? on 61 put it on a Jig

[Va348]

Getting ready to put 61 body on a Rosttette or jig, Does anyone know what is about Centel Line of body so I can turn it easy. As most of the time I work by my self, And I need it to roll easy. Its just the body .



Dale

[real61ss]

Va348,
I had my body on the jig, I think I mounted it so the spindel was just below the cowl. It still wasn't centered but I didn't have a problem turning it. I work alone also so I know what you mean. I borrowed a rosttette (I can't spell that word) that was designed for a Mustang. I welded two arms using some 2"x3" square tubing to the rear mounting plate of the jig, these arms ran from the rear up to the body mounts that are over the rear wheels. If you are doing a bubbletop, it will really sag if you don't support it under the center of the body, not as bad as a convertible but it will need to be supported or you may wrinkle the top.

[bubbletop61]

Tommy
I know how good you were about taking pictures along the way as you did this car, do you happen to have one of the 61 BBTP in the rotisserie? Or at least a PIC of the 2x3 square tube support you made up? Was this the center support that you referred to in your post, or did you use additional bracing around the rocker sections? Did you have to cross brace the door openings in any way, for rigidity? When you said you put the pivot point at the cowl, was this at the top of the cowl, or at the top the arch over the bell housing area?
How high above the floor was the pivot point, if you recall?
I'll be right into designing a rotisserie here in the next few weeks, so any detail you could send our way would be most appreciated... as always. :bow
Merci
BBTP61

[Va348]

Thanks Tommy

I am going to use 2 by 3 in tubing from Front to rear, Hope it does not sag. put stands on tubing to leave me about a foot from foord pans. Then bolt that to Jig.
Do you think that will Work? I do not have any rust in rockers or floors. I am going to bolt stand to front body mt. and over rear end mt.

On spelling Roseterrie I Can not spell at all! not just that word.


Thanks Tommy for help.

Dale

[real61ss]

Merci,
I took pictures but that was before I had a digital camera. I'll look through them and see what I can come up with.
348,
The jig that I borrowed was a factory made jig for a Mustang but I only had to change a few things to make it work. It was like 2 big motor stands (not connected together) which is why I had to support the body in the middle. I attached the front stand to the front body mounts on the firewall. The rear stand was attached to the rear mounts at the back of the trunk. Then I ran the 2"x3" tubing under the car body up to the center of where the rear end or third member would be, there is a body mount at this point, I welded some tubing vertical from the 2"x3" tubing up to the mounts and tack welded it to the body. After I completed the work on the body, painting and everything, I cut these welds and removed it from the jig. I just had 2 small areas to grind and paint then. I did not use any braces in the doors or under the rockers but they would work I guess. I'll see if I can find some pictures, might get somebody to scan them in so I could post them. The car probably sagged 3/8" at the most, maybe not that much. That was on my white car, I had to replace some floor boards and the jig really made it easier. I'm not that good at welding so being able to turn the thing so you could always weld flat makes a big difference.

[59fins]

http://community.webshots.com/s/image5/4/88/78/71848878IPBugP_ph.jpg

see if this might help, although it is a 59

[real61ss]

348 & Merci,
I dug up these old pictures, took a picture of them with my digital camera. Maybe you can get an idea of what I did.

[bubbletop61]

Tommy and Bill;
Bill ,
I couldn't access the pics through the link, it says I don't have access on this server???? :cry

Tommy,
Do you think it would be rigid enough if the jig were attached to the front firewall mounts, the mounts up ahead of the trunk, and the rear most mounts,
and the posts were connected front to back down at the floor. Like this it would be a complete rectangle, with the body forming one side. The upright posts would have to be quite rigid to combat the body sagging in the middle, because if it sagged the two posts would get pulled closer together.

When you say you did all the paint before it came out of the rotisserie, do you mean only the bottom or the complete car? Did you 2x3 tubes run the full length of the underside or only up to the point where you welded them on to the floor PAN? Did you have your rig on wheels so the body could be moved in and out of the shop for blasting etc? :cheers
Cheers
Gar

[bubbletop61]

Merci Tommy;
I was writing as you were posting, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. I figured you would have to have the pivot point up higher than the mounts themselves in the front other wise it would be very dangerous when the body moved over the fulcrum, it would whip out of control. Thanks for going to the trouble to scan these in, you have been so helpful to me on so many occasions.
For everybody out there who doesn't already know,
Tommy is :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:
:bow :bow :bow
Bienvenue61

[real61ss]

Bubbletop,
Thanks, I'm glad to help. Actually, I don't have a scanner, I took pictures of the pictures using the digital camera, then resized and cropped them. I didn't know if that would work but it did.
:cheers

[real61ss]

Well, I didn't read all of your questions. Yes, I painted the entire body and color sanded and buffed it out while it was still on the jig. Got to be careful removing it but I didn't have a problem. It's easier to get a nice finish on the under side of the rocker panels etc.
Yes, it would make a BIG difference if the 2 stands were connected together. As it was, I could roll it around in the shop but had to be really careful.
As you see in the pictures, it wasn't centered as go as it should have been, it got pretty heavy when you turned it upside down, just had to be careful and go slow.
The 2"x3" tubes only went from the rear up to the mounts over the rear end.
I hope that answers your questions but don't hesitate to ask if you think of something else.
I'm gona be off the computor for a few hours, working on cleaning the black 61, getting ready to go to the Charlotte Auto Fair.

[59fins]

I painted mine on the rotissore and and buffed it, click on my link in my signature shows my process hopefully it will work

[bubbletop61]

Thanks 59fins. I tried to open up the webshots, but it still won't work. I would love to see these pics if thewre is another way to get them to us? :)
BBTP61

[59fins]

http://community.webshots.com/user/59fins

try this??????

[2obnxs]

Bill,

Holy cow, that looks beautiful! Great job!

[2obnxs]

BTW, I would have been much more articulate but I couldn't stop drooling after looking at all those pictures.

[bubbletop61]

Bill;
You've obviously done this before, I can tell from the masking being done so neatly...The job is exceptional, and your portfolio presentation is super on webshots. I have to learn how to do this. On your rotiss....did the car rotate easily or did it become very heavy as the body was swung out to the sides, in order to get the floor vertical. Did you have pins to lock the spit in place?
How high are the centers of the pivots above the floor? How long were the cross legs on the uprights to keep the car from tipping the rotiss...when the body was swung out to the sides? I guess you rolled the car outside to blast the floor? Were those pillow block bearings you used for the pivots or are they just ubolts or some such? Did you just metal prep the trunk floor before priming?
I see you had the front and rear supports connected...was this only one length of tubing down the middle?

Thanks for the super pics
BBTP61

[jim_ss409]

Bill, that car looks spectacular!!! :cheers

[59fins]

Thanks for your kind words, any time I can help, it is my pleasure, ...
Webshots.com is free, just sign up and start uploading pics, I know there are several free picture sites, cardomain.com picturetrail.com etc

The rotessiorre (sp) was a borrowed unit, my first car to use a rotessiorre for
and man was it nice, I guessed at the centerline and could of went a few more inches down (body higher) the reason, I could turn the car over but had to use leverage from my body weight to turn it on it's side, center of the pivots I do not know as I returned the unit, 4 ft I would guess.

same with the cross legs guess 3 to 3.5 ft on each side, and you shoud have a bar that connects the two ends so they do not start walking on you, the unit I used was an overkill unit, but was worth it, I always was comfortable with it.

it does have sealed type bearings which made it real nice to turn to any position, nothing like working on the lower qtr standing there vs lying on my back, same with the floor, turn the car on it's side and stand there and work on it, by the way I covered the car with a very large piece of plastic, wore a paint mask and used a bright light and sand blasted right there in my garage worked great, as the rotessiorre did not have wheels on it.

One question you asked did I have pins to lock it in place? if I read this right, I had a bolt on each end so I could hold the car at 10 o'clock or 6 o'clock

The car spun pretty easy, but if it were on it's side and just let it go (which I would NOT suggest) you best get out of the way, as I mentioned earlier it could swing down to the "driven" position (as if you were driving it) the momentum would make it like a pendulum (sp)

The floor pan I had on the bottom, after I sand blasted it I used metal prep from POR-15, the brushed a coat of POR-15 and while it was still wet I sprayed a piss coat on DP 75 (RED dp primer) once the that flashed I sprayed another coat of DP, then clear coated it, I am planning on driving this car so I did what I thought it was best done this way, I also sealed any seams with 3M 2 part flow seam sealer between the DP coats.

I hope this answers any questions and again, all I can do is tell what I have done

One word of advice is, if you have any rocker replacement to do, do it before you take the car off the frame, make sure your doors fit with the new rockers, then it woould be ok to take it off the frame, you can do final welding and stuff once it is on the rack

Again thanks for the kind words

[jim_ss409]

The pivots on my rotissore are about 47" off the ground and the car has about 3 or 4" of ground clearance. My body is attached strait off of the mounts and it is quite top heavy. It got even worse when I spaced it up an inch or two for painting but I could still turn it myself. If I was to guess about the best setup I would say that the pivot point should be about 5" above the body mount at the front and about 4" above the body mount at the rear. By the way I had braces tack welded across the door openings but I removed them for painting and the car didn't break in half. :eek: I just rolled the car out this afternoon to get a few pictures I'll try to post one.

[jim_ss409]

Here it is, I hope.

[LongIsland63SS409]

Great job!

Nice pictures!

Good luck with your project.

Mike