I'm pulling the body off and I was wondering if anyone knows how heavy a 69 coupe body would be. The interior is gutted except for the wiring harness and heater box. The t-top panels and hood will be off as well as headlight assys but the rad support and brake booster will be in and the doors are on. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: C3 Body Weight
Six Guys, and a six pack. -
Re: C3 Body Weight
Thanks Wayne but but in what order? The six pack first and then the guys? Seriously though,my friends and I have a hard enough time coordinating time out for a few beers let alone getting them all together for work! That's why I plan to use a portable engine hoist and a couple guys for assistance. At full extend most of these hoists,I think,are good for about 1000lbs and I'm hopeing that this will be enough. My garage only has a 8' ceiling so I can't use a stronger chain type hoist. Any more thoughts on this?Comment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
That sholud work nicely. Its not that heavy.Comment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
You may run out of headroom BEFORE the body clears the engine.....calculate the required clearances. Better check out how high the hoist will go and how close to the hoist hook you can attach your lifting straps... Those purchased from a vette vendor typically take a lot of headroom to get to the "central" hoist loop. When I pulled the body on my 67 coupe I had a maximum hook height of about 8 ft 3 in and I need every inch. I also used a spreader bar to shorten the straps. I had left the carb and distributor on the engine which made things worse.....Comment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
Greg -
If you can get six or eight guys together (bribe them with food, drink, and bench racing ), you'll be a lot better off. Check the link below for pics of a midyear body lift we did a couple of weeks ago as part of a Chapter Tech Seminar. The garage has a low ceiling like yours, so we just rolled the car outside (10-degree day), lifted it, rolled the chassis out and the dolly in, dropped the body back on the dolly, and retreated to the (warm) garage with the aforementioned food and drink. The whole operation took 38 seconds, which may be some kind of record, no doubt driven by the temperature outside
38-Second Body LiftComment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
John - from picture #2 to #11 is 15 minutes, so there must have been several six packs in the 14 minutes and 22 seconds extra besides the lift!! Seriously, that is a well orchestrated reomoval...do you want to bring that team down to Tucson to take the body off my 66 L72?....ha ha..CraigComment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll try and draft some of the boys for this one! Oh and Steve,I too was wondering about if I would have enough ceiling room to use a hoist. I think I'll play it safe rather than sorry by pushing it outside where ceiling height is not an issue and then just lifting it off.Comment
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Re: C3 Body Weight
Craig -
Those are the upload times to the photo-hosting site, not the time the pics were shot - I had a stopwatch on the operation while I photographed it (and shivered in the cold) It would be a delight to do a body lift in your part of the country - it was 13 below zero (F) this morning, shot all the way up to 8 above at noon, and MAY peak at 13 this afternoonComment
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Re: C3 Body Lift
Hi Greg,
I lifted my stripped 68 all by my lonesome with an engine hoist but it wasn't the best of times though the lift was relatively easy in it's self.
First you need to have a hoist that has extendable legsa as well as the boom. I had to actually buy a longer piece of thick wall tubing for the boom as I could not quite reach the center line of the car.
Next, I had to make absolutley sure that the lifting strap did't want to slide in any way by using c-clamps on either side of the attahing hooks.
If the nose is to remain attached to the body, you should create a support to also attach to the central lifting point just to help keep it honest. I left my core support in place to keep the nose from twisting so this was my attaching point.
When the body pops free, and it will POP free when it's ready, it gets nerve racking as your the one to have to run around and make sure that everything is free and clear and still positioned correctly to finish the lift.
Then that darned nose will want to head for the floor so your going to have to figure on a counter weight. I was able to get away with a cinder block setting on the tail to bring it back to almost level.
Then it's jacking to get the body high enough to clear the highest point which will be the kickups.
Oh... and did I mention that if you plan on rolling the chassis out from under the body, your going to have to make a little ramp to get the rear/front wheel that's on the wrong side of the hoist legs up and over. This means jacking the body even higher. Very nerve racking indeed!
I did mine this because I had too, and I'm going to have to do it again to put the body back when I'm ready.
I wouldn't wish this type of lift/place process on anyone especially if there are other (better) options. I hope you get the drift.
Good luck with your project.
Chuck #32205Comment
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