Im going to be making a "body Jig" so I can roll the body of my 71 around while I replace the sheet metal. (not a rotissorie) I will need to replace the floor and trunck. Anyone have pics or ideas on how to mount the body to the jig? I want to keep it simple. I have bought 4 casters, and was thinking of making it out of 2" square tubbing. Any thoughts??:)

Thanks - Ron

On my web site, under body jig.

Rob

I know I will get flamed for this... But...

What I did to keep costs down, was, I went to Lowes and picked up a bunch of the fencing top rails (they are 1 1/2" round tubing) and built a jig out of them. Mine is a bit under engineered because I needed it to be able to be decomposible. It is strong, but it will flex alot. If I had the time/will power to add some bracing, I would. I only used four 10' poles (@ $8 each). You will have to have more bracing for it then if you used 2"x2" square tubing, but at less than $1 per foot, I couldn't argue.

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/cowl.jpg

Todd, if it works, thats all that counts, and it sounds like it worked just fine.:thumbsup: Give us some pictures.

And Bill, thats a mighty fine looking jig you have.:thumbsup:

Rob

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/cowl.jpg
YOUR WHEELS ARE BIGGER THAN MINE,:mad:

Bill, does that flip up on the side. Thought I saw on one of your pic's awhile back, that it rolled up on to one side. Giving access to the bottom, or was that the one ALSS has?

Bill, does that flip up on the side. Thought I saw on one of your pic's awhile back, that it rolled up on to one side. Giving access to the bottom, or was that the one ALSS has?

Yes Dave...The dolly is the same one Albert used on his Chevelles. He and a friend of ours made it 4 or 5 years ago. It seems to get passed around the neighborhood, for anyone who's crazy enough to do a complete frame off. I welded up the steel braces in this pic, to flip the car up on it's side,so I could blast and paint the bottom. It worked great, but was quite scary flipping it up, the first time... There's a street rod sitting on it now I believe.

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/body_jig.jpg

Cool, that's what I thought.

Man, your 71 make's me drool, that's my dream right there, a 1971 LS5. Just never was able to get into the dual headlight/square tail light thing. I wouldn't kick an LS6 outta my garage, but I might have to trade it in.

On my web site, under body jig.

Rob

I was wanting to make a jig, but now maybe a rotissorie. I thought of using two engine stands like you did, but didnt think it would be stable enough when rotating the body. How easy does it turn? Two man job? Does it stay it place when lock on its side? Im have to replace the floor (one piece floor pan, and trunck pan) Would it be easier with the jig or rotissorie? (I know I will have to brace the inner part of the body when doing the floor pans, to keep it square)

Thanks - Ron

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/cowl.jpg

This is what I was thinking about. Except my casters are smaller and I would have the body mounted high enough to work under the car. What size tubing is that? I like the idea of turning it on its side. That looks like it would work. I replace thr floor pans in my 72 Camaro. I did the finish welding on the bottom by sitting the body on its cowl and strapping it to a rafter. It worked really well.:yes:

Ron

Ron, heres what I found out, when i sandblasted the body, I was going at it pretty good, then decided to tip the body up a little, I grabbed a hold of it and it didn't want to move, all the sand in it, I thought we'll see here how good it is, so instead of blowing some of the sand out, I had to stand up on the front braces and bounce up and down to get it to move, finally I got it to roll over.

The next time I went to move it I blew some sand out of it, they really get heavy.

Anyway I weigh 180 lbs and it took all my weight to roll it over, and I can roll it over pretty easy, actually easy with out the sand in it.

So if you build one and it won't roll over easy by yourself, you will need two guys when you blast it, even after you blow a lot of the sand out of it.

You will get sand in the tubes of the rotisserie, and it will squeak a little when you turn it.

Even after you think you got the sand out, its still heavy.

After I got done and cleaned out I checked to see if the tubes pulled out any, and they never moved, thats what i found out.

I put all the sizes of the steel I used on my site, so don't go under any of this, anyway thats the story on it.

Rob

Something I forgot to mention, I only have a one man hook up for my supplied air, so keep that in mind if you are going to get some help turning it, you will get exposed to the sand dust when you turn it over, even after the dust has settled from blasting.

I use a hundred lb pressurized blaster, and it takes a long time to do it.

Would I do it again, yes, but its a lot of work.

Rob

As far as locking it into different positions when you rotate it, all those holes won't line up, so just use a chain like I have shown with the hooks, it works good.

Sometimes just tilting it a few inches can make a big difference when you reaching in and welding or grinding on the body.

Just build one or buy one, you'll really like it.

Rob

we just built a wooden dolly out of some 2x4's and threw on some caster wheels. works great.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/436000-436999/436436_12_full.jpg

You can make slip on legs for your cart so the tub can be flipped on it's side, we built one for my Son's car because the rotissery was in use on other projects, the cart works fine and takes up less room than the rotissery, with two people the tub flipped over just fine and loads for transport on a trialer easy. Check out the nova link in my sig. Bob

Well, thanks for all your guys imput! I think Im going to build a cart for now. The rotissorie would take up too much room for me.(I only have a 2 1/2 car garage)

Thanks again for your help! - Ron

Well, heres what I ended up building. I have $235.00 into it. Everything is new. I could have buildt it for less if I had some steel laying around, but I didnt.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/TT402LS1/S5000183.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/TT402LS1/S5000185.jpg

Ron

That looks like a good one Ron, I like the wheels, move it where you want to, good job.:thumbsup:

Rob

Ron, not bad for $235. I was looking to do the same for mine, I ended up borrowing a rotissorie last minute from a buddy that had just finished his chevelle. Just got it set up a couple weeks ago, I definitely feel spoiled with this around, now I can see ALL the RUST.:(
Here's mine, crappy pic, messy garage.

Kevin

Ron, not bad for $235. I was looking to do the same for mine, I ended up borrowing a rotissorie last minute from a buddy that had just finished his chevelle. Just got it set up a couple weeks ago, I definitely feel spoiled with this around, now I can see ALL the RUST.:(
Here's mine, crappy pic, messy garage.

Kevin

Boy, your spoiled rotten!:yes: LOL

Ron

I built a cart at first. Used that and then decided to build the rotissorie. I built the cart for about $100 and the rotissorie for about $300. I have pictures if anyone would like.

Jim

For the price I woul djust build a rotiserre. Not much more steel, you can put casters on it and roll it around and you can spin it over and over and upside down to get all the sand out of it after you blast it. You could probably even paint it on the rotiserre, but I wasn't brave enough, I painted the bottom of it though. I can't attach a picture, not a member, but if you would like some pictures email me. ewordal@sbceo.org

Jim, I would be interested in seeing your pics, I have this rotissorie for maybe 8 weeks and I may not be 100% to put on chassis so I really want to make a set up like what Ron has pictured and I'll take any ideas. The dollys are great for moving around the body with little effort. My floors and trunk sections are almost ready to weld up and hopefully sandblast remaining carcass next week. Have to post pics when more organized.

My buddy grabbed some pallet racking for me. I cut down one leg of a 10' upright into four 30" corner posts. Then modified two of the shorter shelf arms so they would bolt to the corner posts. They run under the cars front and mid mount points. The longer arms (4) needed no mods and run up each side of the car. I then welded a 5" caster to each post making it mobile. The rack is easily dissassembled, although heavy, and stacked out of the way.

This car is clean and painted underneath already - I bought it that way and have decided frame off is the way to go. Once the chassis is complete I can easily sit under the body and prep a few problems uncovered by removing the body - Mostly broken mount bolts / nut / cage issues.

Although a rotisserie would be nice too................ c:\car