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Thread: Help Lifting the body

  1. #1
    Senior Member mr_maxime's Avatar
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    Help Lifting the body

    I'm ready to lift the body off of my car but I'd like to see if anyone can help first. I plan on using bottle Jacks and cinder blocks since I don't have access to a lift right now. I'm trying to take out the fuel lines and shifter assembly out, then I can drop the body back on.

    I'm in Newnan so if anyone's got any way of helping me out or suggestions I'm open. Otherwise I'm going down a tedious route with lots of cinder blocks

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Location:  Burnsville MN-Moving to Kalispell MT. in June 20111

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    blocking

    Don't use cinder blocks, solid wood blocks
    much safer, won't crumble....

  3. #3
    Junior Member
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    Re: help lifting the body

    Hey there, I'm planning for the same project on my car. Looked around a lot for different ideas and I came up with a plan that I think is pretty good.

    I have limited garage space, so I've made a design to prop the body on a 4x4 frame, with large casters, so that I can wheel the body back and forth as easily as the frame.

    PM me if you want more details, I made a few drawings and have measurements for everything.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike0173 View Post
    Hey there, I'm planning for the same project on my car. Looked around a lot for different ideas and I came up with a plan that I think is pretty good.

    I have limited garage space, so I've made a design to prop the body on a 4x4 frame, with large casters, so that I can wheel the body back and forth as easily as the frame.

    PM me if you want more details, I made a few drawings and have measurements for everything.
    Do you have pics you can post here?

    I'm following closely, planning a body/frame separation early next year.

  5. #5
    EFI'd dn010's Avatar
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    First few times I did this, I used 4X4 blocks of wood to hold up the body in the air - wasn't really the safest. The latest time I used a bunch of cinder blocks. As mentioned, if they are damaged in any way or cracked, they can crumble so inspect them first. I take the wheels off the car and lay the frame on moving dollies so the body doesn't have to go extremely high in the air. Goes pretty smoothly when you have a few people, I still hope I never have to do this again without a lift. There are a ton of threads to help with the process for those who have never done this. Here's a few-

    Checklist:
    http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?14...tion-Checklist

    Tips:
    http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?37...the-frame-tips
    -----Dan B.

  6. #6
    Dr. Bob Bob635's Avatar
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    lifting off the body

    I have worked on a number of Ds involving removing the body. It is surprisingly light. I usually just support it on a jack stands. Try to use the jack points, but a 2 foot long 2x4 along the sill rails allows you to put the jack stand out of your way when working in the area.

    Interestingly, there is also very little flex.

    If you want to able to roll chassis out, then you need to support the car with 8' 4x4 s as out riggers. Just jack up each corner in rotation, a few inches. and get it up about 18"

    Bob

  7. #7
    Senior Member mr_maxime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich_NYS View Post
    Do you have pics you can post here?

    I'm following closely, planning a body/frame separation early next year.
    I'll try to post some pics, but I had the engine and transmission out already so a regular checklist from the forum is your best bet.

    I really only need it high enough to take the fuel lines and ac hoses off now. I'm not rolling the frame out. I hadn't seen that tips thread yet. I'll probably do nicks method of lifting the whole car then dropping the frame

  8. #8
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by mr_maxime View Post
    I'll try to post some pics, but I had the engine and transmission out already so a regular checklist from the forum is your best bet.

    I really only need it high enough to take the fuel lines and ac hoses off now. I'm not rolling the frame out. I hadn't seen that tips thread yet. I'll probably do nicks method of lifting the whole car then dropping the frame
    Thanks...much appreciated.

    I did a partial separation on 4728; removed all but the rearmost body bolts, then opened the front for better access.

    I'm getting another DeLorean next week and planning a full separation for better access to the areas I want to restore/upgrade.

  9. #9
    Junior Member
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    Re: Help lifting the body

    So, Disclaimer, I haven't done this yet, just figuring out the details. I looked into purchasing a steel tubing frame or a hydraulic lift...but too much $$$.
    I priced out buying steel tubing and making a rack for the body, but even in its simplest form was around $800 not including time to build it (and I do my own cutting/welding). So, same design goals but with wood 4x4's is much simpler, just a couple hurdles that I think I found a unique way to overcome them.

    Goal #1 - separate the body from frame and be able to mobilize either section

    Assumption #1 - The weight of the Fiberglass + body is able to be supported by 2 wood 4x4's running left to right (i have seen several pictures online of people supporting their deloreans with cinder blocks and 4x4's).

    In my case, I will likely have the body suspended on my apparatus for quite some time, my concern is moisture/temperature changes affecting the structural integrity of the 4x4's...but that's my risk.

    Important Dimensions:
    Jack Plate to Jack Plate - Front to Rear is 59 1/4" center to center
    Jack Plate to Jack Plate - Left to Right is 54 1/2" center to center
    Widest Point of frame clearance = Rear tires outside to outside - 73" (I want at least 6" clearance on each side)
    Tallest Point of frame clearance = Rear tire Height - 26" (I have 225's, not 235's) (I'm adding 4" clearance on top)

    The unique part of my plan:
    I didn't want to buy 4 expensive lifts...and most car jacks won't lift high enough anyway.
    So, I found a set of 4 camper scissor jacks for about $100, these will lift up to 24", which is close:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Next is how to get the apparatus between the jack and the car, while its still 1 piece.
    4 - 3" long pieces of 4" square steel tubing x 0.1875" wall. The trick here is that the wood 4x4 will slide through the center after the body is jacked above the frame.
    Also grabbed a set of hockey pucks to place between the steel tubing and the jack plates.

    So my idea is to place 4 scissor jacks under the 4" steel tubing (with hockey pucks glued to the top). Jack each slowly, making sure all connections are the car are free. Then once its cleared the frame, slide the wood 4x4 through the steel tubing and then assemble the frame underneath.

    I also purchased these large rubber casters to mount on the bottom of my wood frame, so I can roll the body back and forth.
    Casters:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I can't figure out the picture upload thing.
    Isometric Delorean Lifting.jpg

  10. #10
    Senior Member mr_maxime's Avatar
    Join Date:  Mar 2015

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    Seemed like a good start for a plan but I noticed this on the levelers "For RV stablizing and leveling purpose only, Never use for lifting, changing tires or supporting weight of any vehicles, "

    Im not in as much of a rush now since I was able to wedge the shifter out with pry bars.

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