Body to subframe removal

[angelorange]

Several pics in Enzo Altorios book suggest the entire engine, gearbox and subframe can be removed from the car.

I have always removed engine through the top but want to check subframe mounts and continue with rust proofing shell and frame.

What is the best way to do this - 6 big bolts and detatch brakes and steering box?

Cheers

[ncundy]

I've pretty much always dropped the subframe to get at the engine.

Remove bonnet
6 bolts
Gearlever
Fuel / brakes / heater / fuel hoses
Steering and clutch
Tachometer, speedo and other instruments feed
Battery connections
Exhaust
and the thing that I always forget, the little bloody wire on the reversing switch at the back of the gearbox. I am very good at mending them though 

You may have to take the radiator / oil cooler off depending on clearance.

Close the doors, then put the hand brake on and chock the back wheels. Put a jack under the front of the subframe or it will pivot foward onto your toes.

Get two chaps 'round and lift the front end and pull the subframe out. I've got a one ton hoist on an H joist in my roof so with a small attachment on the bulkhead it is a one man job 

Support the bodyshell on a trestle or something under the front bulkhead.

If you are going to remove the engine I would always do this - access is brilliant and you can also give everything a good clean as well as giving the subframe and the pickup points a good once over.

[Richard Fridd]

i have not tried that method before.whats 'record' time for that process i wonder?

[angelorange]

  excellent advice and pics!
cheers

[dhla40]

Where do you attach the hoist to lift the car off the subframe? 

Sean 

[ncundy]

It takes about an hour or two to disconnect everything, but the act of lifting the shell and wheeling the subframe out only takes about 10 mins.

On an S1 if you take the heater collector box off and the heater on the inside there is a big hole in the top of the bulk head. I made a spreader plate (just a two foot piece of steel bar with feet welded on the end) which sits on the inside of the car. Then I just lower the chain through the hole and clip the hook around the bar and winch. On an S2 it would probably be possible to make up a plate that bolts over the heater opening with a tag on you could put a hook on. I'm sure there will be other ways to fashion something that don't require the heater to be removed, may be a spreader plate or padded sling under the front cross member (above the grill). Without the subframe the front is very light. But a couple of chaps will lift the front end no problem.

[DavidLaver]

The major time in this sort of job is "hang the bikes up, put the garden tools away in the shed, fix the leak in the shed roof, clean up the paint spilt off the shed shelf while mending the roof, and then wait for the next free afternoon..."

Nice photos - and that subframe is a great bit of design... 

Thinking about it - what jobs on a Fulvia make you wonder what they were smoking?

Strange thing to like, but I do like how the engine tips to that side which to me makes sense for a RHD car - and I always smile at the sight of a leaf spring peeking out - one of those things for which there is great predudice for all it makes a lot of engineering sense.

David

[fay66]

Where do you attach the hoist to lift the car off the subframe?  

Sean  

Here's what my Series 1 Manual has on the subject.

Another method of lifting the body off is a padded cradle fitted to the wheel arch both sides with a chain up to an angle iron bar with a central lifting point on the bar attached to a hoist.

Brian
8227

[Neil Lewis]

I always used to do the lifting from underneath the car. I had a 4 inch square fence post which fitted from sill to sill and put that under the car just behind the gear lever extension.  Then just put my trolley jack under that and pumped away.  Some concrete blocks in the boot helped keep the back of the car on the ground.  To make a bit more clearance at the front (because this lifts in an arc) I took the front wheels off before starting (wishbones on the ground) and then levered the subframe out using a long pry bar to slide it forward one side at a time.  That left some odd-shaped marks on my drive!  A sheet of aluminium down the front of the radiator would stop it catching on the front valance.

I know it sounds a bit odd but it worked well for me and I could remove the entire engine/subframe in about three hours.  Of course the first time I had to loosen all the seized bolts but putting loads of grease on them afterwards made them easy to remove on subsequent occasions.

Like it says in all the Haynes Manuals, refitting was the reverse of removal :-)

Neil

[Jai Sharma]

I followed Neil's method except I left the wheels on, which meant I could wheel the subframe out (put a small jack under the front bit). Weight in the boot sounds a very good idea, as lifting the car this high made it a bit light on the rear wheels and no-one wants to see a Fulvia see-saw.

Once out access is great.