Down to the Frame at Last

Bolting it to the dolly

Me, Steve, Dan, Tom, Richard, Chis & Henry

Three weeks ago we lifted the body off the frame.  I have to say it went much smoother than I imagined it might.  My seven helpers, Dan, Richard, Henry, Chris, Steve, Tom and Valery and I lifted it off in just two tries.  The only thing I forgot to disconnect was the speedometer cable so that's why we had to lift it twice.  No matter, the muscle was sufficient to the task, as was the giant wooden dolly that I created from a picture on the internet.  It worked, far better than I expected.

Rotten floor pans

Cutting out the rust

Two weekends ago I cut the one of the rusty floor panels off the frame.  It was much easier than I expected, mostly because whoever welded the last set of floor pans in was either so lazy or unskilled that only half the pan was actually welded and that was shitty, to say the least.  You can read about some of the experience in my account (Tools Make the Man) of using the cutting tool in my journal.

Passenger side is next

Both pans are out

The second floor pan came off the frame last weekend, and the story was much same.  I can only hope that whoever cuts the body panels out the next time will have slightly higher regard for my welds than I do for the quality of the previous owner's work on this car.  They get some points for trying, I guess.  In the end, it's a fortunate fail for me.  The frame is free of rotten sheet metal at last.

Off to the scrap heap

Ready for teardown

Now, I can finally attack the frame, suspension, tires, transmission and engine.  No small list, I know, but consider this.  My plan is not to restore but to refurbish this car.  I want to get it running and actually drive it, so my task of cleaning and replacing worn parts will begin this week.

Next week I will remove the wheels and tires, put the remaining frame up on jack stands and give it a good power wash.  Next to a sand-blasting this is the best way to really get down to the bare metal that I can think of.  It will be easier than using chemicals or hand-grinding, to be sure.

Then, it will be time to tackle the front suspension.  I love this work.

Four Months in Four Minutes

Liftoff!

Body Braces

The doors are off

Into storage for a while

After spending at least six weeks--or roughly half of the time that I have had the Ghia--designing and building a dolly to hold the body separate from the chassis while I work on the two halves in essentially the same space in my driveway, the day for the actually removing the body is getting close.

While building the wooden dolly basically turned me into a carpenter for a month or more, I've really been building up the urge to bang around on some metal.  And, although the last step in the process involved metal, it was not 'good' metal (of the rusty and/or automotive type) that had my attention, but a few strategically placed lengths of angle-iron to brace the body and keep it from collapsing like a fortune cookie when it is lifted up off the frame without the doors.

Bolted to the body

Steel angle iron braces

Of course, I first had to remove the doors, which proved to be less difficult than I imagined, but not so easy as it ought to have been.  This was not because the the big bolts holding the doors had become a little rusty (which they had), but because a tricky little hinge pin hidden inside the door required more finesse than force requiring me to think rather than simply wrench and remove.  With Richard's patient help and few brain cells later, I had the doors off and the car ready for the braces.

Ready for liftoff

The frame locks it together

I had originally thought I would have to weld in these braces, but fortunately after the doors came out I found a couple of perfectly placed openings in the body both fore and aft that permitted me to bolt them in instead of welding.

Eight bolts later, we're braced for liftoff.