Body Dolly

[mach2andy]

I'm fast reaching the point where I will need a body dolly [and a bonnet dolly for that matter] and am wondering if anyone has one that I could borrow rent or purchase? Or has anyone used an across the shelf item that they found OK? I was planning on sitting the car on the dolly supported on the chassis rails, but this looks as though this might be a bit unstable as they are only c.500mm apart? Any thoughts or suggestions welcome. And does anyone have a link to a wiring diagram for the car?
Andy S2 FHC

[mgcjag]

Hi Andy.....worth looking here...not too expensive http://www.rolloverjigs.com/product/jaguar-e-type-jig/ re wireing diagram, do you have the Jaguar service manual, also look in in the knowledge base section under tecnical there are a few and colour....Steve
Ps in your photo the gearbox isnt attached to the engine......are you removing or replaceing....how did you detatch or going to reatatch the gearbox

[Hugo]

Hi Andy.....worth looking here...not too expensive http://www.rolloverjigs.com/product/jaguar-e-type-jig/ re wireing diagram, do you have the Jaguar service manual, also look in in the knowledge base section under tecnical there are a few and colour....Steve
Ps in your photo the gearbox isnt attached to the engine......are you removing or replaceing....how did you detatch or going to reatatch the gearbox

I was going to ask the same question!

[mach2andy]

Hi Steve Hi Hugo
I'm stripping the car down to a bare shell before starting again. When I collected the car, the head/inlet manifold/carbs had been removed leaving the short engine and gearbox in the car. I started by stripping most of the front suspension, steering and brakes and then removing the reaction plate. Fortunately, all of the ball joints split very easily. I then took everything off of the front of the engine - water pump, tensioner, harmonic balancer and then dropped the engine/gearbox onto the floor. I then separated the gearbox and bell housing from the engine and left them on the floor and then lifted the engine forward and out of the car which you can see in the picture. Removing the components from the front of the engine gave me enough room to lift the engine complete with flywheel and clutch slightly forward and out of the car. I then split the bell housing from the gearbox, and then dragged the gearbox forwards and sideways out from under the car. I've since refitted the reaction plate to maintain a bit more rigidity to the structure. The engine goes down to VSE next week to be completely rebuilt. I've learnt from past mistakes that trying to reunite engines and gearboxes underneath a car is a futile experiment. One way or another the engine and gearbox will be reinstalled in the car as a complete unit. A few pics of the car before I started......

[Hugo]

A silly question perhaps, but why, having dropped everything onto the floor, did you not just drag it out as a unit?

[mgcjag]

Great write up Andy.......we all live and learn, just another way to "skin a cat"..especially if your working on your own....Steve

[rswaffie]

Good work Andy,
I've been doing the same over the last year - stripping down to bare shell and then restoring/replacing/upgrading everything. Keep the pics coming!

[rswaffie]

In terms of a body dolly, I bought two CJ Auto's mobile axle stands and connected them together with two lengths of box section steel - cost about £140. Did the job for me.

[mach2andy]

Hi Hugo
The reason I didn't drag the engine from under the car once it was on the floor was that I would have needed to have removed the picture frame [which I didn't want to do] or get the front of the car up very high, which I couldn't really do. I can assure you that the method I used worked really well, and was very easy, stress free, and straightforward particularly as Steve mentioned, I was working alone. The load leveller is very useful as it keeps everything balanced.
As an aside, I'm amazed to find that the car was designed so that you can only remove the propshaft by either removing the engine, or IRS. Perhaps a removable access panel would have compromised the rigidity of the structure?
As another aside, I removed the windscreen and dash pad yesterday. The dash pad had been recovered at some stage, but I found that no slots had been cut through the covering to allow air to flow from the vents up onto the screen!! DOH
This is the car as I collected it. The bonnet was collected separately in the back of a transit. The second picture will feature in a horror film called "The Butcher of the Loom" ! Thanks for all of your input about the body dolly. Keep 'em coming.

[Hugo]

Not telling you how to do your job, but I think I would have lifted the front of the car with that hoist and the cross-bar while the engine was on the deck. That's what I did with mine - and my engine was complete except for the water pump & manifolds.

[kingzetts]

+1 for CJ Autos mobile axle stands. I didn't even bother linking them together, and they worked fine both for moving around the workshop and trailering the body to CMC for restoration.

[mach2andy]

Thanks for the suggestions. The CJ stands look good.
Hugo - with the front of the car supported by the hoist, the engine would not have come out from under the car because it would not have gone past the legs of the hoist. Doing it the way I did also had the advantage of allowing me to drop the engine straight onto the trolly on which it is being transported to VSE.

[Hugo]

Put the hoist in from the side? I'm trying to remember how I did mine - it was something like that I think.