Should I put my Tiger on a Rotisserie?

Would a Rotisserie just be Crazy?

  • Not crazy do the Rotisserie

    Votes: 4 66.7%

  • Yes crazy and unnecessary, don't do it

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Total voters
    6
  • Poll closed .
F

Ford_Crazy

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Messages
39
I have my Tiger down to a naked body shell. I've started stripping the paint and undercoating and so far the metal work is good and the body and sub-frame are solid. It's had some metal work in the past, but all looks decent. I've been working with a friend that is a welder to possibly build a rotisserie for the body. My paint and body guy says they really strain the body and that he wouldn't do it unless the car is totally cross braced between the doors and the sills. He says he has seen some cars totally ruined on a rotisserie. I'm OK with lying on my back and so far I don't see any problems around the sub-frame or rear spring hangers. My car is going to be a driver not a show car, but I would like to do a nice job on it. Should I turn it over?
 
T

Tiger tamer

Gold forum user
Messages
318
I have my Tiger on a rotisserie. It gives a good clear area to work on under the car and also means you can move the car around. The panel beater has the car braced accross both doors and most of the time axle stands under the car for support.

005.jpg


On occasions he has had it on a slight angle and I asked him why he has never had it on its side and he said he would not want to put it on its side. To much strain on the body and most of the time he needs it nice and level.


102.jpg


So I am somewhere inbetween in the poll
 
F

Ford_Crazy

Bronze forum user
Messages
39
My welder called me this morning and gave me his estimate. He is a professional and very experienced. I have used him before and he has done a great job for me on previous projects. He does extra work on the side from his home garage. He says he can build a rolling platform/rotisserie for about $350 plus another $50 to cross brace the door sills. I am sure I can get the whole job done for under $500. This would be nice as I should be able to roll the shell out of my garage and use a blaster on the undercarriage without blowing media all over the garage. I think I'm going to give this a try. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
0neoffive

0neoffive

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rotary support

One of the better ways to handle a fragile "Beam" is to use the X-member bolt holes and rear spring mounts by having the rotary arms reach under the car. But still make it a habit to check the door gaps 20-30 times a day or more. Those fragile uni-bodies will move around with every new cut & weld.
 
michael-king

michael-king

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Randy, i think it was scott woerth (sp?) who was selling his rotisserie about 2 years back, his attached to the underside of the car and pivoted around the centre line, seems quite similar to your setup.

Given the rear spring hangers on the tigers are often a weak spot after rust/cracking do you repair them first before mounting the car? Do you brace between the doors? it's my understanding that unless the car is held apart during the process of welding new sills/floors its possible to install them with the car bowing.
 
6

65beam

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1,834
tiger resto

if you go to my photo bucket site you'll find several photos of my alpine in a rack. the car is fastened to the rack at the front cross member mounting holes and also the rear shock mounting holes. the way the rack is built in a octagon shape allows you to roll the car over on it's side, upside down or at angles. one man can roll it. the car remains stationary with no sag regardless of what cutting you do. http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt142/65beam/
 
0neoffive

0neoffive

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Attaching to rust, securely??

QUOTE: "Given the rear spring hangers on the tigers are often a weak spot after rust/cracking do you repair them first before mounting the car? Do you brace between the doors? it's my understanding that unless the car is held apart during the process of welding new sills/floors its possible to install them with the car bowing. "
Most often we have to find a spot or repair a place to grab the wee beast with the rotary. When Tom P's MK II was here, the cancer was so awful I had to "turtle" it upside down on shimmed floor rollers to build enough structure and make it safe enough to hang & twirl. Tom was very patient and trusting, thank you . . . . . .
 
F

Ford_Crazy

Bronze forum user
Messages
39
My rotisserie is under construction and should be done within a week. We are mounting the car from the front and rear bumper bolts with additional bar stock running into the jack holes. We are also bracing the door sills from the hinge mounts to the lock plates with an X between the doors. The rotisserie will also be a rolling cradle, which will allow me to work on the car outside instead of messing up my garage. We should be able to have the whole thing built including labor for under $500. The car shell is very light. I can easily pick up one end of it myself. I'll post pics when the car is mounted.
 
0neoffive

0neoffive

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Rotary Brackets

Attached photo is of our rotary mount sytem once we have made sure that the jack points and bumper mounts are solid enough to use.
 
6

65beam

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rotisserie

randy,
what do you do if you have frame rail rust or X frame rust? that seems to be a common problem in this part of the country. wouldn't you have to repair that before mounting on the rotisserie? did you ever see the racks that doug jennings built many years ago? a couple of my cars have been in them over the years and it seems to work quite well at holding the body in place allowing structural repairs to be done with no sag of the body or bracing of the body.
 
0neoffive

0neoffive

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Rotary Cautions

"what do you do if you have frame rail rust or X frame rust"?
See previous posts. We've attacked the X-frame problem enough times to have our own barnyard solutions. Obviously these structures and rails are addressed before trusting the car on the spin cycle. One of the better "racks" I've seen used was Rob Martels a few years ago that held all the major (and minor) points of the tin in correct locations while allowing open access to cut & weld. Somewhere in the archives, I've got a photo of it.
 
6

65beam

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rotisserie

randy,
i asked these questions since i watched doug jennings use his various racks over the years and it seems to me that there was much better support of the body. he had racks that bolt thru the rear shock holes and to the front crossmember bolt holes. a couple of my cars have been in his racks over the years and i saw that the body was very stable and they allowed him to do a lot of different work while the car was in the rack. do you have to put bracing in the door openings at some stage to prevent sag? just curious.
 
0neoffive

0neoffive

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Keep things together

We all have our little bracing tricks that depend a lot upon how and where the uni-body is wounded or must be cut. Even when I know for a fact that the car is supported and held in the perfect shape, we still constantly put the doors in and out to keep an eye on those gaps. Two other dimensions to keep checking is to keep measuring the distance from the windscreen bolt hole in front of the defrost vent to the center of both rear deck boot hinge holes. I sometimes make an X-brace that bolts thru these locations when the car is upside down to keep it from spreading. Another barnyard optics correction is to keep a builder's chalkline handy most often when moving fenders around, BECAUSE, those narrow chrome strips from front to rear thru the "Tiger" script are supposed to be a straight line. Next time your at a show, notice how many sag or bow . . . . . .
 
6

65beam

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1,834
rotisserie

randy,
i agree on the demensions you're talking about. the racks that doug built seem to have kept the car secure once he had the body bolted in. doug always kept a six foot level on hand to check some other things. he also had measuring instruments to check the distance from a center point on the bulk head to the bolt hole tubes on the front frame rails. everyone that has spent time working on these cars has developed their own way of doing it based on what works for them. it just seems that every rust free west coast car i have given him to work on has always been twisted and bent some way. too bad he retired. i have another car that needs final body work and paint.
 
F

Ford_Crazy

Bronze forum user
Messages
39
Up in the air...

My welder finished the custom rotisserie this morning and we mounted the body. Man, this is the way to go! The Tiger body shell was so light we lifted it on the rack by hand. I'm really glad I did this as I can see the car needs more work on the bottom than I thought. Nothing major, but the front leaf spring mounts are cracked as I suspected. Here's the link: http://www.lakefrontflorida.com/tiger/rotisserie1.html
 
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