removing body

[bantamallan]

Is there a magic way to release the sealer that Renault used to stick the body to the chassis. hacking it out with a knife takes for ever. I know I did that on the 1st car, now I'm stripping the van for chassis repairs.
Allan

 

[Steve Hennessey]

When I last did this job I applied upward pressure slowly on the body and it parted naturally. If I were to do it again I would use something like an engine hoist to lift the body and leave it overnight to allow it to break the joint.

 

[malcolm]

My favoured approach is to place a jack under the boot floor and raise the rear of the car so the wheels are just off the ground. Then use a heat gun to soften the sealant from the rear of the car working forward - with the sealant is soft the chassis should gradually fall back to the floor and leave you with a sticky mess.

 

[Richard Williams]

Body off

I am sure that tempreture is important, I wouldn't try it under 15 degrees, but above that the higher the better ;a jack stabalised on the crossmember(under the palce where the front seats were) then applying upwards pressure to the body via a sturdy plank palced across two open windows, does the trick. Don't rush it, apply a little pressure and leave for a few hours, then reapply. I'm sure the heat gun would help speed things up but might take a bit of practice!!

Is the "body lift" the only way to get at the rust on the chassis just behind the front wheel arch? If so how long do memebers rekon it takes to get to the point of jacking up?

 

[bantamallan]

Thanks all, job done. Took about 1/2 hour for the chassis to fall off the body, helped by a big blower heater. It takes about 4 hrs to strip the car but depends how rusty all the bolts are. The current project took about 5 hrs as a lot of the bolts had to be cut off which also means drilling them out and retapping. Next question for all the experts, what do you use to reseal, how about VW Beetle foam seal or does it need the strength of being glued together? for the rust in the triangular bit behind the front wheel I just cut out the sill, stuck in a piece then tacked back the sill, not pretty but it is a temp measure until a proper rebuild when the other 2 are finished ( and my daughters Beetle and my Scimitar!!)