Weight of Elan +2 body without doors bonnet and bootlid

[DutchTony]

Need some help from you in lifting the Elan +2 body from the chassis.

I searched on the forum and it gives enough ideas how to do it and what height the garage should and so on.
I have enough height, some wooden beams to hoist and hang the body from, a wooden construction will be used to support the body when working on the chassis.

I was planning to remove the doors, bonnet and boot lid, the whole interior is out already.
In the boot the fuel tank can be taken out, bumpers off.

What is the best guess what the weight will be then?
Something around 250 - 300 kg, perhaps some of you have any ideas?
Thanks in advance for your ideas

[Frogelan]

Good question. Here is my guess for what it is worth:

Standard Elan shell w/o doors, glass etc would be say 45-60 kg + upto an extra 20kg for paint and filler: say 80 kg.

The +2 is as a rough guess, 50% heavier: say 120 kg. Perhaps if you assume you also leave a few bolts and small parts on it, 150 kg ?

PS: Just a guess...

[bitsobrits]

Another swag:

Tony Thompson sells 'lightweight' bare S1-S2 shells that weigh 55kg, so I'd wager a standard weight Elan fixed head would be closer to 80kg. Add front and rear glass and paint and I think you're about 100kg. So I agree with FrogElan that the +2 would be roughly 50% more, so I'm at 150kg as well.

Still not very heavy in the grand scheme of things.

When I removed the body from my S1, complete with all panels and windshield, and full interior except for seats, I used a hand operated ratcheting 'come along' winch hooked to a 3/8" eyebolt through a 3" thick timber laying across the 2"x4" rafters of my old garage. No worries

[Vic]

I made a "T" shaped bar that allows me to use an engine hoist to pick up and move a body on my own, without assistance. It is shaped to bolt to the two strut tower bobbins in the rear and I use a chain at the front down to two additional bobbins, with multiple holes on top so can find the balance point. I have used it on my series 2 bodies and have also used it on a series 3 coupe, through the door opening. To do the initial attachment, the body needs to be jacked up a few inches so the bobbins clear the frame. Difficult to see, but in these two pictures I was transferring the body from my rotisserie to the rolling platform. The body is still on a chassis (with rotisserie mounts). I then removed the body to chassis bolts, jacked and re-installed the bar to lift the body off the chassis. The rear bobbins are plenty strong, being is shear. The front bobbins make me nervous and would do better with longer bolts, washer and nut underneath. Although I haven't had any issues with multiple moves.

[mikealdren]

My +2 body is currently hanging from my garage roof beams which are 94mm*44m softwood and show no signs of bowing. They also support the corrugated sheet steel roof.

See the thread on using ratchet straps to raise the body.