Building a very tight on space rotisserie for the shop / Belvedere . . .

[conv67bdere]

Got out in the shop again today and worked on the rotisserie . . .

In case you thought I was "exaggerating" about the room that I have . . .

Here's the space that will be at the back of the car . . .

and the front of the car - by the garage door . . .

Goal achieved ! ! ! The car is now up on the rotisserie - a full day ahead of schedule ! !

Guess when you set a goal, and have something to shoot for, the have the opportunity to beat it ! !

Man is it tight in there . . . won't have to worry about the car moving from side to side . . . LOL

Now I've got to get the seats out of the car and figure out WHERE they're going to go while I work on the rest of the car . . .

Oh boy . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

TA - DA ! ! ! !

Little bottom heavy . . . got my centers a bit too high
( not sure that I have much room to move it with my bracket set up . . . )

Now my work can begin . . . lots to get cleaned up . . . ( and I can now see it . . . ) ( sigh ) . . .

 

[Ironbuilt]

That's awesome Larry, your craftsmanship never ceases to amaze me. Just curious, why not knock out the rear wall and extend the garage a few feet?

 

[conv67bdere]

That's awesome Larry, your craftsmanship never ceases to amaze me. Just curious, why not knock out the rear wall and extend the garage a few feet?

Don't want to waste time with that - plans are to build a "real shop" . . . someday . . . but it's getting close, I'm tired of waiting . . .

 

[Ironbuilt]

Don't want to waste time with that - plans are to build a "real shop" . . . someday . . . but it's getting close, I'm tired of waiting . . .

After seeing everything else you build, I can't wait for the shop thread. Happy New Year my friend.

 

[conv67bdere]

Looks like I might be able to do some "adjustments" on the brackets and move the center . . . that would really help out with rotation . . .

This is also a concern . . . and for those that are following along, this might need to be kept in the back of your minds . . . still not sure what the "optimal" height of the center for the rotisserie should be, but take a look at this . . .

The question is . . .will it clear the floor ? ?

My car is 6' wide . . . but I "calculated" that I needed 3'8" to have this windshield frame miss the floor . . .

Think that it's not "tight" in the shop . . . look at the space for the handle to the garage door . . .

talk about squeezing it into place . . . WHEW ! ! !

 

[conv67bdere]

After some time working on the bottom of the car today, the inevitable was "calling me" . . .
Time to see if I could adjust the center and make the car rotate a little freer . . . the question . . . how far was I off ? ?

With the way that I made the attachment brackets . . . there was 1 easy 1" adjustment that could be made - after that, lots of structural would need to be done.

Moved both the front and back down the 1", and the car rotates a bit easier, but it's still bottom heavy - think it's going to stay there for now . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Additional update on "centering" the car . . . for easy rotation . . .

As stated before, the car was still a little bottom heavy and would not stay when placed in any position . . . but . . .

Had not removed the front casters from the car ( DUH ! )

After removing the front casters . . . that balance was a LOT closer - what I had was as follows . . .
- if I raise the passenger side - it would stay where it was put ( YAY )
- if I raise the driver side - it would stay fall down toward the level position . . . ( but why the difference . . . )

Then - after a ( very ) little thinking on the topic - it was really pretty obvious . . .
- driver door was still complete ( glass / regulators / etc. )
- passenger door - has been gutted, cleaned up and even epoxy primered inside . . .

so I put a 10 pound weight inside the passenger door and the car remains where it it placed now - I've got it centered pretty good now ( lucky me )


so while the car is up on the rotisserie - I cleaned up this driver frame rail ( had already done it to the passenger side )

got it welded up and mostly cleaned up already ( so much easier this way ! ! )

Now . . . it'w tome to get some progress on the bottom of this car and hopefully get it painted
- actually 747Mopar suggested spray on bed liner ( can get it in colors ) and make it more durable . . . might be the way I go with it . . .

 

[skicker]

Not criticizing at all...just curious...Why wouldn't you have removed the pegboard and recessed the rear mount into the wall framing? Just going by pics here...

When Dads 69 Dart was on the rotisserie it also barely fit into the garage so I know what you mean about them being tight...I was lucky and only had to remove a few rows of shelving and had enough room...

 

[6PKRTSE]

It was very tight in my garage also. I had to make sure that the overhead garage door was closed in order to rotate the car over, which I now have raised the garage door to the ceiling to use all of my 10' ceiling height. I X braced the body on my Challenger in the door jams & from side to side before I put mine up on the rotisserie. It made hiding my 2"X3" frame connectors a piece of cake while upside down.

 

[747mopar]

Looks great Larry, looking at all that epoxy on the bottom of the car knowing it was done from underneath makes my neck stiff lol.

 

[conv67bdere]

Not criticizing at all...just curious...Why wouldn't you have removed the pegboard and recessed the rear mount into the wall framing? Just going by pics here...

When Dads 69 Dart was on the rotisserie it also barely fit into the garage so I know what you mean about them being tight...I was lucky and only had to remove a few rows of shelving and had enough room...

Thanks for the suggestion - and you're right that would have gained me another 3 1/2" of space . . . but the walls are also insulated . . .

Good idea . . . would have tried that if I could . . . take another look at this picture:

And you'll notice that there is a window in the way - it's right dead centered on the window frame and there is no way that it would be possible to "inset" the rotisserie into the wall ( as it would have to be inset into the window and the window frame ) . . .

Besides - my initial measurements and design accounted for the room that I had and it all fit ( barely )

 

[conv67bdere]

Looks great Larry, looking at all that epoxy on the bottom of the car knowing it was done from underneath makes my neck stiff lol.

Not quite . . . you'd have to go back and look at my build thread, but I borrowed my neighbors rotisserie for a weekend and got the bottom in Epoxy Primer during that weekend . . .

However . . . all of the welding, metal work, and undercoating removal was done, on my back, on the floor, with all of that crap falling in my face . . . YUCK ! ! !
( why I didn't build this rotisserie a long time ago and save myself a ton of grief . . . is beyond me - except that maybe I trust my welding skills a lot more now too )

 

[conv67bdere]

It was very tight in my garage also. I had to make sure that the overhead garage door was closed in order to rotate the car over, which I now have raised the garage door to the ceiling to use all of my 10' ceiling height. I X braced the body on my Challenger in the door jams & from side to side before I put mine up on the rotisserie. It made hiding my 2"X3" frame connectors a piece of cake while upside down.

View attachment 702077

I was a little worried about welding the frame connectors in on the rotisserie - the "directions" suggest that you put the car on all four wheels, level, and make sure that you have the weight of the car sitting right for "the best results" . . . and my car being a convertible on top of that, and lacking the roof structure for support, I really needed to keep it level and double, triple, quadruple check that my doors still closed and that everything was still in alignment as I was welding in the frame connectors . . .

Might have been overkill . . . but this is my first time being this deep into a rebuild so I was trying to make sure that I did what I could to NOT mess it up . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

This rotisserie was exactly what was needed and it did wonders for helping me to get my car done . . .

Best thing I did to assist with my build (only wish I'd done it a lot earlier . . . Hind sight)