Installing the Body - Finally

It's been a long time coming.  The body is finally being installed, permanently.  It will be bolted down and will hopefully stay that way for many many years.

I am using a $65 12-volt electric hoist bought at Harbor Freight to lift the body.  This hoist has been a real work horse over the last couple years and it has never failed me.  A friend even borrowed it to move a small shed in his yard.  He said it worked great.

Without the doors the straps have a potential for putting a lot of stress on the body.  I used softeners (towels) at all contact points.  They worked great with no issues.

Although I've never heard of anyone doing this I decided to cover the rolling chassis with plastic before installing the body.  The theory is it will act as secondary protection when we paint the car.  It should be easy to remove when the time comes (I think).  As the body is lowered we have to pay particular attention to the distributor and the gas tank.  Experience tells us these two items can easily get hung up and the distributor will scratch the firewall if we're not careful.

Touchdown!

Nothing scratched and the body to frame holes all line up nicely.

I couldn't have wrapped the motor better.  If nothing else it will keep the dust off while we finish sanding.

I am impressed.

How sweet is that!

Next we crawl under the car and start shimming and bolting the body.