I have an odd question.
I'm about to yank the engine and transmission out of my 73 for a rebuild,
(And maybe one of waterloo's 5 speed tranny's, I havent decided).
I'm also stripping the car bare to repaint. Interiors, etc will be pulled
for new upholstery and carpet. The Wiring harness, a rats nest of DPO
madness, wire nuts and all, will be replaced.
So, how much does an empty chassis weigh?
What I want to do is flip the thing on a rack somehow to allow easy access
to the underside for cleaning and painting. (And welding in a new battery
frame.)
I'm trying to do the work myself, and as you can imagine, dont have a lift
in my garage. Here's what I want to do.
I've got access to a stack of 2x12" decking wood, which, if strong enough to
support a hot tub full of water, should be more than adequate for a little
MGB frame. I can envision a rack with a torsion box frame and well
reinforced back to flip the thing up sideways, and a bit past vertical to
allow gravity to keep it in place.
If the windshield, doors, hood, and front quarters are removed, is there
sufficient strength in the remaining frame to support the chassis upside
down? What points on the chassis would be best for that? Am I way out of
line here? Does someone sell/rent a device for doing just this?
In my troubled past with Honda's, I remember reading an article about a guy
who was taking a Honda CRX unibody and painting it. He had the bare body in
his front yard, in the grass, rolled onto its side, as he stood with a
sprayer painting the undercarriage. That seems a bit extreme :)
I dont relish the idea of laying under a car on jackstands with a drill and
wire wheel cleaning the metal. What's the best way to get this done, if I
wanted to do it in my garage.
________________________________________________________________________
| Chris Thompson ct@cthompson.com |
| 1973 MGB http://cthompson.com/mg/ |
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