'29 Roadster Body Removal

[bputhuff]

I just got a '29 Roadster, and am about to start on a body-off restoration.

It looks like there's not a lot of rigidity there, like there is in a coupe, and my concern is in picking it up off the frame with my engine hoist (cherry picker). It looks like it would bend at the doors.

Any one out there have any advice on how to do this without destroying the body?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Roadster62]

Tack weld some angle iron on top of the door openings on the inside. This is a rust free California car right?

 

[wrndln]

If the subrails are in good condition, you should have not problem lifting it off the frame with not damage. I have a 29 phaeton body that had badly rust out subrails and it lifted off fine.

 

[skip]

Pick it up in a sling from the bottom and don't open the doors.
Use a spreader bar atop in the sling for 'straight down' support prior to the lift so the sling puts no pressure on the sides of the body. Or jack up the body off the frame and put 2 x 4's under the body fore and aft and lift the wood. Not the body. Gonna need a high lift. From the rafters? Or how about four guys picking up the body and carrying the body away and onto a flat pallet?

skip.