D2 Body Lift Guide (How 2)

[tel]

hope this will help some of you

ive just done this to a truck and wrote this guide to give you more modding options for the d2

wizard off here supplys the kits and can do you a complete d2 kit

if I’ve missed anything or you need any more information just ask

the d2 has 7 mounts either side, 2 on the rear crossmember, 2 in the middle of the boot floor just under the seats, 2 at the back of the sill, 2 directly under the the front seats, 2 on the front sill, then 2 at the bulkhead and 2 at the very front

Starting from the back of the car assuming you have already removed the rear bumper, undo the 2 15mm body mount bolts, the nut is captive so nice and easy here

Lift the rear seats forward and you will find 2 flaps in the carpet near the seatbelt anchors, again remove the 2 bolts (13mm from memory) from inside the car, again these are captive

Remove the rear sill body mount, leave this bolt in position for now

This is the tricky one, pull both front seats forward all the way and tilt them forward, it helped us do it, if you look under the car you will see the bolt you need to undo but there is no hole in the carpet for the bolt so rather than stripping the lot out its a lot easier and quicker to cut an access hole in the carpet like the rear boot area has, we just made a horseshoe flap and when back down you will never know it was touched, once done undo these 2 bolts

Now the front sill mount, same as d1 you will need to lift the front carpet to get the bolt out and put the new bolt in, remember to remove the grommet for the bolt to pass through, don’t remove the bolt yet though

Now the front bulkhead, just undo the bolt and nut, also leave this bolt in position

Last one to undo is the front mount which is behind the grill so remove the grill, you may find foam blocks covering the bolts, just pull or cut them out, you can put these back later if you so wish

Onto the steering shaft, there is a torx bolt t40 that clamps the steering Column together, loosen this bolt and give a spray with penetrating fliud to help it slide when you lift

On our car 4.0 v8 d2 there are a couple of things you need to do before you lift the body, looking at the front of the car on the back of the right hand cylinder head there is an earth strap that needs to be undone, there is an earth lower down so just re attach it there

Now move to the front passenger side wheel arch, there is 2 rear brake flexies attached to a bracket on the chassis, drill the 2 rivets out so it can move up the chassis when you lift

Remove the top rad cowling 3 half twist screws hold it in place

Undo the intake hose so it can move a little when you lift

Your ready to lift the body,

There are many ways of doing this I use a jack and some blocks of wood to distribute the weight better, how you do it is up to you, I do one side at a time, if you do it my way you only need to jack the centre of the car up, please note this car has body mounted rock sliders which helped when we lifted it,

Start to jack the body up, it will raise quite a lot before the body lifts away, this is normal as the weight is also coming off the suspension, you can strap the axle to the chassis to combat this if you don’t have the height or a high jack,

The body should lift away nice and even, have a friend check the engine bay while you lift to make sure nothing is catching/stretching you will also need to wiggle the rad down as it will want to lift with the body, also keep an eye on the steering staft it should move nice and easy only needs to move about ½”

Pay extra attention to the brake and abs lines, the abs lines are not the longest in the world so should either be extended or re-routed so the suspension movement doesn’t damage them, the brake lines should also be extended at the same time, I had custom braided ones made up +6” in total as this car also has a 2” suspension lift, I found the old +2 lines specially on the rear where a little short for my liking when testing the truck

Once up to the height you need drop the blocks in place don’t lift any higher than you need to, first remove the old bolts I said about leaving in place earlier, the reason for this is that it stops the body falling to the side when you lift it making it a nightmare to line it all up , use the original large washers where ever you removed them from

Once you have all the blocks in place on that side and bolts in and started (don’t do them all up yet) lower the jack and get ready to lift the other side

Do the same again with the other side, now the body is in its new position, you can now do all the bolts up.

This car has a h/d rear bumper on it, the rear cross member will now sit over the top of the bumper, I put the bumper back on with no problems, again how you do this is up to you

I haven’t mentioned the front bumper because this car has a tubular winch bumper fitted so didn’t need to touch it

Now all you need to do is either fit the rad spacer blocks, or remove the horns and rad mounts, drill the holes 50mm lower then refit it all, double and triple check everything you have done, make sure nothing is too tight or stretched, re tighten the clips for the intake hose and steering column, and drill new holes in the chassis for the rear brake flexi bracket then re pop rivet that in its new position.

That’s all that’s to it

[tel]

mods please feel free to do what you want with this

[muddychris300tdi]

Any before and after pitures?

[tel]

not at the sec no, will do when i get it out the workshop tho

[Nigelw]

This is a super guide and not just for the D2 either, good work there

[ThreeSheds]

I would love to see this (or any other D2 body lift) with photos... 

[MattMatt]

Like it - good guide.