Bracing before or after

[Filthy Filbert]

Cuda is stripped of everything but the front and rear suspension.

My plan is to build some casters and bolt them to the bumper mounts, and remove all suspension to make room for sheet metal replacement.

Should I add bracing to the car before I put it up in the air and remove the suspension?  Does it matter?   is the weight of the body enough to flex the car by hanging it by the very front and rear of the frame rails?

Can y'all show me some pics of how you braced your car for extensive metal repairs?  I will be replacing the inner fenders, firewall/cowl, front and rear floors and trunk floor.   All frame rails and rockers are solid.

Once the bottom end is done, I will be doing the roof panel and outside A-pillars as well; along with some patch work to the B-pillar under the sail panel where the quarter and roof seams come together. 

I want to add bracing to keep things from moving, but do so in a way that does not prevent me from locating such large panels into place.

[Jocigar]

I am sure you will receive advise from much more experienced folks.   

I think that anything requiring body panel alignment should be done with B,C,D,E points being supported and doing cowl/firewall would require 6-8 points of support along with lots of bracing.

From experience, take some diagonal measurements of frame in case it needs adjustment before removing suspension.

[gzig5]

Bracing should be done with the car on it's suspension in my opinion. I've got most of the quarter off as well as the lock jamb and I'm starting to put some gussets from the trunk floor up to the trunk gutter to hold it in place when the quarters are gone.  The tail panel will be going too.  Don't have any pics currently but will share when I get further.  I'm not sure I'm doing it right, but I do understand geometry and static forces. 

FWIW, the shop that did some work on my car stressed having it on it's wheels or supported the suspension points while doing body work.  They didn't reinforce too much like I've seen in some pics, mainly front to back while the rocker and A piller were out.  I built a pair of hub stands to support the rear axle with the tires off while I'm working back there.  Much better access.  They are ugly but were repurposed from some machine parts I had on hand.

[gzig5]

Here is a pic of how I'm starting to support the trunk gutter before I remove the rest of the quarter.  I'm using scraps from various defunct shelving units.  That video in the Drip Rail thread shows a good method of bracing front to back.  When they did the rocker and floor in mine, they braced from the inner wheel housing up to the cowl a-piller area.  I'm interested in how others may have done this.