At this early stage of disassembly, the front sheet metal has been remove along with the radiator support, grille, bumper, etc. The engine oil and water has been drained and the engine pretty much stripped of attached components like pulleys, water pump, alternator, braces carburetor, distributor, wires, brackets, etc. Interior has been gutted and all window glass and moldings have been removed - it doesn't take much body flexing to shatter your front or rear window glass.

If you are planning to remove the body from the frame, leave the doors on the car for now. They will add rigidity to the body when it is lifted from the frame. If the doors are removed and/or you are working with a convertible, it is suggested that a square tube brace be run from the door hinge area to the rear seat side inner structure to keep the door opening from moving. On a convertible, this is mandatory.

Whether you plan on removing the engine now or later is up to you. The engine and driveline could be left in place and removed once the body is lifted from the chassis. I remove every body I restore from their respective frames, mount them on a cart or known to be straight donor frame and send them over to my body shop. In the case of the do it yourself restorer, you may want to leave the body on its frame while you do all the body work and panel replacement or welding as this will insure the body does not move or flex while off the frame. If not, when you try mounting the body back onto the frame you may find things not lining up. When completed or at the very least when in primer you can then remove the body and restore the rolling chassis.

Set the engine and transmission aside for now. Put the engine on a stand, tape/seal up all the openings and leave it for now. No sense in rebuilding the engine and having it gather dust in your shop/garage while you are doing body or chassis work. It will be a while before you are ready to fire it up and get it running properly. If there are some hard-to-find items missing like A.I.R. system, correct intake or exhaust manifolds, carburetor, distributor, brackets/braces/pulleys, now would be the time to start the search for the pieces. Until then, hold off until you are close to putting the engine and transmission back in the chassis.

The same goes for the transmission; if you have made notes on what needs repaired or replaced, leave it alone for the time being until it comes close to reassembly time.