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On vacation next week, it is my goal to seperate my body / chassis. I have read (in several locations/manuals) a rumor of only six bolts..., Are these big and sturdy, obvious bolts, or are they just hidden among all the others. Or put another way, what do I need to do to seperate the two? Engine and tranny still in.

Thanks,

Ray,

I just did this on my 733 a couple of weeks ago. The bolts are easy to find from underneath the car, there are 6 like you said and they are either 1/2" or 5/8" in diameter making them the largest bolts on the underside of the frame rails. Once you have them removed the body can be separated as long as you've undone all the wires and bijur lines. At this point you have some choices to make. How are you going to lift it? Where are you going to put it?

Here is what I did.
I went around the car with a prybar and lifted the body up 3/4" at a time and while I had each corner up I slipped a 3/4" piece of plywood between the frame and body. I kept doing this while doing circles around the car until the body was lifted about 4" over the frame. At this point I slipped two 7' long 4x4s in the 4" gap between the frame and body. Then I built some legs out of 4x4s and attached some HD casters to the bottom of them and bolted them to the beams already in place under the body. At this point I added gussets at all the joints to make it sturdy. It should be noted that at this point the casters were a few inches from the garage floor and the wood dolly wasn't supporting anything.

With the dolly constructed the next step was to lower the frame down so the weight of the body was transferred to the dolly and the casters. I now have my body on wheels and I can wheel it out of the garage in order to work on the chassis. I also did the entire thing by myself which is a plus if you have a hard time asking your friends to blow out their backs on your projects. I'll upload a picture in a bit.

Good luck on your 526
Todd

First shot shows the ply risers and 4x4 in place, second shot shows dolly fully constructed and ready to drop, last shot shows frame dropped down and body free to roll around.

If I was going to try this with the engine installed I would have parked the car nose in to the garage so the body could be backed off the frame from the rear.

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Thanks,

my plan is very similar, but I have a chain hoist to do the heavy lifting!!

I haven't completed the wiring disassembly, and hadn't given much thought to the Bijur lines, are many intertwined with the body? What did you use as "safe" pry points to start?

I also am doing 99% of the work without any assistance, so it is nice reading that I am really not all alone.

Ray,

Black pipe will work and I almost went that direction but used wood to save money. I think it was a wash financially though so do whatever you're comfortable with. I think the only Bijur I had to undo is the main one from the tank to the T under the frame by the steering gear box. That reminds me, you will have to remove the steering gear box, the steering column and steering wheel too. Then you'll have to remove all the throttle linkage that is attached to the firewall from the steering box. There is probably some stuff I'm forgetting but it should be obvious once you get in to it.

Forgot about your pry point inquiry. I started at the firewall and then went to the back corners at the frame. I wasn't too concerned with my body because it's allready trashed pretty bad. The last person who lifted the body on my car used a cold chisel to punch holes in it and then lifted it through the holes. I know because the chisel was still stuck in one of them.

It may be the wrong method, but I used a cherry picker with two straps across the roof, listed the body, and then rolled the frame out. I then set it down on 4x4s and cinder blocks. I don't have a large enough garage to build a roll around cart for the body and I have to move the whole car in about a month, so it was a moot point anyway.

Don't stop looking for bolts after you find 6. There can be up to 10 bolts holding the body to the frame.

Jim Wayman
640 Phaeton

I had 14 or so, but my 1937 115c is a whole different animal.

Sorry, thought the car in questions was a 1928 526 sedan.