Vixen body lift questions

[pigiron]

I am about to lift the body off my Vixen S2, fortunatley my workshop is well equiped, the car is on a two post lift with an electric hoist directly above.

I wish to fabricate a sling/lifting bar, can someone tell me what the what a bare shell weighs and where the centre of gravity is please.

[longone]

pigiron said:

I am about to lift the body off my Vixen S2, fortunatley my workshop is well equiped, the car is on a two post lift with an electric hoist directly above.

I wish to fabricate a sling/lifting bar, can someone tell me what the what a bare shell weighs and where the centre of gravity is please.

For what it's worth, I lifted a M body off its chassis some years ago single handed, similarly to how you propose. The conventional way is with people at each corner as you will know but certainly a M body including the front screen came up easy. I made two packings out of 2"x2" timber and contoured them with a rasp until they fitted intimately with the upper part of the body's door frame shuts, from the A pillar back to the curved rear corner, one for each side. This is a tedious job but to be sure you are spreading the load along a good area it's worth persisting.
Then I used a chain block from an A frame across the car with some chains and a 2" box steel tube as the beam under the packings.
Once the beam has the weight and you see it lift a fraction you will notice which way it wants to tilt and can then relower and move the beam to get the balance you desire. In the case of the M, I had to position the beam to encourage the body to rise tail up while the body footwells disengaged from the chassis. I was worried if the weight would distort or damage the body area taking the load but in reality there was no creeking or worrying moments.
Colin.

[heightswitch]

Are your screens out??

If so. use 2 eyebolts in top of rear wheel arches and another 2... 1 in each footwell. Then use 2 ropes to sling to just above the roof. The shell has a rearward bias so you can adjust your ropes accordingly.

When you lift you should lift the rear slightly first which will allow you to lift away from the top rails which flair out near the bell housing. I find it better to lift rear up slightly then front then as you lift with the rear about 6" higher than the front just tease the shell rearward slightly as you lift then go vertically up

Don't forget to remove handbrake lever and gearstick assembly

I may have some pics somewhere.....

Here we go











N.

Edited by heightswitch on Sunday 4th November 16:42

[pigiron]

Thanks to both, very helpfull advice, it's great to hear from people who have actual experience.

Yes the screens are out and shell is totaly bare, will be lifting in the morning.

[RCK974X]

I did mine (S3) without a hoist, I simply hung the body from the 4 main corners using old seatbelt with the buckles attached from the rafters of my shed.
(i.e. the 2 outer front bolt holes, and the two holes right at the rear)

I put the seatbelts around the outside as I was repainting anyway....

I reckon the shell was plenty strong enough when stripped down, I managed to lift it with ropes and an engine hoist. Fitted back perfectly with no (extra) cracks...

[daza]

[daza]