Would it really be easier?

[DreKoushRanada]

Well I am finally at my first duty station at Fort Benning, Ga.:razz: I am doing a 1970 Cutlass S pro touring car. This is my first muscle car that I purchased in 2005. I have a pretty big garage for it. I have to change the body mounts on the car already so I was wondering will it be a good idea to pull the frame out from under it and clean it up real good? I will be changing the rear end, motor, Trans,suspension, and all the wiring anyway so I figured it will be easier to do it this way? I will be doing 95% it myself also. Thanks in advance.

[ROBS6T8]

Might as well. You might find something else that needs attention! Thanks for serving.

[Battle]

I am kind of going through this myself, although just after I bought my 'bird I spun a motor bearing. Doing most of the work yourself is going to take a LONG time depending on the tools and experience you have. Not sure how much you have saved up, but do you plan on driving it as you restore because you will spend MUCH more money than expected. It is a lot of fun and I guess you could do it all fairly quick if you have about $7-10k to drop (without a paint job).

Anyway, the more you take apart the exponentially more you want to fix. Just remember that. lmao You'll see.

I started with just having the engine rebuilt. Now it's down to the subframe about to be sand blasted and my to do list now is...
Power Steering
C5 Disc brakes/MC/Brake booster and all new lines
Complete suspention kit
New shocks/springs
Sand Blast and paint all parts in engine bay
Rewire the car
4 speed tranny (from TH350 so need a new crossmember)
dual electric fans
and the list goes on... Just for the engine bay!!! pretty much.

[Tom Welch]

Yes, I recommend separating the body and frame, you will be able to do a lot better job of repairing and replacing all of the stuff you mentioned in your post with the body out of the way, rust will probably be found in the body mount contact areas, this will allow you to fix it a lot easier and better. If your garage is big enough an above ground lift would be a major help since you would have a lift and storage place for the body while you work on the frame. You could also find a shop to do this part for you. This of course assumes that a local will do it. There used to be a small shop on the North side of Benning that built circle track cars. The guy had a good rep, too in part since he always went to the track when his cars ran. Keep in mind that was in the early 90's. We can do this type of work as well but we are in the Savannah area.