Danno74Z Posted October 9, 2000 Share Posted October 9, 2000 Pete/All, Does anybody know how much the unibody weights minus the engine, transmission, front and rear end - basically the shell. Thanks, Danno74Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 9, 2000 Share Posted October 9, 2000 Chris and I picked up the rear of his shell (no interior, no body, No glass) and moved it, two average guys, no bulging muscles... I'd suspect that the whole shell is about 800# total weight. Thas' my best guess... Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted October 9, 2000 Share Posted October 9, 2000 Back a few years ago when my car was in the bare form (EVERYTHING taken out/off) my 80 year old dad (who's in pretty good shape- looks like he's 65) and I picked up the entire 73 unibody. I had the rear (I was being nice to the old guy . It was heavy enough that we only held it up of the raised jack stands (car was 2.5 feet in the air) for a few seconds. I would guess 4-600 lbs. We ain't that strong! 800? I don't know maybe that much, but I doubt it. Note that Chris's car is a 280 and a good bit heavier I'd think. Darn, I should have tested it with Chris when I visited! Oh yeah, my car had the heavier subframe connectors and engine rails in it at that point. It was REALLY easy to lift the front when the rear was on stands near the seat belt pockets. It's pretty tail heavy in that form. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@home.com">pparaska@home.com - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 9, 2000 Share Posted October 9, 2000 Yea I lifted the front of Chris' car by myself. The front end is nothing.. the rear has all the weight to it.. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno74Z Posted October 9, 2000 Author Share Posted October 9, 2000 Guys, Thanks for all you input on the weight of the shell. The reason for the question is because I need to do some floor board repair and really cleanup the bottom of the car and to see if there is other rust in hiding. Laying on my back for god knows how long scraping and wire brushing is not the most appealing thought and now that winter is coming on……I may do a rotisserie like Pete did. Has any one else done this sort of thing? Pro, Cons ? If the shell is let's say 1,000lbs - 600 rear and 400 front, I should be able to rig something up without destroying the body or myself. Just toying with the idea. Pete, since you have done this procedure any regrets and did you remove all the glass prior to the big flip. Thanks, Danno74Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 Danno, I have Pete's rotisserie in my basement right now, which, by the way I need to get back to him!!! Pete built his rotisserie to fit his car, which is a 240. We tried but could not get it to work on my 280 as the bumper mounts are different. My dad was going to fabricate new mounts to use with Pete's rotisserie and discussed it with one of his friends at work who is into old Mustangs. His friend told him that he had some photos of rotisseries in a Hemmings book and believed it would be fairly easy to fabricate. My dad took all of the measurements from my car and his friend took measurements on some of his old Mustangs (height of the body, etc...) and they came up with a universal design that would only require different body mounts and can be used for just about any vehicle. My dad tends to "over-engineer" everything and the rotisserie was no exception!! There is no doubt I could probably put an entire fully equiped Z car on the thing!! Mike Kelly took several pictures with his digital camera and is working on getting them posted. I have to say that the rotisserie has been a blessing and thank goodness for Pete!!! If I had not seen his I would be lying on my back under the car doing the work - it is amazing how much easier it makes working on the floorpans, etc... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RyalC Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 I moved 2 weeks ago into a new house (3 car garage - yippee!). The new house is only 2 miles from the old one so the move was done with the help of a lot of friends. The "interesting" part of the move was the 240Z. It is currently just a shell with glass (no engine, transmission, suspension, or interior). Our approach - have 8 guys pick up the car and set it on the trailer! It worked and nobody carried much weight We set the car on tires (without wheels) to cushion it and then put racks I built under the front a rear suspension before locking the body down with ratcheting tie-downs. I would guess the shell with glass weighs less than 800 pounds. With enough hands it was certainly easy to move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 IF I had any idea that my rotisserie was going to be seen or used by others it would have been alot nicer! I built it for my car quick and dirty out of stuff I had laying around (2x4s) and some steel from the yard near me. It's very crude and not adjustable at all. It was made for 73 bumper mounts. It used 2x4s on the stands and steel channel, black pipe, and angle iron on the parts that bolt to the car and the tops of the stands. I calculated the strength needed by the stands to hold up 1000lbs and two 2x4s (nailed and glued together side by side) was plenty to take the column load for the short length. It's crude but it worked. If you hit my site, you can see a picture of the rear one. Don't throw up looking at that monster! Oh yeah, I tacked the steel bits together and took them to a professional welder to do. I just didn't trust my welding for that! If I were to do it again, I'd design it to be able to adjust the height on the car at which it is rotating. The way I came up with the heights was to call Bill Reagan (who wrote a bood on how he restored a 240Z) and asked him for the measurements. I did it the way I thought he said, but the car ended up being bottom heavy and a bit of a chore to turn on it's side. It was still a huge help! One thing to note is that holding up the ends of the car with any kind of extra weight should be avoided, as it will bend the car. This is really an issue if you are cutting out floors, etc. I pulled EVERYTHING out of the car (including glass) before putting it on the rotisserie. [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited October 10, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno74Z Posted October 10, 2000 Author Share Posted October 10, 2000 Pete/Chris, Thanks guys for the input on the rotisserie. Pete, I think it looks fine and it works! You should start a HybridZ tool rental program. Only kidding. I found another guy who built one to restore his Mustang. This one is more money but not a ton. http://autorestorer.com/articles/art106.html Danno74Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.