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Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:51 am

I have finished the chassis work and am ready to put the body back on. I have never done thios so any pointers and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Basically I am wondering about lining up the holes for the body bolts and the seal.

Should I pre-cut the holes in the seal and glue it to the outer rim of the pan?
I'll be underneath while they are lowering it to see if they line up :shock:
The PO didn't put it on right, holes not aligned and used caulk instead of a seal, so I took it off and noticed a bunch of rust issues and just got done with the POR-15

Looking to do this in 3 days from now :D

Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:39 am

It's been almost 15 yrs since I remounted a body to a pan. I would recommend gluing the perimeter seal onto the pan beforehand. For the mounting bolt holes, just make "X" slits so that the bolt can slide thru and shape the hole as needed.

Remove the shift lever, engine and seats from the pan so that the body does not have to be lifted up so high. Remember to use the thick rubber spacers between the body, at the 2 front axle mounts and at each mount in the rear wheelwells.

Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:53 pm

Thanks!

Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:35 pm

I got a great tip from someone on thesamba about keeping the belly gasket in place as the body is fitted. Some pop rivet, some glue... The suggestion I used was to use fishing line . Weave it up and down the pan holes to hold the gasket in place , then either leave it, or cut it and pull it out.

Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:13 pm

tspot100 wrote: I got a great tip from someone on thesamba about keeping the belly gasket in place as the body is fitted. Some pop rivet, some glue... The suggestion I used was to use fishing line . Weave it up and down the pan holes to hold the gasket in place , then either leave it, or cut it and pull it out.

what about rubber cement, you know.. the stuff we used to sniff back in first grade ;-)

Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:59 am

what i did for my body to pan was... i didn;t want to use any glue so i put poked the hole in the seal for the bolts then i put the seal on the floor pan and put the bolts up thru the pan seal about half way then i lowered the body on the seal and the bolts were already there and then i just worked on each bolt a little bit at a time and once they were all started into the body i cranked them all down...

check out my gallery for the resto pics... good luck

Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:59 am

Excellent ideas! I'll cut the cross for each bolt hole to hold the bolt in place and lower the body on to it. I have some fishing line just in case.
Thanks again and if anyone is in the Dallas area Sat feel free to stop by for burgers and beer :D

Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:50 am

Well the body replacement was a success. I laid the seal down and cut out a triangle on the inside of each corner to make the curve and stabbed a hole through each bolt hole. Then put the body bolt through it from underneath and it held the seal in place. We then lined up the rear two bolts and the front bolts. From then on it was easy!

Tue Aug 19, 2008 1:28 pm

James Dwan wrote: Well the body replacement was a success. I laid the seal down and cut out a triangle on the inside of each corner to make the curve and stabbed a hole through each bolt hole. Then put the body bolt through it from underneath and it held the seal in place. We then lined up the rear two bolts and the front bolts. From then on it was easy!

I'm replacing the body in the next week or so. This thread has helped with my questions, but I'm still wondering one thing: what is the detail where the two loose ends of the seal come together? Do you just overlap one end over the other?

Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:17 am

one piece i ran to the edge of the body and the other piece i cut off to meet the piece...

good luck.. it's awesome when the body is back on...

Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:37 pm

conrad1468 wrote: good luck.. it's awesome when the body is back on...

Thanks. I'm looking forward to it. All I intended on doing was replacing the seal because it was leaking, and I ended up in three months of project creep. It WILL be nice to have the body back on.