removing the body

[eengel1]

Dear colleagues

- The attached picture shows how the body was put on the chassis of the Esprit in the Lotus factory.

I initially though that removing the body would be a relatively "easy" thing.

But I have never seen any pictures of people doing that.

Usually people remove the engine/gearbox by the rear of the car - right ?

Has anybody got an idea how much work it is to remove the body?

My car has some rusted suspension parts that I want to refurbish. Engine also needs a new timing belt etc...

Is removing the body a good idea? - like on a "model" car, remove body - do what has to be done - put it back on.

Maybe better than fiddling around?

Thanks for your comments

Marc

[Paul Coleman]

I've removed the body from my series 1 to restore the whole car. It wasn't a difficult job as there are only 8 bolts on a series 1 holding the body on. However, to get to some of those bolts you've got to remove the carpet and to reduce the weight of the body I stripped all the interior out as well as removing the doors, bonnet and boot lids. With just the bare body 2 people can lift it but it would be easier with 4. It makes working on the chassis and suspension a piece of cake The worst job was disconnecting the u/j from the steering rack - that was a pig!!

Having done it once I think I would be inclined to lift the body off to do a cambelt as I don't have a pit or lift. However, this may be overkill and replacing the belt maybe not be as bad as I fear!!

Paul.

Edited January 6, 2008 by Paul Coleman

[82s3]

During the last 12 months I have refurbished the suspension on my 1982 S3 (polybushes throughout, new trunnions, ball joints, etc., braided brake lines, rebuilt brake calipers, new wheel bearings) and along the way removed all of the suface rust from and POR 15'd all of the wishbones, links, ARB, etc.; with the exception of the steering rack and track rod ends, the full nine yards.

I've also replaced both the nearside fuel tank, fuel pump and fitted a new cambelt and auxillary belt, rebuilt the cambelt tensioner, replaced the starter motor (the original armature gave up the ghost!)and rebuilt the carbs.

Having read the workshop manual time and again and spent hours studying various posts on this [invaluable] forum, I found that although time consuming, none of these jobs were especially difficult, .... all with the body on and without either a lift or a pit, ... just a jack and a couple of axle stands.

Of all the jobs that I have done, and much to my surprise,I found replacing the cambelt a doddle.

This year's big job may be more challenging however, ... I plan to replace the exhaust manifold with tubular stainless steel job from SJ Sportscars which I just know is going to be a right pain in the backside.

Edited January 6, 2008 by 82s3

[bgalbraith]

I posted a step-by-step procedure for removing the body here:

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/71299-body-removal-step-by-step-procedure/

 

Bill

[Shenton79]

Hi Bill, Any chance you could send that PDF to me at sking@kingindustries.com?

I can't seem to download it. 

 

Best Regards,
Shenton