Pre Body Lift Questions

[Jon Brown]

Trying to gen up on this as much as possible, I have read the guide and also read most of the topics on here that I can find.

My chasis is looking a little tired with alot of the powder coat having come off the welds etc. The outriggers are pretty solid (or least i hope so) as these were replaced a couple of years prior to my purchase (2008).

So my thinking was remove the body, clean the chassis with brake cleaner, rags etc, then using a compressor and wire brush wheel attachment clean off all the old powdercoat and repaint with the old POR15 stuff. At the same time I will replace the diff bushes, diff oil a couple of other bushes, and also the fuel lines.

So my questions:
1. How long does it take to remove the body (1 weeks work?)
2. I assume it would take a few days solid to clean and paint the chassis
3. How much of the engine bits can i leave in (i know the manifolds have to come off (again))
4. Is POR15 suitable for this job?
5. Is there anything else apart from listed above that is worth changing?

I will probably repaint a few other bits whilst its off as well.

The main thing im concerned about is losing my summer.

Thanks

[dbv8]

Some pics and stuff here may help...

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Mine was off the road for 18 months

[Jon Brown]

I hadnt seen this one, I will have a read.

This is exactly what im trying to avoid, its bad enough being without the P&J for a month or two let alone 18 months.

I guess the other option is pay circa £3k and get someone else to do it.

[whitewolf]

I did nearly the same with my Taimar.


I wire wheeled it with a grinder attachment.


I wouldn't give you an estimation on how many hours... You'll find you can only do so much before our either ache or your ears ring (wire wheel on the chassis metal soon becomes a banchee squeel!) also your hands will get vibration based weird feelings and lastly, when the wheel grabs the chassis in such a way you're not expecting it and it flies out of your hands across the room and you st yourself!!!


Take your time, and without sounding patronising, when you've had enough, leave it foe later... You'll see what I mean.

Mick

[Jon Brown]

I can appreciate that based on previous experiences. Im not built for prolonged manual labour so that is sound advice.

Think this calls for more research.

[Engineer1949]

For what it is worth i personally would not remove the body just to wire wheel etc. the chassis if you are going that far get it stripped down completely then get it shot blasted this is the only sure way of getting it properly clean plus if theres any soft spots it will find them,if you have the right gear about two days to get the body of but experience is a great help.


john

[Engineer1949]

For what it is worth i personally would not remove the body just to wire wheel etc. the chassis if you are going that far get it stripped down completely then get it shot blasted this is the only sure way of getting it properly clean plus if theres any soft spots it will find them,if you have the right gear about two days to get the body of but experience is a great help.


john

[Engineer1949]

For what it is worth i personally would not remove the body just to wire wheel etc. the chassis if you are going that far get it stripped down completely then get it shot blasted this is the only sure way of getting it properly clean plus if theres any soft spots it will find them,if you have the right gear about two days to get the body of but experience is a great help.


john

[Jon Brown]

With all these other posts the costs soon mount up, but the main saving grace is that all my suspension bushes and ball joints have already been replaced, with the exeception of a couple and I have these in the garage.

Think the diff bushes are only £60 for poly ones.
Plus rear disk and pads, but they can't be that expensive, again i have replaced the brake caliper lines previously.

So apart from the fuel and main brake lines there shouldn't be much else in theory, but sugestions are welcome

[TJC46]

Jon Brown said:

With all these other posts the costs soon mount up, but the main saving grace is that all my suspension bushes and ball joints have already been replaced, with the exeception of a couple and I have these in the garage.

Think the diff bushes are only £60 for poly ones.
Plus rear disk and pads, but they can't be that expensive, again i have replaced the brake caliper lines previously.

So apart from the fuel and main brake lines there shouldn't be much else in theory, but sugestions are welcome

I would strip the chassis completely and shot blast and paint it.With the body off you will be surprised how quickly you can strip the chassis down.
If you recently fitted new bushes were they rubber or poly? If poly remove them and blast and paint all the wishbones. If rubber mask off carefully and clean and paint by hand.
The brake lines clean up very well, so no need to renew, but i would change the rubber brake hoses for braided s/steel. The copper petrol pipe should all be renewed. It is i think 8mm dia and can be bought from any diy shop in coil form. Renew all the rubber petrol pipe with the correct grade fuel hose.
I did mine at home in a single garage. I stored the body under covers on the driveway. Plenty off info here... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I hope you shotblast/strip the chassis completely, its the only way to do it!
Good luck....Tom.

[Mr Supercharged]

The guys above are right, don't bother cleaning your chassis yourself. If you have gone to the trouble of removing the body get it shot blasted and then decide what to do next. I would strongly advise that before you have it shot blasted you take a file to all of the sharp edges and round them off, these are the parts which were guillotined out (suspension mounting brackets etc). The reason being is that shot blasting won't necessarily remove these sharp edges and paint wont adhere to these edges properly. If you need proof of this just look at your chassis, you will see my point, the powder coat has peeled away from all of these sharp edges.

There is lots of info on here as to what to coat your chassis with afterwards. I have used POR 15 on suspension wishbones and think it is great. I believe that Frost Automotive sell a primer for it as well which might be worth considering? I think that when I come to do my chassis though I will have it hot dip zinc galvanised and find a suitable paint to go over the top of that. After all, it is a job you only ever want to do once! Hot dip zinc galvanising does not cost very much but does require that you drill lots of holes in your chassis for health and safety reasons for the operators lifting the chassis out of the tank. I believe there is a place in Bristol that have done a number of chassis.

Good luck....!

[phazed]

Jon, you are taking on a task!

If you do go ahead, let me know when and I'll call round and direct the lift .

Good luck with what ever you decide to do!

[Steve_D]

You are more than welcome to pop down to our workshop and see what is involved.
If you plan to remove the body completly you would be wise to have the chassis blasted and hot zinc sprayed. You could then paint it yourself or better still have it powder coated. Have all the other bits done at the same time as the cost is not much more than the chassis alone.

Steve

[Jon Brown]

Thanks chaps all guidance is greatly appreciated.

Peter I will take you up on the offer when the time comes.

Steve great website and very helpful, although I am inclined to do the stripdown myself to keep the costs down.

If I strip it down to a bare chassis it would be made not to get it powdercoated.

So anyone know a place in the southeast that offers a competitve price on blasting, zinc spraying and powder coating. I guess lots of gaffa tape will be the answer for masking the bushes?

[dbv8]

Are your bushes worth keeping?

The costs will add up as you decide / realize to take the oportunity to renew and refurbish as you go. It will be worth it when you have a chassis etc as good as new.

[Jon Brown]

I hope better than new, but most of the bushes are only 18 months old so dont see the point in replacing them again.

[SSPPGG]

i reckon if you started on a sat AM, you could have a bare chassis by sunday PM.

[SSPPGG]

i reckon if you started on a sat AM, you could have a bare chassis by sunday PM.

[SSPPGG]

i reckon if you started on a sat AM, you could have a bare chassis by sunday PM.

[Mr Supercharged]

SSPPGG said:

i reckon if you started on a sat AM, you could have a bare chassis by sunday PM.

If you can be that quick you can come over and give me a hand to do mine next winter! :-)