65 coupe suspension overhaul

[Dan K.]

Hi.

My name is Dan and I am new to the forum. My question pertains to body removal for suspension overhaul. I'm planning on replacing the front and rear suspensions including all ball joints, bushings, and diff and trailing arm rebuilds. The frame and birdcage are very solid, however, the left sombrero bushing bracket has been re-welded at some point. My main objective is to have a solid, reliable car, not a top flight car. Having said that, I'm well aware of the dangers of project creep and this is not meant to be a nut and bolt restoration. My thinking is that with the body off, and suspension removed, I'm looking at blast, paint, brake lines and fuel lines and I'll have a care free chassis. Engine and trans are not an issue at this time. All opinions are welcome and will certainly be considered. Thank You.

Dan

[Gene T.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Dan,

I would highly recommend to view the excellent post by Richard Mozzette of his '67. He posted multiple pics from start to finish during his body off restoration. I have viewed his post multiple times due to the excellent documentation. Richard Mozzetta runs his post on his highly documented body off process on the NCRS thread very often for those mid year owners benefit.

Gene Talley
NCRS # 29172

[Mike T.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Dan - Welcome to the Tech Board. Good luck with your project and post up some pics along the way.

[Gene M.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Dan,
Welcome, just use good quality USA parts like Moog, TRW, Seal Power, etc and you should achieve you goals. And avoid china parts at all cost......!

[Dan K.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely check out Richard's post. Given that i posted at 5:30 am during a break at work, I see that I didn't really pose much of a question there did I? My question should have been , if you were going to do the suspension work I listed above, would you do it body on or off? I realize that both ways involve a lot of work. I guess my initial thought was, man, this would be a lot easier with the body off! I don't have a hoist so all work would be done on my back on a creeper. I could get enough manpower over to lift the body though.

[Bob R.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

This is just my opinion but removing the body is a lot of work there is a long list of things you will have to remove or disconnect and with no lift it will be difficult to actually get the body off the frame and back on. Remember the body has to lifted high enough to clear the engine. I am fairly certain that once the body is off you will find all sort of things you will want to replace. Its so much work to get the body off you might as well fix it now so here is the scope creep. The decision is yours but if you want to limit your work to the suspension don't remove the body. Replacing the fuel and brake lines with the body on is a problem so it may be worth considering but you most likely will get into scope creep many people before you have.

[Dan K.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

You hit my dilemma right on the head Bob. I don't want to get into something bigger than planned. Not having taken a body off before I found myself thinking it's probably a lot of work to remove the body but at the same time removing all these suspension parts on my back won't be a picnic either. If the sombrero bracket hadn't been repaired I would probably go the creeper route. Don't want to get the rear suspension apart and then find out the bracket needs work. Yikes!! Had visions of working on the suspension while sitting on the frame rail with a cold beer nearby, and that's not making my decision any easier!!!! Thanks for the reply.

[Gene M.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Dan, you can remove the body with a big cherry picker, I've done it a lot of times. Be prepared and have a body cradle fabricated before the lift. The time spent removing the body will be saved doing the chassis work. So it is more work up front but far easier in the long haul. Read up on the process.......

[Dan K.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Yes, I've seen the different ways to pull the body from some of the posts here. I've got a pretty big cherry picker here. Your comment on time spent before and saved later is exactly what I've been considering, the whole pros and cons thing to both methods. I'm planning on starting the project soon so i guess I've got a little soul searching to do here. Thanks for your input!

[Richard M.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Hi Dan, Welcome to the TDB and to a great group of knowledgeable people here. In my +27 years as a member I've learned a enormous amount from all of them.

I appreciate Gene's nice comments about my thread on the '67 I have here. I started it as a whim and it's grown to a step by step update every time I work on it. In that car's case, the main reason we pulled the body was to replace a badly rusted fuel line. We also knew we were going to do a complete body-off restoration of chassis, suspension, etc. It was discovered along the way that there were also many other previously unseen repair and safety issues once the body came off. These cars are nearly 50 years old now and what you cannot see, usually becomes a problem that needs fixing.

Yes the complete front and rear suspensions can be rebuilt with body on. Been done many times. However, as mentioned, the things you can't see are often overlooked. I suggest before you decide which path to take, either body on or off, inspect as much as possible in great detail from underneath. Try to get it on a nearby lift somehow and plan several hours of viewing and photography. A gooseneck inspection camera is a great tool also and you can photograph using that too. Then later, look closely at all of your photos and you will see things that you missed in person. After that exercise then you can better decide your path.

You mentioned a sombrero issue. Is your car a big block? Typically, extra stresses happen and can damage it. The car I have here had the same issue. It didn't become more obvious until the body was off and after sanblasting the frame. Please just remember that any welding under a car near the fuel tank is tricky. Also remember that the vent hose for the fuel door area exits at the lower bumper and fumes are spent there. This can be close enough to the sombrero to be a issue. I always plug the vent nipple in the fuel door well and leave the door open if I'm working under a car with anything that can generate a spark.

This was the sombrero issue I found. It was repaired with body on years prior, albeit corrected but incorrectly. It was a time bomb IMO. It would be very difficult to have repaired this properly with the body on as there was more trouble lurking where it attached to the frame.
Quick link to that sombrero issue post in my thread here.....
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...133#post738133

Good luck in your decision and please keep us up to date of your progress.

Rich

[Gary R.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Welcome Dan. Word of warning, do your homework on buying kits and parts. Stay away from those suspension kits many sell because a lot it not all are imported parts and the ball joints are bad. If you need any reference on parts or rebuilding let me know, I'll be glad to go over things with you.

[Dan K.]

Re: 65 coupe suspension overhaul

Hi Richard. I've checked out your post and I must say, I'm impressed. Great job on your 67! You've touched on a few things that got me thinking about pulling the body. I just did some repairs to the brake lines over the past winter and that got me thinking about the fuel line which looks like it may be original. The frame and birdcage are rock solid. The sombrero bracket looks like it had cracked at some point even though it's not a big block car. Looks like a decent enough repair but who knows what the other side looks like. It is a high horse four speed car with 4:11's so I would imagine it's had some pretty good workouts in it's time. Even though the car will always be a driver the thought of removing the body has always interested me. That would be a pretty cool project! Having said that, the main purpose would be to produce a reliable, safe set of bones for the car. The whole welding underneath thing crossed my mind in regards to both getting a proper repair done and not burning the car or my house to the ground!! Thanks for your words of advice and encouragement, it's good to have more to process while I decide which direction I'm taking.

Hi Gary. Thanks for the advice on the offshore parts. I've already had a bad experience with them. An idler pulley I bought lasted an hour before wiping out the bearing even though the belt was far from being too tight. We have spoken about my diff a while back and when it's out I'll be shipping it across the border to you. I appreciate the input and advice given by all and as previously mentioned it's time for a little soul searching here. My garage situation is not what I would call body-off friendly but it still looks like something I could really sink my teeth into.