67 OTS is on wheel Dollies as space is very limited. Trying to avoid jack stands if possible as I want to keep the car on wheels and movable. Car arrived with engine, gearbox, top, and interior removed. I rebuilt the gearbox and removed the bonnet. Front frame assembly still attached and in great shape.
Now it is time to remove propeller shaft, wheels, brakes, suspension, and rear axle. Can I safely lift car and place on wooden cart with 6 inch plus casters rated for 1,000 lbs each? Then, remove the items listed above?
Eventually, I would like to trailer it to body and paint shops to find right place to restore body and paint. Car is in great condition overall. Thoughts on this commercial cart pleaseā¦
Kevin;
Your āfrontā frames are in great shape untill you prove they are not. Mine also untill I washed them and as I was drying by air gun the bubbles started to show up at some of the brazed joints. Take them off and clean and wash to prove they are good.
As for body cart, if the IRS is still in place, you need to support that weight as the engine and transmission is out and the back is now heavier, you should be able to lift the front by your self by grabbing the picture frame and lifting. It is a real problem restoring a car in limited space.
Iād second Joelās comments Re rear end weight ā¦ the way I took the rear end out of mine was to remove the wheels so the trolley support ( preferably an adjustable height ) goes under the irs and supports the weight of the IRS ā¦ā¦ with axel stands under the chassis rails.to support the body when the irs is out.
Do forget to do undo radius arms at front end and try to separate them from the cups ( this is always difficult ) ā¦. If they donāt come off easilyā¦ā¦ proceed as the IRS will swivel on themā¦.they can be attacked when the IRS is off the body. ( see other posts on this site for how to do that)
Ditto what the others have said. 4000 pounds of caster capacity is fine. Also, the load rating typically has a safety factor of 2 to 4. You will like the larger wheels. It is amazing how smaller wheels can get hung up on innocent looking obstructions in your shop space.
Regarding what Danny has said about the engine frames, Iāve pretty much reached the conclusion that any serious restoration should assume frame rails are bad. Get new ones from Etype fabs. You will not regret it. Save the picture frame if you can, as it has the important car number stamped on it.
Start early on picking a paint and body shop. Maybe have someone come out and evaluate your car. The good ones stayed booked months, if not years, in advance. These cars all tend to rust in certain places.
If you divulge your location, you may find that knowledgable J-L folks live nearby.
I welded these up for about $100 each. The wheel base length and width of the bonnet cart fits between the one for the body section. This allows the two body pieces to slide together for a smaller storage footprint. The tilt feature on the bonnet cart came in very handy when installing all the ābitsā after paint. The front wheels on both carts extend forward to prevent ātippingā when the bonnet is mounted on the front frame, and for when the bonnet is tilted forward on its frame. If you donāt have at least a small MIG welder, Iād suggest you get one. The square tubing is steel fence materialā¦available at any steel supply outlet.
Great inputs. Thanks. Iām in St. Petersburg, Florida. Will keep eye open should more replies come in. Detailed inspection of front frame assembly will have to wait until car on cart. Next stepsā¦
1)
Jack stands a must (might come in handy for future car maintenance?). Time to find best ones for my situation and value. Suggestions welcome.
2)
Will remove IRS before putting on a cart.
3)
Become a welderš³ or buy cart from link in this post
4)
Start search today for paint and body shop (suggestions welcome)
THANK YOU!
Kevin
Hi Kevin. There is no need to weld up a cart or to buy a pre made one. The e type monocoque weighs in the neighborhood of 5-6 hundred pounds. A simple 2x4 constructed cart will take an hour or two to build and with judicious cross bracing or plywood gussets at the joins is more than sufficient. If you have never welded before trusting your learning welds is probably a bit iffy anyways. Save your money for a rotisserie which makes things much easier at certain stages of the restoration.
Hi Kevin, Iām in Seminole. Larry Ligas at Predator Performance in Largo does Jaguar restorations. If he canāt do your body and paint we will know who can. 727 539 0218 If youāre there check out his E-type race cars and his alloy XK140
Steve
However you construct your cart be sure it is up to the rigors of traveling on a flat bed on the road.
Pretty important on the way to the painter and ultra important on the way back to you. Also, make sure you have the appropriate transport insurance. Hagerty did mine. My cart is steel tube with a couple of diagonals thrown in. The cart can get a substantial side to side shake as the transport vehicle crosses driveway aprons. Also the cart will need to withstand chain-down loads.
As for castors, donāt buy these! All 4 of them cracked during the year at the painter. I went with light-ish duty rubber tired castors because I was on a freshly painted floor of a borrowed garage for awhile. 1400 lbs total capacity and it was not enough. All steel would be better.
And finally a painter. I did a pretty exhaustive search of central Florida and ended up with Vintage Auto Art in Hernando. Thatās probably just under 2 hours from you. Sample of his work.
I put my body on two large furniture dollyās from Harbor freight with a plank screwed to the cross frames of each so it sat on the carpet. Cheap nā easy just to move around the shop.
Kevin, Working in a tight space is a challenge. How ever you do it, make sure that you have safely secured the body. I did a bare metal restoration on my 70 OTS in a 1 car garage. At one point, the bonnet was in our family room! My very patient wife even put xmas lights on it in December.
I concur with the recommendation to replace the frame rails. When I restored my car 25 years ago, I throughly sandblasted the old ones and painted them with epoxy primer. No weak points or rust was seen. Last year, with my engine out, I noticed a small hole in the front bottom of each of the frame rails. Further inspection revealed they were rusting from the inside out despite the fact that the only water this car had seen in 25 years was when I washed it. I decided to be safe and replace the frame rails. I bought them from Uryk at Etype fabs in England. The are very impressive.
When I started my restoration I bought some dollies from Harbor Freight. Then got some 2x4 from HD and constructed a cart. Total cost was about $40. Without the engine and gearbox it was easy to move around the garage while doing the body work.
If you are going to use a shop talk to them as they may lend you a dolly or rotisserie.as.they usually have a few around.
Thanks for all the great replies. They really help me in multiple ways. I bought jack stands and now thinking about joining a club. Will follow leads you provided and update progress now and again.
Thank you,
Kevin
A good metric of their suitability is when they are off the car, turn them end for end: if they sound like thereās a bunch of metal flakes inside themā¦ Time to replace them.
Paul;
Mine did just that, but of course I was smart enough to think nothing was wrong and /or needed to prove to my self there was a problem. After washing and then draining the water out, I used air to blow dry. bubbles formed at many of the brazed joints. The old frames are saved in the garage rafters for who knows whatā¦but not for sale or other use.
