I have recently bought an 88 GTA 350 Auto and am currently in the process of a full strip down and rebuild of by 88 GTA (Build Thread soon to follow). This car is a keeper for me so I need to do this the right way. Will have all the body paint stripped from scratch also however I am at a stage where I need to soda blast the underside, followed by self etching primer and Wurth Stone Guard and Underside protection (Grey).

The guy I am taking it to for soda blast has a 4-post lift, similar to what I have so the car needs to be supported on jack stands.

I want to remove the K-Member, Steering box and Rear axle so that he can reach all the places and so I was looking into fabricating 4 simple stands which attach to the bumper bolts on the front and rear. I saw someone on here using this system.

Problem is... Supporting the body from this location would result in the wheels being too close to each other and the car wont stay on the 4-post.

Any ideas what I can do? Maybe some recommendations of how you supported the body while blasting the underside?

Thanks a lot.

 

I thought I had a photo of it but I can't find it. I has 2 about 4" I or H beams that I found dirt cheap that were about 8 -10' long that I mounted to the bottom of the car so that they went left to right. Then I had casters at each end and a sign post steel post going along each side to keep them straight. Mount them with the holes near the rear LCA's and up front with holes near the big holes next to the trans (On the sub frames).
Then I used a cherry picker crane to lift one side of the car to about 45 deg blast that side then let it down and lift the other side. When you have the car stripped especially if the hatch is of the shell is VERY light. It's also a fantastic time to install subframe connectors!!!!

 

What we did while restoring my buddy's 69 RS was stand it up on the rear bumper. We stripped the body completely, even removed the front subframe, then put a couple of old truck tires(no rims)on the garage floor behind it and use the chain hoist he had mounted to his ceiling to lift the front end up. We got the car to stand straight up, sitting on the tires. You could easily do something similar with the 4 post lift I think.

Or, just get a couple of 4x4 posts, or even 4x6, long enough to span the width of the lift. Put the posts on the lift, then set the car on top of them.

 

Hi guys.
Thanks for the tips. If I am understanding correctly birth of you are mentioning how to raise the vehicle to be able to blast it. The guy I am taking it to has a 4 post so I guess it would make sense for me to use it rather than lifting the car using a cherry picker or hoist.
I like the idea of the I beams however I cannot understand to where you bolted them? I know where the control arms and trans holes are but how did you fix the beams to them? And wasnt the chassis unstable due to the beams being too close to eachother?

 

This is a bad photo of it but shows the car in or "paint booth". The sign post pieces are removed so they were not in the way to paint the roof. But you can see the casters & I beams. Only reason I used the sign posts were to keep I beams from being pulled towards each other once hooked chains to lift car. Used existing holes in subframes and drilled holes in I beams to mount them hope this helps convey the concept of how it worked

 

Thanks for your help. I got the grasp of it. I can probably make use of 2x4 Hollow Sections as they will be lighter but the concept is very good. Have to see exactly how to fix the beams to the body.