Chassis replacement in Single Garage - Logistics?

[billwill]

I decided that a comment I made here was out of date and irrelevant so I removed it.

[terryp]

Bill
I fixed 2 joists accross the back of the garage with a sheet of stirling board on and lifted the car onto it, then supported the front of the cill on the ladder thing. The chassis went underneath, I was using the full length of the garage also
Good for storing the Caterham at one point as well

Terry

[stugilmour]

I also found the rear tower clearance to be the limiting factor. The rolling chassis with drive train installed sits quite high in the rear without the weight of the body, fuel tank, driver, spare, luggage, etc.; maybe about half droop?

Dave, I used a couple of similar horses to support my Plus 2 body at one point. They worked fine. I can't recall the clearance details now, but the horse capacity was fine for what you have in mind..

When supporting the body with dimensional lumber or rails, I did not want the body resting on the bottom of the rocker flange fiberglass. I figured the edge is too weak to support the ~800 lbs of the body with doors and glass. I made up a couple of rails from ~2" Ali square tubing with ready rod bolted in place to match the jack holes in the Plus 2 steel rocker rails. Twenty twenty hindsight I would use steel tubing instead; the Ali was way too weak. Interesting thing was the position of the jacking holes was slightly different side to side.

Important point; my side rails had been replaced by the previous owner and were capable of holding the body weight. Inspect yours and replace prior to using the holes to lift the body or consider using the floor area for support.

The other option is to use plywood pads of at least 12" x 12" to support the body on the fiberglass floor with the cross members blocked to the pads. If using this method, be careful not to position the pad too close to the vertical bulkhead by the rear seats / wheel well; it can buckle and crack in compression. Don't have to ask how I know this.

HTH and best of luck.