# Removal of body from frame question



## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Hi all!

My 67 Hardtop is ready to come off the frame. It is down to the body shell, decklid, and doors. My question is:

A: Should I remove the doors before lifting off the frame?

B: If I remove the doors, should I brace the door openings, or is that something you only have to do for a convertible?

Thanks in advance!

Dave


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## devildawg (Apr 27, 2012)

*Body separation*

Greetings Dave
You don't need to weld any braces for body rigidity as long as you properly support her at four points. I did two body separations of my 65 Tempest the first using several friends lifting from the trunk lip and at both ends of the rocker panels with the doors off. The second time was done with the doors removed with the four adapters under the pinch welds at both ends of the rockers at approximate body bolt locations number 2 and 4. I have since completed the car and can say there was no tweak,twist or problems with door gaps after assembly. I've posted several you tubes ( search - 65 Tempest restoration) of the project and have a few pictures of the body separation and drop process and the dolly I built with uni track strut. I used a 67 assembly manual to help along the way along with my 65 chassis and fisher manuals and found there is a lot in common between the years. I hope this helps and wish you the best of luck with your project. Send a few pictures as you go along if you get a chance.


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## devildawg (Apr 27, 2012)

I should follow up that if this were a convertible you defiantly do need to weld in bracing. Also when you get the body off look for your partial vin number on top of the left frame rail just aft of the tire hump. This is a good thing for documentation purposes


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## Matthew (Feb 11, 2011)

Dave, welcome. I agree. That said, if you plan to remove the doors after the body is removed, take them off now - just makes the body a little lighter when lifting. Same with the trunk lid. Piece of cake with one on each corner. Matt


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Thanks for the insight guys. I appreciate it! The removal of the body should happen in the next couple of weeks. I've been doing plenty of research on lifting the body off and just want to make sure I don't mess anything up. I have a body cart ready to hold the thing once it's off. I will definitely check out your vids, devildawg...

Here's what it looked like back in 1993.


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## Matthew (Feb 11, 2011)

Going with that color? Very sharp. Matt


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Yes, going with the original color. I got lucky when I bought the car as a clueless 19 year old kid in 1988. I got a largely original #'s matching car. So I'm going to try to keep it that way as realistically possible. With modern safety and handling improvements, of course.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

What these guys said. Pull the doors and trunk lid first to save weight. Hardtops are plenty rigid and won't tweak if supported correctly. Helped a friend with his '67 HT a few years back, and no issues at all. Everything lined back up perfectly.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

And here is where I am right now.










https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net...5_10204633234861214_4266176632658152703_o.jpg


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

geeteeohguy said:


> What these guys said. Pull the doors and trunk lid first to save weight. Hardtops are plenty rigid and won't tweak if supported correctly. Helped a friend with his '67 HT a few years back, and no issues at all. Everything lined back up perfectly.


Awesome. Thank you!


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## devildawg (Apr 27, 2012)

*Sweet*

Sweet ride Dave. Always good when you have so much potential to start with. Great pictures. I love the color combo blue with the white interior. As we say in New England (Wicked Pissa) . Keep those questions and pictures coming.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

devildawg said:


> Sweet ride Dave. Always good when you have so much potential to start with. Great pictures. I love the color combo blue with the white interior. As we say in New England (Wicked Pissa) . Keep those questions and pictures coming.


Thanks, dd. Again, I know I'm fortunate to have a mostly complete car to start with and in a lot of respects it will be a fairly easy restoration compared to a lot of what I have seen on various GTO forums, etc. It still will be a lot of work and there's plenty of things involved in a resto that I don't know about (yet!)


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

For those who may be interested, here's the progress from the day I started tearing the car apart. You don't need a facebook account to view the album

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4452933611868.2173217.1545383171&type=1&l=d0c28348ef


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## Matthew (Feb 11, 2011)

Dave, looked at your photos - what a great looking car. Matt


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Matthew said:


> Dave, looked at your photos - what a great looking car. Matt


Thanks, Matt. Very kind of you to say that!


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## Reef66 (Aug 15, 2014)

Very nice car. Best of luck with the restoration.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Reef66 said:


> Very nice car. Best of luck with the restoration.


Thanks, Reef!


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

WOW, that looks incredibly clean for an upper Midwest car.

I'm lazy when it comes to lifting the body on my '67...:razz:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Too Many Projects said:


> WOW, that looks incredibly clean for an upper Midwest car.
> 
> I'm lazy when it comes to lifting the body on my '67...:razz:


Thanks, Mitch. Quite the setup you have there, pretty cool!

My car was a St. Louis, MO car up until the early 80's AFAIK. I bought it from a guy in the Chicago burbs back in 88. My guess is all the existing rust and bondo in the trunk and rear quarters was done by the original owner. It will need a complete trunk pan as well as rear quarter patches.The underbody from the firewall back has never been touched. The car has been sitting (garage kept) since '95.

Again, I consider myself fortunate....


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

My '67 from the firewall back is all virgin too......all new metal installed by me and never seen the road yet...:lol:

Are you considering a 1 piece trunk floor ? I got one of the first ones to hit the states from Dynacorn about 4-5 years ago. I got to installing it last spring and it fit well until I got to replacing the tail panel. The floor was not formed correctly the last 10 inches or so and I had a 1" gap. I had to bend the lip up and make a step to get it to match up without putting strain on the tail panel, which bowed the quarters... I called Dynacorn and of course, they had never had any complaints about the fit. I got another '67 in here this spring to replace the tail panel and I measured his original floor and I was RIGHT !!! The floor was too low. 

Try to get cut-offs from a donor for the quarter patches behind the tires because the the repops are STILL formed for a '66 and don't have the correct design at the bumper. Lots of work cutting up the patches for a '67. Very difficult finding donors but they do pop up once in a while. Keep the radar up and you might get lucky.

Look at AMD for panels. They claim to be using all new dies with better definition at body lines. I used a couple of their patches on my '66 Chevelle and am very happy with the fit. They still don't have much for Pontiac's but are supposedly working on more parts. Goodmark sold out to a large conglomerate a few years ago and all investment in new parts evaporated. They flat out said to quite hoping for full quarters because they had scrapped the development.:mad2:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Thanks for your valuable info, Mitch, I really appreciate it. I'm considering a one piece trunk, but have not committed to anything yet. I'm going to have a pro shop do all sheet metal and paint work and will be consulting a few in my area soon and see what they have to say about what needs to be done. Obviously the more info I have myself going in, helps a lot.


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

Ah, you're not going to attempt this insanity yourself...:crazy:

The one piece floor needs to be brought up from the bottom or straight in from the rear. If your tail panel is good, the second way isn't an option. They would need to remove the trunk drops and spread, or cut, the lower 8 inches or so of the quarters to get the floor in. It is nice to replace the whole thing in one fell swoop but it isn't possible with all situations. Here's what mine looked like after the remnants of the tail panel were removed.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Too Many Projects said:


> Ah, you're not going to attempt this insanity yourself...:crazy:


Certainly not! I may be crazy but I'm not stupid! Certain things I will leave to professionals.

My tail panel was replaced with a NOS piece 20 years ago. I was told if I go with a 3 piece trunk pan you'll see the seams underneath the car. The car is not going to be a show car, so that doesn't really matter.


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

Actually I think the seams on the 3 piece line up inside the frame rails which make it hard to see them. If the body shop dresses the seams well enough, they are hard to notice plus the fuel tank blocks most of the trunk floor too. I would be more concerned about how good they look inside the trunk.

So now you think I'm either a professional or crazy. 

My wife and many friends will agree on the crazy theory. I didn't own a MiG, plasma cutter or rotisserie when I bought this pile of rust. I do this all at home in an admittedly large and, now, well equipped shop. It has been an expensive and time consuming "educational tool" to learn restoration on my own...:lol:

When the body is at the shop, go and take pics of the progression for your Restoration album. Of course, posting them on here is mandatory...:yesnod:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Too Many Projects said:


> Actually I think the seams on the 3 piece line up inside the frame rails which make it hard to see them. If the body shop dresses the seams well enough, they are hard to notice plus the fuel tank blocks most of the trunk floor too. I would be more concerned about how good they look inside the trunk.
> 
> So now you think I'm either a professional or crazy.
> 
> ...



Good point on the seams, it makes sense that they would line up under the frame rails.

I'd do more on my own, but I don't have the tools or the space or the patience!. (my GTO wont even fit in my garage straight on with the front end sheet metal on it. I had to put it in there at a 45 degree angle!)

The plan is to deal with the chassis/suspension/drivetrain first, then deal with the body.

It will be documented here, certainly!


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

The body will be coming off this Sunday. Photos and video to follow!


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

COOL !!

I just put the body back on mine this afternoon...:biggrin2:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Nice! How did that go?


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

Pretty easy with my strong arm helper...:yesnod:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Yeah, that's the way to go. You don't have to buy beer and pizza for your helper either...


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Here's the end result from yesterday:


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

That's an innovative body stand...:thumbsup:

Doesn't look like it would hold up rolling around though.

You're making progress.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

I have to thank fellow forum member Squidtone for the plans for the body cart. We based it off his design. It's sturdy as hell. We had no problems moving it down the driveway and into the garage


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

davegto67 said:


> I have to thank fellow forum member Squidtone for the plans for the body cart. We based it off his design. It's sturdy as hell. We had no problems moving it down the driveway and into the garage


That's surprising with no crossmembers at the bottom to prevent the sides from spreading. Hey, as long as it works, rock on...


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

There's two cross members at the back. We just did one up front so the frame can go in underneath. The crossmember at the top front is bolted to the cart.


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

And here's the video of the proceedings:

1967 GTO removal of body from frame - YouTube


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

There is nothing left to take apart. Does that mean I'm halfway done? ; )


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## Too Many Projects (Nov 15, 2008)

Seems like a reasonable assumption to me...:thumbsup:

It's just going to take a WHOOOOOOOLE lot longer to complete the second half...:rofl:


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

A whole lot of time...and a WHOOOOOLE lot of money!!!!

I'm looking forward to the challenge!


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## Matthew (Feb 11, 2011)

Dave, watched your video. Looks like a community event. That stand is some serious construction. All good. Matt


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## davegto67 (Jul 9, 2014)

Thanks for checking out the video, Matt. Fortunately my friends are car guys and were glad to help out. It was a fun afternoon. I think my friend Chuck over built the body cart, but that's not a bad thing.

I am now at the base of Mount Gran Turismo Omologato. I just need to keep my eye on the summit... ; )


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