underbody work

[graham]

I want to work on the underside of the body and I want to know is it practacle to turn body upside down and how to support it

[gerrym]

Graham, here's one approach.

Body can be turned to any angle with one arm.

Regards

Note, keeping the body and chassis together during this operation minimises chances of misalignment in my opinion.

Of course engine, gearbox, diff, driveshaft, interior etc all removed

Lotus%20Position00001.jpg (18.06 KiB) Viewed 1162 times

[graham]

Thanks for the photos would be great to have access to this type of gear - but I dont.
So how do you support body upside down - firewall looks strong enough but what about supporting rear. Body has had new sections added and all underside needs re sealing.

[rdssdi]

I used a simple wood frame. I cant remember the details now as it has been a few years. I hope the photo tells the story.

Bob
1969 Elan +2
1968 TVR Vixen

[Gordon Sauer]

I simply used saw horses with a 2x6 covered with carpet supporting the fiberglass shell only across the cowl in front of windshield and at the rear immediately behind the rear window--as this angles a bit, inserted another piece of carpet about halfway in. From this point I removed and replaced the sills (they were the only non-shell parts left on the car) and reworked all the glass that had been distorted by the rusting, expanding sills, which had made that sill strip wavy. Then stripped everything--the wheel wells were a pain, and sprayed the bottom in color coat after the usual considerable priming and filling. Had no trouble with fit of anything later altho to emphasize, I had completely stripped the car, no felt, no wiring, only the sills remained. Gordon Sauer

[graham]

thanks Gordon I didnt know if there was enough strength in the rear window area to support it. Thinking of extra layer of glass to inside below rear window as looks very light to me.

[mikealdren]

I've raised my car too. Like Gordon, I got four saw horses but in the end I put two beams (about 4"*2"*6') logitudinally under floorpan, just inside the sills and I jacked them up and rested them on concrete building blocks. It's very solid and easy enough to get underneath.

The advantage is that I can raise and lower the car myself using a couple of hydraulic bottle jacks.

Mike