Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

So I pulled the body from the Roadster this weekend and I thought I'd share a few tips I discovered along the way that I didn't see any place else. First off I had a real tough time getting the steering rod out of the knuckle, I was finally able to remove it only after removing the radiator and shroud, then removing the lower knuckle bolt. The whole assembly came right out. Once we lifted the body just a little it gave me enough clearance to slide the U-Joint assembly towards the fire wall to clear the inner fenders and carbs. Secondly, the way we lifted the body changed mid-way. I welded in place two square tubes in the door spaces for support and planned on lifting from those (it should be noted I'm using an over head electric hoist). We kept getting hung up on something in there rear and lifting the whole frame. This resulted in one of my door supports breaking free (only dropped the body an inch or so). Time to re-think this thing. I had a heavy duty tow strap so I decided to run it through the transmission hole down one side and lifted the body on each side with a floor jack just enough to get about an inch of space so I could pass the strap between the body and frame. I then brought the 2 ends up and secured them to my hoist. Round 2. Front was lifting well but the rear was still getting caught on something. It was lifting, but only by an inch. Then while we were crawling around trying to find anything under the body that might be hold it up we found it. The rear bumper was catching on the lower rear body seam! Either my bumper had been pushed in at some point or the body was tending to pull to the rear when lifted and got caught under the bumper. It was probably a combination of both. Once we used a large screw driver to pry the bumper back the rear sprung free.

From the there the body lifted quite easily and is now resting on the dolly I built with the hoist still attached (added safety measure I suppose).

I'll post some pictures later, but the frame rot was more extensive than just the one spot I could see. Nearly the entire top side of the frame under the floor boards was rotted out as well as the cross member where the exhaust cuts through. Obviously beyond repairable. The new frame is now ready to be prepped and the swap over can begin.

Good job!

Pulling a body from a complete roadster isn’t as easy as it looks. When I pulled my body I just had a bare body sitting on the rolling frame. It came right off. I also welded my door braces in. Instead of building a stand for the body, I put it on a set of Baker’s scaffold. The scaffold height could be changed depending on what part of the body we needed access to. I lifted with chains in the seat belt holes to my overhead electric hoist on a trolly. Made it easy to move the body around.

Peace,
Pat

I think I've got everything that needs done "inside" the car for this round while I focus on the underside (finish welding a few bits and cleanup). Then once I re-mate the body and frame I can finish the inside. The way I have my dolly I could lower it since the hoist is till attached, just take the bolts out and drill lower holes as needed then lower the body. I put wheels on my dolly but if I were to do it again I'd probably skip that step, my shop isn't so large that I can move it around more than a couple feet in any one direction.