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Had cause to do a chassis-ectomy on a 51 last week and decided to try a different method to save some labor and minimize handling of large and already nicely painted items like front fenders and hood.

Undid the body bolts as usual, and disconnected linkages and wiring harness from the engine. Removed the floor plate around the pedals and adjusted them to a fully down position. Pulled the pitman arm from the steering gear and unbolted the gear from the frame. Dropped the gas tank and undid another handful of inner fender screws etc. Removed the radiator and heater hoses.

Then I laid 4x4s on my lift arms the full length of the rockers and front fenders and up she came with a singular lack of drama. Seats, steering gear, even the fender skirts still in place. Doors, hood and trunk all open as per normal and the whole process took only 4 hours.

I set the thing back down on another chassis for safe keeping (1/2 hour), but it could just have well been set on a big dolly. I am still giddy about the number of parts I did not have to remove and handle.

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That's cool, Ross! Very cool! Of one were removing the engine/trans would this method be faster than the traditional method?

Ross and Rich, I rub my eyes a bit in disbelief. Does that mean that you usualy disassembled the cars top down to start a frame-off job or what is the traditional method? When I had to do that work my chief interest lay in the pedals, the steering column, the gas tank and the available space around the radiator. In case of pre-war cars often the forward end has to be dismantled separately. All the rest mostly is nothing else than time-sapping dribs and drabs, especially the cable harness. To let the body fly we use a forklift which goes through the open windows. By using a protective rubber cover it doesn't harm a hair on it.

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No, no Guscha. Perhaps I should clarify my query. How long in hours does it take to remove just an engine and trans from a postwar straight 8 (removing the hood and using a cherry picker, etc.

It seems like using Ross's method in 4 hours you get very good access to the engine for rebuild/overhaul purposes plus access to the frame for paint/powdercoat all-in one.

In addition to making the frame pretty and solving some suspension issues, the engine also needed a valve job and detailing. I am responding to customer expectations here, not my own.

The body was to come off in any event. This method saved pulling the front clip, a fair amount more wiring, pulling the steering gear out through the car, and a whole lot of reinstalation/alignment/scratching issues. It would take me as long just to pull the engine and trans by the normal method.

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I got the message already at the eleventh attempt. "4x4s" are scantlings.

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man i wish i had me a shop and a lift!

Hank

Ditto!

Tom

Looks like it works just fine. Now that i've seen it i can believe it. Otherwise i would have been suspicous that the front sheet metal and grill would have been too heavy to be supported by just the 6 bolts back at the cowl.

Was the radiator and battery removed before lifiting????

Do you need to worry about any body flex? ...like not being able to open the doors. (not that you would need to) I'm assuming that the only flex you may get is the rockers moving inward or outward slightly, if at all.