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You know, I joke with my wife about the things you guys can pick out of pictures. Its no problem, just amazing whats catches the eye sometimes.

There are 2 images below. The writing is on the underside of the top portion of the dash. #1 is on the passenger side and #2 is on the drivers side.

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Neat stuff Stewart. My 400 also teased me with cryptic messages during disassembly. Enjoy the adventure! I think Indiana Jones is around the corner.

Anyone have guess at how much the body of my Packard weighs?
I'm just talking about the body without chassis, interior or anything. Looking at different ideas to hold the body when it comes off.

A complete 400 weighs 4200 lbs if I recall recorrectly.

Stewart,

Maybe Henry can give you an idea,
http://youtu.be/pDRFnQ2okoY

I am actually looking into purchasing a rotissorie or body cart/dolly. Some of them have maximum weight requirements. The lowest weight of those I have seen 1500 lbs.

Am leaning toward this make and modelhttp://www.autotwirler.us/product-p/bcpl.htm

It supports 3000 lbs so weight is not an issue. I also like the design with the center rail under the body. It allows easy access to the underside of the car and I can excape quickly if needed. Many models are square with suports on all 4 sides. That makes access to the underside more difficult and prevents a quick exit. This model also has adjustable height and its made about 100 miles of here so I may be able to save on shipping cost and pick it up.

Also, I can't even look out my front door and see 6 houses. I'm sure not going to get 6 guys to come over an lift the body like Henry did.

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Nice site and concise video.

Seems like and affordable price, but it's just a body truck - something to put the body on while off-frame that you can push around your shop.

Nevermind rust-through repair, after laying on my back to prep and paint the floor pan of my daily driver (a PITA), I'd rather have a full rotisserie, like their PRO model:http://www.autotwirler.us/product-p/pro.htm

Yeah, it's ~$1K more, but you can save a couple hundred if you buy it in bare steel. Paint it yourself with POR-15; topcoats are available in several colors.

I shudder to think of the cost of S&H, though.

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No idea on the weight but when I did mine, I was alone. Everything was out of the body so doubt it was even 1000 lbs -- probably less.

Took awhile though because I could only use a cherry picker on one end at a time so had to do it in stages. Once an end was up a bit, used a 4x4 supported on cinderblocks and moved to the other end and repeated the lift. Basically, one or two cinderblock height at a time. When high enough, rolled the chassis out.

It stayed on blocks while I did some work underneath (undercoat and caked on grease removal--double ugh) and then repeated the process to lower the body down on a homemade set of rollers until the chassis was ready. Rollers were fairly healthy and the body support assy was made of lumber with dimensions so I could bolt the body on at a few spots to avoid any slipping when pushing it around. Don't have photos handy with it on blocks but do have some on the rollers.

Removed from rollers and replaced on chassis using the same method.

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I am not sure I need a rotissorie. I only have a couple rust spots to fix in the floor. The fenders and hinge post need the most work and thats on the sides.

Since this body cart that I linked to has adjustable height (up to 3.5')I should be able to get underneith with no problem.

I talked a shop that does soda blasting last week and they can use a fork lift to raise it and blast it the bottom side.

So the only thing I really need to do on the bottom of the body is apply the undercoating. Its messy but is it worth the extra 5 to 600 dollars for the rotissorie.

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Well, maybe you won't need a rotisserie, then, but I'd wanna put something more than just undercoating over any surface rust.

Rustoleum makes a black Rust Reformer product packaged in an aerosol can that can be painted over (after 24 hrs.). I used in some less accessible places on my daily driver, prior to undercoating or even painting (with something other than POR-15), but I'm still waiting for the end of winter to see how it holds up.

Slow weekend. Got my wife to help lift out the windshield on Saturday. I got tired of picking at the dry rotted weather seal and took a die grinder to it. It was messy and smelled but going slowly I cut out the top-outside lip of the seal and we just lifted it right out of the bottom portion.

Also finished up tearing down the dash. I was hoping that I would not have to deal with those chrome rings around the gauges. Now I am pretty sure I am not going to have a choice if I want to get that gold mesh off the front.

I tried contacting Auto Twirler last week about those body dollies but they never returned my calls or emails. I finally talked to one of their distributors and was told that they were bought out by an outfit in Utah. The facility outside Indianapolis is no longer in business. Was hoping to same on freight charges. I'll keep looking for now.

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