How easy is it......
Discussion
...... Or should I say difficult is it to remove the body of a Cerb?
I'm looking into doing a project and the green one from TVR Dean keeps catching my eye! I know it looks a mess with not having a rear end but it is just fibreglass after all.
Question is, one of the rear suspension mounts has been "popped out" as they put it! My worry would be there is more suspension and chassis damage that has not been noticed/advertised.
Now my thoughts are remove the body and send for a full repair or just replace it. Again, Dean seem to have a decent rolling chassis and suspension but that would probably be a last resort.
So question is, is it conceivable to do the body lift yourself in the garage? Anyone done it recently and have some tips/pointers for me?
Cheers
ps, I know all about the rep the company get so please no company bashing.
I'm looking into doing a project and the green one from TVR Dean keeps catching my eye! I know it looks a mess with not having a rear end but it is just fibreglass after all.
Question is, one of the rear suspension mounts has been "popped out" as they put it! My worry would be there is more suspension and chassis damage that has not been noticed/advertised.
Now my thoughts are remove the body and send for a full repair or just replace it. Again, Dean seem to have a decent rolling chassis and suspension but that would probably be a last resort.
So question is, is it conceivable to do the body lift yourself in the garage? Anyone done it recently and have some tips/pointers for me?
Cheers
ps, I know all about the rep the company get so please no company bashing.
Tanguero said:
Well that doesn't seem too hard, walk really fast, lie under the car a bit, stand in engine bay a bit, take off wheels, repeat steps 1 and 2, put wheels back on and jobs a good'un, lol.Tanguero said:
My memory of that day differs slightly 
....and the crunching of fiberglass meeting pry bar still gives me a little shudder when I watch that back!But, to get the car to that stage (after the engine had been removed previously) I basically used this guide,
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Although there are probably differences between the guide and the location of the corresponding item on any other Cerb, it does gives a pretty comprehensive overview of where you need to be looking.
m3coupe said:
Tanguero said:
Well that doesn't seem too hard, walk really fast, lie under the car a bit, stand in engine bay a bit, take off wheels, repeat steps 1 and 2, put wheels back on and jobs a good'un, lol.There may be one or two bolts and stuff you need to undo as well though.
The procedure in the workshop manual gives a fairly good outline, but you really are far far better off taking the engine out first. I did it the hard way on my car with the engine in situ and by contrast doing djstevec's car was a doddle! (Don't tell him that though!)
You just need to be very methodical and thorough and have a means of lifting, tilting and supporting the body as it comes off. The angle you have to lift it at is a bit alarming. The workshop manual says you can do it by hand with 2 blokes at each corner...
That looks great but I would take the engine back out before you try to put the body on!! If you think getting the body off is a job, putting it back on if 5 times as bad and there is absolutely no way I could have done it with the engine in situ on mine. You need to be able to get into the engine bay with a pry bar to ease the body past the wide bit of the top rails - I cant see any way it would be possible to do with the engine there.
Cheers Scotty.
Peter,
Yes it will be coming out again. After putting the new outriggers on I managed to get the chassis and body back together again to check it all lined up. I did it on my own, no ramps, no people, just some wood and a couple of jacks. I found the easiest way was to get the body at about a 35 degrees angle, side to side,and then raised the chassis up into it. Couldn't believe it went in !
Peter,
Yes it will be coming out again. After putting the new outriggers on I managed to get the chassis and body back together again to check it all lined up. I did it on my own, no ramps, no people, just some wood and a couple of jacks. I found the easiest way was to get the body at about a 35 degrees angle, side to side,and then raised the chassis up into it. Couldn't believe it went in !
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