Restoration Part 6

Body Stands & Engine Removal

On the Saturday of week 10 I made the strengthening plates for the rear subframe mountings and welded them to the underside of the boot floor. The original plates were made of 2 layers of thin steel but I decided to use one layer of thick steel sheet. Once the plates were in place the mounting holes were drilled using the existing holes as a guide. On the Saturday afternoon of I made a pair of rolling stands to enable the car to be moved around easily with both subframes removed. It is a simple design made from box section steel and fitted with castors .


The stands are attached to the rear subframe mount and the front steering rack. When fitted the car is high enough to allow the engine/gearbox and subframe to be rolled out from under the car.

I painted and fitted the stands on the Thursday night before the Christmas break. After Christmas I started the process of removing the front subframe. First I removed most of the ancillaries and radiator so that it would be easy to drop the front subframe.

All the cables and pipes were then disconnected from the engine and subframe and the gearbox remote was removed from the car. A jack was placed under the sump ready to lower the engine to the ground and the 6 small subframe locating bolts were then removed followed by the 2 large bolts on the suspension towers.

The engine/gearbox and subframe package was then rolled out from under the car.