You are going to be a bit disappointed with this bit as I stripped the body over a protracted period of time and am bound to miss something but as a rough guide here is what you definitely need to do:
Make the shell as light as possible by removing doors, bonnet, tailgate, all glass, seats, bumpers, heater.
Remove front body support structure and steering column.
Disconnect brake and clutch master cylinder pipes (I removed the cylinders).
Disconnect the oil pressure gauge capillary pipe from the engine.
Disconnect handbrake cable including the retaining brackets within the transmission tunnel.
Remove fuel filler neck.
Disconnect electrics where they pass to the chassis (I removed the entire loom).
Remove all body to chassis bolts including seat belt anchorages and the body hoop fishplates at the base of the 'B' pillars.
Rear Valance
On the SE5 and SE5A the rear valance tucks in under the rear chassis cross-member preventing a straight upwards lift. You have to raise the front of the car to a considerable angle to enable you to roll the chassis forward from under the suspended body with enough clearance for the chassis to pass under the rear seat foot wells. I didn't fancy this much with the equipment and additional human resource (called Matt) that I had to hand. So instead I overcame this obstacle by removing the area of rear valance preventing a straight upwards lift.
The squared 'bumper mount' protrusion houses the rear cross-member.
A not very clear picture of the inside of the rear valance.
The rear cross-member doesn't quite reach the ends of the channel.
Using a DIY multi-tool I cut across the middle of the channel and the down to outboard of the exhaust cut-outs.
The cuts are equidistant to the outer edges of the exhaust cut-outs. Sadly those exhaust cut-outs aren't quite so equidistant from the cars centre line.
Removed revealing the full width of the rear cross-member.
The intention is to refit this once the car is back together. I am as yet undecided if I am going to bond it back in or make it removable.
A metal pole was initially fed through the front wheel arches in front of the chassis suspension towers to initially raise the body enough to pass a wooden fence post through.
Using a collection of trestles the body was lifted in stages until high enough to clear the rolling chassis. The rear was first raised enough to pass another fence post through the rear arches, resting on the rear wheels. The crane was then repositioned to the front to raise the front end, followed by returning to the back to raise that to match.
Don't forget to keep the trestles clear of the wheels.
With the chassis out of the way the body was repositioned onto the trestles. There then folowed a number of rather messy days with a bucket of neat car shampoo, a stiff floor scrubbing brush and a pressure washer. The drive looked lovely by the time I had finished!
Rear footwells. The channel houses the rear suspension mounting tubes on the chassis.
The contents of this website are purely a reflection of my own experiences and knowledge gained whilst working on my various projects. Anything you do based on what you have read here is done so entirely at your own risk. Personally I wouldn't trust someone like me with a lawn mower! You have been warned! Flapper-bat!
