Customs Pulling my Body

Im pulling the body on my 54 chevy. Was wondering if there is anything special I need to do besides gut the extra inside weight etc... Me and a bunch of buddies are gonna lift it and roll the chassis out

Do I need to brace the inside at all or should it be ok, Never pulled a body so any advise be appreciated, thanks

 

Pulled my 50 body minus the doors but with the trunk lid on. No bracing. No problem at all. That being said if your floors are shot or your body braces are rusted out I would think about bracing it. But judging by what I've seen of your car, you'll be fine.
For what it's worth, I pulled mine all by myself. Todd

 

Remove the hood, and front fenders if you haven't already. Remove the deck lid, and seats. How are you removing the body? On a lift?

 

after gutting the inside like you said take off the front clip..hood..fenders..etc...doors and trunk. If your rockers and floors are shot you'll need bracing running from the front door jamb to the rear on both sides and it might be a good idea to put some kind of an X inside for extra support...this is only if the floors and rockers are shot. If everything is solid..then you won't need any of that.


Double check to make sure all the bolts are out from the mounts. When I pulled my Chevy off the frame we couldn't figure out why it wouldn't lift in the corner..here I forgot a bolt..duh..Get 6-8 good friends and a case of beer and it will be off in no time. The more people the better. Figure out who you want lifting and who you want rolling the chassis out ahead of time so everyone knows their role. Hope this helps.
Jerry

 

Front clip is off, Im doing MsII and some other stuff.

Body is solid, but the driveshaft tunnel and floor braces were cut when I notched the rear,I did remake a new tunnel etc but unsure if this is going to be a factor or not

 

did you fill in the tranmission tunnel??
well if you got a bunch of buddies to help out shouldnt be a problem.
car gets fairly light if its completly stripped i stripped down my car and removed the body by myself suprisingly didnt feel to heavy check out my latest thread there are some pictures there

 

I think you'll be alright

 

no Tranny tunnel is still there, My main concern is just somthin buckling on the body.

And I also am going to raise up my engine and tranny so the trany hump will have to be cut out before reinstalling the body, just dont want things to get floppy or maybe im over reacting

 

Make sure the fuel tank is free, check the filler neck, sending unit wires and fuel lines to make sure there not going to hang you up. Oh and the E-brake too.

 

And the fire wall looks sweet too! Good luck!

 

rustypipes do you have any pics of where your engine sat before? if it was a sbc..
yeah man i think some of it is over reacting. i know i did a little just use some metal and brace across the original floor braces

i kinda want to raise mine for various reasons, aesthetics/function no scrapege

 

I would also say to run some braces between the door jambs so your door gaps dont change because they will.

 

Thats sounds like a good idea

 

I did floors and other patch work on a 52 convertible. the only thing connecting the cowl to the back half was the rockers and some of the drive shaft tunnel. the owner who took it all apart just put 2 poorly placed braces in the door jambs. it did flex a little but I was able to pull it back into shape and properly brace it.

I wouldn't worry about body flex at all assuming your floor modifications are strong. even then with a "post" car and good rockers and floors I still dont see a problem. as for your future modifications of the trans tunnel I think I'd do that while the body is still on the frame, then lift it off that way you know it is all square when it goes back together.

 

Removing as much weight as possible is great. Leaving the door mounted and latched will help reinforce the body shell.

 

I just got my 54 chevy 2door body back on the frame. That body is heavy. If you have access to a two pole lift, it wouldn't take long. If I remember correctly there were 8 to 10 bolts on each side. I did it by using jack stands and a couple of scaffing boards wide enough to allow the wheels to between the stands. I put one across the front and one just in front of the rear wheelwell. One thing that suprised me was where the center of the weight is, front to back. That center is just 6"-8" forward of the rear wheelwell. You would think that it would be further forward because of the massive dash and firewall. My body flexed a little and it was in excellent shape with no rusted floor panels or braces. I noticed it in the alinement of the doors while it was on the roll around frame I made for it. It corrected itself when I put the body back on the frame. Good luck and I hope you have at least 6-8 strong friends. I saw a picture of 6 guys lifting a 54 body, but they all looked like weight lifters.

 

Where are you gonna put the body when it comes off? Remember you now have 2 full size car parts to deal with. Look at the pics in my profile, my Pontiac came apart no problem. The only time we braced it is when we cut the roof off.

 

i did that once but i went blind should have listen to mom

 

that was a good one, the joke!