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New chassis on the way - eek!

So for various reasons I've ordered a shiny new galvanised 110 V8 chassis from Marsland's, for 3.9i 110 (originally a 2.5 petrol).

I've been reading about people speeding-up the swap process by essentially lifting the whole body of the old chassis and lowering it onto the new one in one piece. Bearing in-mind that I don't have a garage, let alone a 4-post lift, I've come-up with a plan:

  1. Take-out the propshafts and drop the gearbox onto a trolley. Engine's already out having been rebuilt.

  1. Use the HiLift and axle stands to support the Landy at about max suspension travel.

  2. Take off the wheels, undo the suspension/steering and remove the axles on little trolleys. Leaving the old chassis and body sitting on stands.

  1. Fit the axles and wheels to the new chassis. Fit the engine and gearbox along with prop shafts etc, to a rolling chassis state.

  2. Use scaffold poles and stands to support the weight of the body on the old chassis. Undo the old chassis and lower it onto dolly to wheel out the way, swap fuel tank to new chassis.

  1. Roll new chassis underneath supported body and lower body onto chassis.

It seems vaguely viable, although I'm sure there'll be a few hitches - can anyone spot anything obvious I've missed?

Also, not content with an already complex job, I wonder if when I have a rolling chassis without body it would be a good time to fit LPG tank(s). If so, what are the options. I've seen the 80L toroidal tank in a frame that replaces the petrol tank on a RR, which would be an option. There's also the twin (45L) tanks along the chassis rails, which I'm less keen on. I was wondering whether on a 110 it might be possible to fit a pair of (or even three) cylindrical tanks transversely between the chassis rails from behind the rear cross-member and working forward IYSWIM? I'm after a setup that's both discrete, leaves plenty of load space and has lots of capacity - the main use for the 110 will be gentle trips across France/Switzerland/Austria to the in-laws in Italy, so not having to stop for gas every 100 miles would be a good thing.

Cheers,

Andy.

Reply to
Andrew Cleland
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As you have access to scaffold poles you could build an frame to lift the body clear of the chassis using a pulley block(s) - hirable from HSS Lift & Shift etc. Remember to allow enough height for the bulkhead to clear the newly installed engine or back end of chassis.

Alternatively, split the body into wings/bulkhead, roof and rear body sections - these can be lifted off by 2 or 3 good strong people hence no lifting gear required.

Oh, and if it's a Station Wagon go carefully - there's not a lot of strength in the SW rear body and damaging the B post/sills panel would be seriously expensive!

I syggest a good long chat with a good conversion place - there are a number of options available, but cost/benefit is likely to be more of a decider than what can actually be done, and you need to be certain that whatever solution you decide on will all work together and be legal (insuarble) for all countries you may visit.

Cheers Richard

Reply to
beamendsltd

Thanks Richard. I do have my doubts about supporting the whole body rigidly (it is a SW), so might go for the split it into bits option. We have a couple of autogas installers nearby, so I might head over and have a chat.

Cheers,

Andy.

Reply to
Andrew Cleland

I did my 110 csw as whole body about 15 moths ago. I only had access to a high lift jack and a number of 4" concrete blocks which I used to create 4 piers and gradually lifted the whole body from underneath. Although the whole operation was success I would not want to do it again this way, it was too precariously balanced at times. If you have better lifting kit then you should be ok. Note that there are a lot of bolts holding the body to the chasis, some of them not that obvious, a missed one can add a lot more stress than a bit of weight.

Gerald

Reply to
idris

Thanks - good to hear that it has been done successfully! I'll keep an eye open for stray bolts...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Reply to
Andrew Cleland

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