Pete has been asking how to remove the body on the Coupe. So I thought I write the reply on here to start the pool of knowledge again.

The top of the Coupe is only held on in a few places.

1. The front bulkhead will be either screwed or riveted.
2. The front door pillars will/should be glassed in.
3. Between the door and the rear wheel on both sides there will be 3 screws
On each side holding the rear of the car.
4. The rear bulkhead has the fiber glass bonded to the tub.


All this can be easily removed and is very worthwhile if you are going to do a complete rebuild, as it is alot easier to work in the engine bay.

Hope this helps Pete!

Amazing, I was just about to post and ask this exact question.

I'm have problems removing my shell

I think I only removed 2 bolts between the door and the rear wheel (there is sort of a sandwich of metal and fiberglass. I couldn't see a third! It seems to be attached around this area, the front is free and I removed some rivets around the wheel arch.

I'm really stumped

To add to this i have the following info, once you have free'd your tub, you will find you cannot just lift it off due to needing to spring the body over the steel around the door catch, so to do this you will need to cut the glass where the inner arches are glassed to the rear bulkhead, obviously depending exactlly how your arches have been glassed in of course.

I just had to slit the glass to allow enough flex. my rear bulkhead was PU'ed and riveted and worked a treat so i did this again with a bit of wedging and swearing you can seperate them at a later date if you need too.


WEST

I think the third bolt might be reached from the engine bay. I can't be 100% as the rear of the car had been modified and it was a while ago that I took the rear of the car off!

Have you already taken all the front and rear screen out? I wouldn't want you to break the glass!!!!

the third bolt is most likley directly under/behind where the inner arch is glassed to the chassis, get the dremel out and cut a small window out in the inner arch and have a dig around to find it, mine was right under were the previous owner had glassed in the inner arches.


WEST

I originally found 2 per side, the third was the one right next to the wheelarch buried under rustflakes and crud. Managed to undo it after a 24hr soak in WD40 with the aid of a hex socket ( the head was quite corroded) without the need for extra holes

Don't forget the steel tubes in the front screen pillars.These are welded to the hinge plates on the chassis.

My body was also glassed all along the top inner bulkhead seam.

I cut a small window in my inner rear arch today and there it was, the hidden bolt! Still haven't had time to do the other side though, so I'm not sure if its free or not yet.

Well, today I finally managed to free the body. However, I hit the same problem that West mentioned. The body is free but I can't remove it due to the overlap near the door catches.

I tried cutting the inner arch upwards about 15cm but that only gave about 1cm of extra movement. Maybe I need to cut further? Or maybe I'm cutting in the wrong place - It's so near to coming off

from memory, the area where the inner arch, rear bulkhead meet are the key area for a little more flex, im struggling to remeber how i did mine as it was quite a while ago now i can remeber it being a complete pain to get off initially and did involve some wedges to help persuade it off. think you will need it to spring almost two inches each side to get it off so a little way to go yet.

WEST

Hi Henry,
I should be able to remember how to do it, it was less than a year ago...
As West says it's the area where the inside of the inner arch meets the bulkhead across the car (inside the engine compartment) that's probably the problem area, not looking up into the wheel arch as I suspect you're thinking.
Do you have a copy of the build manual? If so have a look at the relevent section.
The reason it's a bigger problem when stripping the car than when first building, is that both the boot moulding/inner arch and the bulkhead, under the rear window, are now attached to the body, you may need to cut these away to remove what is essentially cross bracing and allow the body to flex outward.
It'll always be a bit of a struggle though, I certainly couldn't have done it on my own. It really is a two man job to spring the body while lifting it up and back.

If you're still stuck I've PMed you my no. give me ring.

Excellent advice chaps - Dino, I read your post and you took another look. I did a bit of cutting on both sides, where the inside of the inner arch meets the bulkhead and that gave it a lot more flex.

Shortly after that it came off

Many thanks for your advice everyone. Onwards and upwards!

Im removing the body off my coupe today ! I have not had to touch the inner wheel arches. I made a cut up the glassed in bulkhead both sides - see picture - with a hacksaw blade in a holder. Gives enough spring to widen the body at the cill to get it past the tub. Ive cut the steel pillars at the top of the hinge mounting plate and I am going to fit a solid round insert into one end to locate the cut tube ends togeter, I will probably drill and tap them in place.

I removed the body from the Coupe some years ago now _ oh how time flies I'm glueing the body back on shortly but in getting it clamped to the rear door pillars and tightening the bolts down, and though it's levelled on those axle stands for caravans, it looks to be down on the driver's side rear - this will be compounded by my not inconsiderable weight The front is held by the original bolts. Has anybody got a plan - what to level first - or does there have to be a big gap 'tween fibreglass at the back of the driver's door and the steel a frame behind?