TR2/3/3A TR3 rotisserie or body buck questions

[luke44]

As I move into the next phase of my restoration, I was wondering how to go about the prep and paint of the underside of the car. Does anyone have plans for a dolly or body buck or rotisserie to flip the car over on? Or is it as simple as sitting the tub on a pair of saw horses and painting by shooting from the floor up? What if you want to pick the tub up? Has anyone made up a sling or something? Do you rig up braces that fit in the door openings to pick it up or....or am I thinking too hard and making this too complicated :confuse:? I'm sure I'm not the first guy to go through this on this forum.

Thanks in advance,

 

[jsfbond]

The rig I bolted together for my GT6 was out of perferated angle stock. The front body mounts were used to make an adapter to hold a through pipe, that it all pivoted on(also bolted through the access hole for the rear spring).
I'm not sure I have any good pictures of the rig, look at the pix for my car it shows it a little. To flip it over, I had to unbolt the bottom frame from this ctr. pipe, roll the body with an overhead chain, and lower it back onto the frame. I did all the underside work first, including paint. When it came to painting the body this allowed me to roll one side or the other to paint the rockers with just a little bending.

 

[PatGalvin]

I bought two 1,000 lb engine stands from Harbor Freight and rigged up a poor man's rotisserie for both the body and the frame. Takes a little bit of welding but probably cost me $150 - $200 total. It worked fine for such a light car body and light frame. Allowed me to flip the tub for welding underneath (saved me from many pock marks on my body from errant sparks, welding upside down). The frame was also easy to paint by rotating it on the rotisserie. I haven't painted the body yet but it will be very helpful then too. It is nice building the front suspension standing up and not on my hands and knees. I can post photos this evening if helpful. I did have to make the engine stands taller by adding about 14 inches of steel to them.

pat

 

[luke44]

Hi Pat - can I get a picture? Pleaseeee? Mainly I am interested in the attachment method to the tub...

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Pat,

Would love to see some photos as well as I am at the point where I have concentrated all my efforts now on the body.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd

 

[PatGalvin]

Check these out and then send me your questions.
Here is an album link to get to my photos of the twirler.

https://pbckt.com/s1.NOn

And a few photos for your enjoyment.

Pat

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Was the addition to the the stands to give you needed height, change the angle of the mounting arms or both?

 

[PatGalvin]

I needed the additional height to be able to twirl.

Then, after I had it all welded, I realized I also needed to change the angle to be perpendicular to the ground so I made a 2nd cut and reweld. Sort of a Frankenstein job, but it works fine for my simple purpose.

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Excellent Pat,

Thanks for the photos.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd

 

[Don Elliott]

That's all to complicated. Think of the time you will have to spend to make a rotisserie when you can do what we did with two guys and a rolling dolly.

 

[luke44]

Hi Don - I agree with you - I really like the simplicity aspect of how you approached it - do you have any pictures of the top side? How is the rolling dolly made? How much do you estimate the tub weighs? 4 guys to lift it?

Wouldn't this set up potentially dent the body work or ?...

 

[luke44]

Hi pat - I did study your pix in detail and the rotisserie looks good. But I think in my case I don't need something that sophisticated. I don't have any sheet metal work to do - I am really just trying to set up so my painter can access the underside as much as anything.

The more I thought about it, I began to wonder about simply bolting 2 long pieces - say 96" - of 2" x2" channel to the frame mounts. And then tilt the whole thing up to about a 15 degree angle. And then set braces at a 45 - I drew a sketch to illustrate - see below. Not fancy, but I think it will work. As well, I could use say a 5' length to pick up the tub and move it around, set it on saw horses etc.

Does anyone see any flaw in my thinking or see any possible problems with the approach? I am thinking to put a cross brace accross the door openings to stiffen this up, but otherwise, quite simple. Or am I missing something obvious? Thoughts? Comments? Thanks in advance.

 

[Gliderman8]

Here's what I did with two sheets of plywood and some 2x4's....

 

[Don Elliott]

Luke - There were no dents as a result of flipping it by hand. The dolly is what you might use to move a refrigerator or a sofa. The 2 by 6s were bolted to the dolly to widen it. We laid old carpet bits on the 2 by 6s and bent the carpet over the edges and tack them onto the wood to prevent scratching. We placed briks behind the wheels to keep the whole thing from rolling down thew sloped driveway. And at night we could roll it back inside.

Two people can easily lift and flip a TR3A tub.

 

[Don Elliott]

And this is how we took it to the paint shop and later when it was done. Four of us could easily lift it up there even with all the panels and fenders installed.

 

[Twosheds]

Thoughts? Comments? Thanks in advance.

From your drawing, it looks to me like it might tip over to the side (the right side in your drawing) with a slight nudge.

 

[luke44]

Hi Don - do you by chance have a close up of the door braces? Are they just welded to the inner sheet metal? If so, I assume you just ground down the weld when you were done and of course it then gets covered. Correct?

Final question - was the car in "balance" front to back with the 2 x 4"s placed where you show them? I was thinking to use the body mount points inside the tub. It looks like your rear 2x4 is just under the car - not at a mouning point. Looks front heavy to me. But then again I'm guessing from your pic if I use the tub mount points I may be rear heavy.

 

[TR4nut]

Not to steal from Don's response here, but I've done something similar and didn't weld anything. Using some Home Depot supplied angle bracket, I tied into the upper a post door mount in the front, and the hood stick mount in the rear for my bracing. Seems to be working so far.

 

[luke44]

Hi Randy - thanks. So simple and obvious. I'm on it this weekend!

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

Randy,

Can you post some more pictures of you "cart".