Floor pan bolts

[moss]

Hi has anyone got a pic of where all the bolts are to lift the body off on a fast back also is it best to take the doors off and brace the shell before lifting

[Bigvwhead]

If you have A Bently manual it will show you where the bolt locations are. I have one on my computer but I'm not home to get to it yet.will post it later.
If your rockers are bad Lifting the body should be done with the doors on but like you said brace the door opening any anyway to prevent sagging.

Bigvwhead

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I don't ever remember seeing a body coming off the pan with the doors in place; those honkers will probably be in the way to start with and could come open at the most inopportune time anyway. My advice, align the doors properly (unless you plan on rebuilding the hinges) and drill an aligning hole though the hinges into the hinge mount, one big enough to put a nail or drill bit into when bolting the doors back on. This will help you realign the door later. If there is any body flex when you pull the body off the pan, and the doors are still hung; it is possible that some jamming and bending of stuff could happen.

Again, this is my opinion and it is for consideration not direction only. Lee

[moss]

Thanks guys have been on the lookout for a bently manual for a while Certain this question has been asked before but I can’t find it so if bigvwhead could post a pic it would be much appreciated

[sideshow]

If your body is solid, leave the doors on (this is how the factory did it).
If your body is sketchy, weld braces to prevent its total destruction, and the doors are optional.
If you can't lift the combined weight of doors and body, but can lift the body; you decision has been made.

[moss]

If your rockers are bad Lifting the body should be done with the doors on but like you said brace the door opening any anyway to prevent sagging.

Bigvwhead

OK so what are rockers
Wish you guys could converse in English lol

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Moss; "rocker" or "rockers" are a slang or shortend term for the rocker panels; they are the panels under the door sill on the outside; I am not sure if some people use the term “rocker” as applied to the sill itself or not but I have heard it used both ways. On some cars, the rocker and sill are two different components.

They are very important to body security especially when the body is off the pan. The doors have an all around gap between the two door pillars, sill and turret of the car and the door sill and rocker panels help hold/retain/sustain this gap. Because of this gap, I still think that the doors should come off (and the hinges be R&R’d) if nothing more than to get some weight off the body when it is not being supported by the pan. It is your call on this one as I don’t think there is a right or wrong way if your VW body is in good condition.

I agree with the idea of welding bracing in the car to support the shape of the car and the door area when it is being lifted off the pan and put on a dolly or what ever way you support the body when it is off. I would also be careful, when storing the body when off the pan, about putting any load (blocking under the sill/rocker area and using it to support part of the body's weight) on the sill/rocker area just to avoid the potential of damaging this area. The additional bracing is there stop or minimize the potential of racking or bending; e.g., deforming, of the body when it is off the pan.

Lee

[Bigvwhead]

Here you go Moss Sorry it took me so long but I hope this helps

[moss]

Thank Ol'fogasaurus if I’ve got it right then we tend to call these sill back plates we have the inner sill outer sill and sill back plates

Thanks for the pics Bigvwhead

Think I will take the doors off and make up something like this

http://bp1.blogger.com/_Ov6x0-LLGjU/SDo ... ce+007.jpg

Sorry can’t get the pic to open it’s stolen from another site but the link will work

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I'm sill not sure what you said. The sills and the rockers are different parts and usually talked about separately... but seemingly; not by everyone. I was being a little conservative I guess by joining the two when I wrote; I have heard body shops talk about them separately and interchangeably (years ago when I hung out at a body shop. It was more of a paint [and putty] shop, he never did any large panel replacement that I remember but he did do some very good, show quality custom paint jobs too) but we did talk to other shops that had frame pulling capabilities and that is where I heard the two terms often talked about as one piece then, in the next breath, as separate pieces. The same with hobbyist; they often conjoined the two in their conversations.

Bigvwhead's post is what you were looking for and has a lot of very good information in it; I just don't know anyone but a dealership that has a lifting setup like that. I don’t know about a type III, weight wise that is as I never actually spent much time with one. Removing a type one sedan body; sands hood, bonnet, doors and fenders can be lifted prettily easily by three guys, four is even better. I have done it by myself, but then I was not going to re-use the body so I slowly jacked and blocked the body up high enough to get the pan out from underneath with no damage to either the body or the pan. Given the choice, I would use the three to four guys just to be sure nothing got bent!

The picture you posted is a pretty impressive piece of structure. I am sure you will be fine with building one.

Lee