I forgot how to spell the whole word...lol
I finished this today.....just in time for winter, so no welding but maybe some grinding. Shell is in pretty decent shape
A question about bumpers. This one has five stud bumper...will a newer 3 stud fit or do I drill new holes?
I haven't seen a rotisserie done in wood before! Can't see any reason why it won't work just fine tho...
Are you asking if the studs on a three stud bumper will line up with the holes already in the car for a 5 stud bumper?
Is there something over the top of the pole where it sits on the uprights to keep it in place as your rotate the body?
There was another guy on here that built a wood rotisserie. Very cool. As far as the bumper goes. Some align and some do not. But if you have to drill an extra hole it's no big deal.
NICE! 4.gif
As Dan said, the three-stud bumper is "supposed" to line up with the appropriate holes for mounting a five-stud bumper. However, as with most Minis and spares, ... may not quite align.
Quote from: MiniDave on November 08, 2015, 07:49:54 PM
Is there something over the top of the pole where it sits on the uprights to keep it in place as your rotate the body?
Not yet ..... I was done for the day. I think what I'll use is some metal strapping.
I'm also undecided if I'll let it rotate on the two pieces of larger pipe....or let it rotate on the inner long pipe...turning on the 4x4 uprights. I placed a metal "bearing" of sorts on top of the uprights where the pipe sits to allow it to rotate easier
How will you lock or pin it in place to work on the sides or bottom?
On mine, I pinned the pole to the mount and then added a few nuts to the body clamp outer tube so that they can be tightened down with a bolt in any position I see fit.
The same could be done here if needed.
Quote from: MiniDave on November 09, 2015, 11:50:50 AM
How will you lock or pin it in place to work on the sides or bottom?
I don't know yet.
I did some head scrtching while cleaning up the work arear around it last night
One option is to have the entire pipe rotate. I have an old brake disc I could weld to the pipe and drill some holes in it....I would have a hole in the upright and just use a rod or bolt through the disc into the upright
That sounds like it would work pretty well.......drill lots of holes so you have flexibility on the angle.....
Just need to lift the car off the upright to get the disc on the inside of the upright. I'll need to get inventive with jacks as I'm solo
An engine hoist works well for this if you have one......how did you get it up there in the first place?
With a friends help, who is now on holiday.
Nor sure my hoist will go that high.....no real low points to hook to I don't think...will have a look tonight
Original post's picture replaced with better. Will post when I figure out my locking mechanism
Just drill a hole in the sleeve mounts and weld a nut onto it. Then put a bolt in and tighten it down on the pipe. Infinite position.
I thought about that no_name but wasn't sure the pressure from a bolt would hold it in place at it's heaviest. The balance is pretty good, so not a huge amount of weight....but I'd still be concerned about it letting go at the worst time
I have bolts in mine. Holds it just fine.
Well I think that's what I'll be doing
My idea ended in near disaster.
After completeing my "locking" idea...I rotated the shell to the highest stress position. I was going to have a go with the grinder at the rear....I heard something
This is what happened.....luckily I had the engine hoist nearby and took the weight off.
I've strapped it together...I'mm be putting a washered bolt through it also.
Now, to stop the inner pipe rotating I'll use lag bolts through the pipe into the wood at both ends...I'll then drill and weld nuts as suggested on each piece of outer pipe
Doh :-[
That was a close one.
Well....I've tried welding a nut and putting in a bolt and tighten to hold it. It just wont tighten enough to safely hold it.....I even took out the bolt and ground it to a bit more of a point....no joy.
An option...If I still use the brake disc with holes in it, but put a long bolt through to rest against the upright...against the rotation....that may work.
I'm getting annoyed with it and left it for the night
If you search through my rebuild threads you'll probably stumble across how I do it. Basically I have a pipe that fits over the end of the pipe running through the car, which is held in place with a bolt. Then I use a winch which goes from the end down to one of the feet. I crank it and it rotates. Since you have wood, you could probably bolt some steel on the feet to hook into.
oh man...I need a picture of that
I have a gazillion pics but few of the rotisserie. Here's what I did find though. You can see the end I attach, the bar I run through it, and the winch attached to it. Since yours sits on wood, you can weld a bar on the end really and winch from that down to the feet, or anything steady for that matter.
Another thing you might want to do to beef up that pivot point is bolt some thick steel bars or angle iron on the top section of your post. Might help it from splitting again.
Ah so........the rotation of the outer sleeve with the weight of the car on it is what caused the post to split? So locking down that piece of tubing from turning, strapping the post like you did - that should do it.
How did you bore the top of the post to match the curvature of the pipe?
Yes, had thought of that. For the moment I've put a long 5/16 bolt, with some good sized washers on it, through the post
Scary pic of the split post! :-\
I use the bolt method without slippage - I have 2 bolts at 10 and 2, takes both to be bolted down tight to keep it from turning. I have the same setup at the front and rear. Once the front is tightened up I go to the rear and tighten that one to make sure it stays.
(https://mudhen.smugmug.com/Cars/80MiniStripDown/i-4jPWsLp/0/X2/smugshot_450589-X2.jpg)
Is the van shell a lot heavier, though? I can roll my shell by myself...and I'm 150lbs of nothing...
Love the brake disc...if I had that I'd have trouble not putting a caliper on it - maybe a hydraulic handbrake setup? There's a project I could get behind - as in, I'd spend all sorts of money and time to never have it work right - and then I'd get behind on all the stuff I should be doing!
Quote from: MiniDave on November 12, 2015, 09:23:24 AM
How did you bore the top of the post to match the curvature of the pipe?
I missed that part of your question
I used an appropriate sized hole saw. I then lined it with a sheet of thin metal to sort of act like a bearing....as in my mind it was going to spin on that location
Thanks for those pics mudhen
I don't think the van is much heavier at all. I can spin the van fine by myself also. In retrospect, maybe I should have put the outer pipe ( on the rear section ) on the underside of the cross piece...this would have lowered the centre of gravity a little more
Almost have the beast contained now.
I did the long bolts through the disc on both ends...this will keep the centre pipe from rotating AND coming out of the groove.
I drilled and then welded two nuts up the front on the outer pipe.
I also welded one at the rear mount...but the weld broke TWICE..damn it...need more heat to the pipe...less to the nut.
Managed to do a little metal removal before hearing the rear one let go. It didn't rotate...but playing on the safe side.
Two questions? When mounting the body to the rotisserie it looks in some pictures as if the bar goes through the front and rear window and in others as if it goes through the fire wall and then through a hole cut in the back seat. Is this correct? Is there a reason why the differences? Also how are you getting the body on the rotisserie itself? Thanks.
It can be done either way but not all have the access hole on the rear seat. I'm use to going above and my bars are setup that way so I never bother going through the access holes. It helps to have two people to lift it up, or a hoist. I put them on by myself several times and it's a chore without at least a hoist. One side is easy the other is heavy as hell.
I had to stall on mine until spring.
If and when I remove a wing to replace....how does one fit the hood for alignment?
I have in my mind....supporting the front from the floor and pull the pipe out. As long as supported well, this should work (?)
Quote from: Spitz on January 07, 2016, 09:13:21 PM
I had to stall on mine until spring.
If and when I remove a wing to replace....how does one fit the hood for alignment?
I have in my mind....supporting the front from the floor and pull the pipe out. As long as supported well, this should work (?)
One wing really doesn't require the hood to be aligned. Also doing the front end doesn't require the rotisserie. So technically the pipe isn't in the way when fitting a new front end.
The van will be staying on the rotis as long as possible. I'll not be fitting the frames until body is done
Quote from: 94touring on January 07, 2016, 09:32:10 PM
Quote from: Spitz on January 07, 2016, 09:13:21 PM
I had to stall on mine until spring.
If and when I remove a wing to replace....how does one fit the hood for alignment?
I have in my mind....supporting the front from the floor and pull the pipe out. As long as supported well, this should work (?)
One wing really doesn't require the hood to be aligned. Also doing the front end doesn't require the rotisserie. So technically the pipe isn't in the way when fitting a new front end.
I will have to disagree with dan on this one, as not all fenders are created equal, especially Heritage stuff, the mk1 LH fits like poo, and the RH one snaps into place. I advise everyone fitting fenders to install the bonnet and the front sub frame supported just under the towers. Can be the difference between perfect gaps, and rubbing.
I am g
Why does the sub need to be in place?
To align your front end panel. However imo if you're just doing a spot panel replacement, there's no need as nothing is shifting.