.
So laying in bed last night contemplating this, I think that I am going to try and get some slings between the body and chassis and bring the loops to the top, hopefully this will give me enough room to lift.
The other thing I was wondering if I take a ratchet strap and hook it from the front to were I am lifting is that enough support, or should I be putting some sort of strut from the lifting point to the front so it all lifts on the same level.

any feed back is appreciated, Thanks George

In my opinion your frame does not have enough diagonal cross bracing to lift the load that high. It may fold up on you.
When I did mine I had just over a 9 foot ceiling and also I wasn’t comfortable to lift it from the body mount locations. So instead I opted to build a frame under the car body.
First I raised the car about 15” with blocking under the wheels. I made the block supports all dead level and I did because i need the car dead level and the weight distributed on the wheels to align the body parts and do the wheel alignment later on.
Then I removed the bolt on body parts and the engine/transmission and suspension from the frame, then dropped the frame to the floor and simply dragged it out from under the car body, I was totally surprised to see how light the frame is. My frame is extended by 22” and it I expect it only weighs about 260 pounds. I could easily pull it out from under the supported car body and load it on my pickup truck myself. It is amazing that GM made this lightweight frame that will easily carry the load of the entire car and handle huge torque and horsepower.
After some welding touch ups for cosmetic reasons only, I had it powder coated.
I added temporary legs and wheels to the frame so I could roll it around.
This picture shows the car body on the support framing that is lag bolted into the concrete floor and the powder coated car frame beside it with the legs and wheels.
I did all the restoration work on the frame before installing it back under the car body but the sacrifice was to install the engine/ transmission and drivetrain afterwards.
You probably don’t recognize my car as a Corvette, it is one of 143 coach built Phillips Berlina Coupes ( title says “Chev Berlina”) and the frame is extended by 22 inches.

 

[turbozig]

Beautiful job George. Very interesting project also.

 

[George]

In my opinion your frame does not have enough diagonal cross bracing to lift the load that high. It may fold up on you.
When I did mine I had just over a 9 foot ceiling and also I wasn’t comfortable to lift it from the body mount locations. So instead I opted to build a frame under the car body.
First I raised the car about 15” with blocking under the wheels. I made the block supports all dead level and I did because i need the car dead level and the weight distributed on the wheels to align the body parts and do the wheel alignment later on.
Then I removed the bolt on body parts and the engine/transmission and suspension from the frame, then dropped the frame to the floor and simply dragged it out from under the car body, I was totally surprised to see how light the frame is. My frame is extended by 22” and it I expect it only weighs about 260 pounds. I could easily pull it out from under the supported car body and load it on my pickup truck myself. It is amazing that GM made this lightweight frame that will easily carry the load of the entire car and handle huge torque and horsepower.
After some welding touch ups for cosmetic reasons only, I had it powder coated.
I added temporary legs and wheels to the frame so I could roll it around.
This picture shows the car body on the support framing that is lag bolted into the concrete floor and the powder coated car frame beside it with the legs and wheels.
I did all the restoration work on the frame before installing it back under the car body but the sacrifice was to install the engine/ transmission and drivetrain afterwards.
You probably don’t recognize my car as a Corvette, it is one of 143 coach built Phillips Berlina Coupes ( title says “Chev Berlina”) and the frame is extended by 22 inches.

thanks for the info, just glad its apart now, I've never seen a Berlina before, cool looking car. did see an early 70's station wagon which I have seen before on face boo marketplace recently.
have a good week George