It looks plenty strong. The term "widow maker" comes from the jack itself and for good reason. How do the jacks clear the car? The handle has to open almost 90 degrees to operate?
The lift we made only used one jack. Each post had a row of holes like a jack stand so you could lift one trolley and pin it and move to the next. Going around until you had it completely lifted to full height and then pinned in place.
Rocky
I have the jacks (4 so I don't have to mess around with moving them) positioned under the lift arms so the handles will go towards each other. They are angled just enough to clear each other so you can basically stand on the side between the jacks and operate 2 at one time. So I will be able to raise each side a click or 2 at a time or with a helper raise the whole thing at once. I have the posts and trolleys drilled with pin holes like a jackstand also.
Brian
The body is off the old frame. The body lift worked great!
I started out by myself by lifting one click on the jacks on the drivers side, and then 2 clicks up on the passenger side and then alternating 2 clicks at a time on each side. This worked pretty well but was taking a while. After my son got home from work we each took a side and we had it up high enough to roll the frame out in no time. Tomorrow the plan is to pull the engine and trans out of the old frame and get that stored out of the way. Then I can roll the new frame in and see how if fits. I know the original axle snuber will need to be removed and probably will need to cut out a small section to clear the dog bone mounts. Also it looks like the gas tank will need to be moved back a few inches, but I won't know for sure until the frame is in place.
Still lots of work left but it's pretty cool to be at this point.
Brian
The grill splash pan and fenders removed.
Everything out but the hood and steering column and steering box. I had to wait until my son was home to get the hood off, and I left the steering in to get the car lined up in the lift, then pushed it straight back out to remove the column and box.
The body up on the lift and the old frame rolled out. That thing was pretty oily and dirty from 25 years and 20,000 miles of cruising!!
It's a good thing I started lifting it slowly by myself as I forgot to unbolt the rear shocks until it was up off the frame a few inches. Woops!!
The lift was well worth the time and money to build as it worked great and will sure save time down the road on this project as well as on future projects.
Brian
Very nice. It will be interesting to see how the body fits the new frame, and if you have any clearance issues at all. What engine and transmission are you running? How much front end suspension drop do you have? Nice work on the lift.
56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension
Other vehicles:
56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
1962 327/340HP Corvette
1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
2001 Porsche Boxster S
2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax
Thanks Chevynut,
I'm pretty sure the floor pan will need to be trimmed or at least dimpled in for the dog bone mounts. Everything else should be ok if I didn't screw up on my measurements (always a possibility) For now the plan is to use the same small block and tranny I have now which is a 283 and Muncie 4 speed. I hope to upgrade to a 350 and 5 speed or 6 speed down the road. The car should sit about an inch lower than it did with 2" drop spindles. The rear should be about an inch lower also.
Last night I lowered the body down on the new frame for the initial test fit. I had to remove the axle snuber bracket first. As I figured the dog bone mounts hit the floor pan, but other than that everything has plenty of clearance so that was a relief. The gas tank will need to be moved back a couple of inches to clear the tow rods also. There is plenty of room to move it back as it is about 8 inches from the back of the frame in it's stock position. The other thing is there will not be room to route the exhaust over the rear end as the trunk floor is to close, so I'll have to go under the center section the way it is on the stock Corvette set up.
Tonight I sprayed some gray primer around the dog bone mount with the body on the frame so I can tell where it needs to be clearanced out.
Then lifted the body back off so I can get the floor cut out for clearance. The plan is to make some little mini tubs in that area. I am thinking I will make them with a mounting flange and use body panel adhesive and pop rivets to attach them instead of welding them in. The interior is still in the car and the floor pan in that area is covered with Hush mat so I don't want to weld in the area if possible.
P.S. The body lift is working nice. I have found I can do 3 to 4 clicks on the jacks per side without a problem, so even by myself it doesn't take very long to lift or lower the body.
Brian
Awesome job Congrats!!!!!
Nice job on the lift Custer. You are experiencing the same kinds of mods I had to make to my Nomad to get it to fit onto CNut's C4 frame.
Dogbone to floor mods are shown here. http://www.trifivechevys.com/showthr...zzy-quot/page4
Are you running the rear corvette swaybar? If so, you'll definately need to move the stock tank backwards, if you put the swaybar point towards the back of the car.
1957 Nomad- LS1/T56 on C4 chassis
1959 Fleetside Apache 1/2 ton, shortbed, big window, 327ci.
Thanks guys,
I will have to make the same type of mods to clear the dog bones on mine also. I'll post pictures on that later. My sway bar is mounted under the frame in front of the rear end so the gas tank just needs to moved a few inched back to clear the rear end and toe rods.
Brian
Wonderful thread, guys, Im just starting to look at these swap with the c4 and this article is invaluable to me, thanks so much. great JIG.
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