Rollover/Rotisserie

[IanT]

Hi everyone 

I am after a bit of advice please before I dive in. I intend to take the body off a Spitfire 1500 because it needs lots of work, especially sills, floor pans and arches. May I ask please your thoughts on the following:

Are rollover/rotisserie type jigs worth it. 

Is there any inherent dangers of distortion etc in using one, obviously I would brace the door gaps. 

Would it be just as easy to put the body on a raised platform and just flip it over as required. 

Cheers

Ian

[Clive]

You need to do the structural stuff while it is on the chassis. A local has his spitfire on a rotisserie, but complete with chassis so keeping everything as it should be. Door gaps do indeed need bracing, but done so the doors can be trial fitted at each stage. Lastly, I believe a door gap done like this needs to be slightly too large at the top, so when the car is assembled the tub settles and closes it up a smidge. Others may be able to advise, I have only done sills when the car is fully built. 

When I did my floorpan repairs, I did take the body off the chassis and rolled it on its side. This allowed me to remove the underseal (hateful job) and carry out the required localised repairs.

There are ups and downs to a rotisserie. Ideally you want to borrow one, or buy a used one and sell on after. You probably won't want it cluttering up your garage space. The ups are that it makes flipping the car around safe and easy single handed.  

[IanT]

Clive

Thank you very much for this reply, it is extremely helpful, I did not realise that you could use a jig with the chassis on, and I totally get what you are saying about doing the structural stuff with the body on, it makes absolute sense. 

Thank you

Ian

[PeteH]

Hi

Home made version. Fabricated from parts of several Old Towing Bracket`s and redundant scafflolding :-

Pete

[IanT]

Thanks

Looks great, one thing I am getting is that it definitely looks like it will save the poor old back for most jobs chassis as well. 

Cheers

Ian

[AlanT]

I made mine out of wood and box section. Make sure it’s tied to the garage roof or wall when rolled so it can’t fall back.

[AlanT]

I made mine out of wood and box section. Make sure it’s tied to the garage roof or wall when rolled so it can’t fall back.

note: did sills whilst still on chassis:

[Mathew]

Its best to weld the sills on with the chassis.  If you dont you may have trouble. Chassis on for sills and then tack floors if you need. Then with some door braces use the tilter to weld the rest

[ed.h]

This is a TR6, but the idea is similar.  You can construct sort of a surrogate frame with most or all of the body mounting points in the right places.  Once the body is fastened down and dimensions are checked, the door braces can be removed.

Ed