Off with the body!

Today was the day to remove the body from the frame of the car. With family needs slowing down, there was time to get back to the car today. The two-post lift makes that a snap, even with a forgotten cable (whoops!).

A angle grinder made short work of that forgotten cable and the rest was pretty easy.

Removing the two rear body mounts presented another challenge, but the heads of the bolts were ground off and that was that. This is apparently a common problem on these cars and there are several options to renew and improve the rear mounts as everything goes back together later.

The multitude of body shims were set aside and will be reinstalled as closely as possible to how they were from the factory to restore the door gaps that we fought so hard for in the fall and winter.

Though there is ample surface rust, the frame is surprisingly free of any rust damage. There don't seem to be any repairs that need to be made that will require welding. This was the suspicion and hope after working on this car for so long, but one never knows what is lurking beneath the body.

Now begins the process of taking this apart and getting the frame ready for sandblasting and paint.

By day's end, the fuel and brake lines were removed and the bent rear crossmember was straightened a bit, but this process will take some time since there is quite a bit to take off. At least there's no bodywork to be done for a little while.