Right – how do we actually do something big and get the body off?!
Handbrake unbolted and cable disconnected? Underneath around the back of the cockpit area you’ll see the handbrake cables fed through a cross bar. There are a couple of funny clips on this that need a bit of persuasion with a screwdriver but will actually slide off and allow you to disconnect the handbrake cables leaving them attached to the caliper. You can also unbolt the handbrake from the cockpit removing a few bolts.
Handbrake
That’s the handbrake out of the way, now what about the regular brakes?
We ended up cutting the hoses at the front near the calipers as we couldn’t free the rusty bolts.
Cut front brake hoses
At the back the instructions said to cut the pipes at the junction box. This is what you are looking for. It is located on the driver’s side near the rear wheel.
Rear brake junction box
Disconnect the steering rack here and pull through into the cockpit
Steering bolt
Don’t forget to unbolt the anti-roll bars from the body as well
Anti-roll bar bushings
This is what is attaching the body to the subframe. You can see the big bolts here at the front
Body/subframe bolts
which bolt onto the subframe here
Front subframe mountings
and again here at the rear
Rear body/subframe bolts
which bolt onto the subframe here
Rear subframe
Also, if I am remembering this correctly, there is another bolt at the back end of the front subframe that goes into the body. You can see the hole here
Rear of front subframe
Now you got to decide where you are going to lift it off, and where to put the body once it is off! Sounds simple, but you do need to plan how to move this thing about now.
Also, importantly support. Once the body comes off, there needs to be something to support the engine and gearbox from just collapsing to floor. Stuart at MEV used pipe between the wishbones to keep them up. We had a large skateboard built from planks and on castors that we stuck under the engine and it seems to be working fine.
Giant Skateboard
We borrowed a mate’s engine crane to lift the body off (thanks Tim and Connor!)
Engine crane in place
The Big Lift - Door ended up in a bad state lol
4 guys, 3 trolley jacks and lot of swearing later we got it off. A few things we learnt from this after spending the best part of an evening getting it lifted off!!
1. Try and get an engine crane with 4 castors on it. This one had the front wheels fixed at an angle which meant it was very difficult to slide anywhere.
2. Don’t use tow rope with a degree of elasticity to try and lift this!!
3. It is heavier than it looks!!
4. I understand that Stuart at MEV used the seat bolts to connect to – 1 front hole, 1 rear hole on the other side. This worked out pretty balanced for him. Since we had one seat stuck in, we hooked onto a hole at the rear and fed the rope through the bulkhead and back the crane. This meant we bent the bulkhead in the process of removing and was less than balanced let’s just say!
5. Don’t use too long a rope or chain as you will run of vertical movement (yes we learnt that the hard way)
6. Remove the doors and fuel tank before you lift it. Any weight you can save will make it easier to lift.
By the end of it, you should be left with a nice “rolling chassis” to clean up and paint.
Rolling Chassis
@ andy9eleven 