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| Alphie goes belly-up for rusticle surgery |
Page Nine: Alphie on a Spit!
- To get the body panel gaps even, I'll need to mount and secure the doors.
- To mount and secure the doors, I'll need to replace the inner rocker panels to rigiditify (my new word) Alphie’s bod.
- To replace the inner rocker panels, I'll need easy access to Alphie’s tummy.·
- To get to Alphie’s tummy, I'll need her on a rotisserie.
- To get Alphie on the rotisserie, I'll have to cut and modify two Harbor Freight engine stands
- To mount Alphie to the HF engine stand rotisserie, I'll have to replace the frame rail tips where the front bumper mounts... one thing leads to another!
Therefore, I conclude, that I shouldn’t cut-off any Sunbeam noses just yet!
Oh, I built a rotisserie! BUT, as with everything concerning Alphie, spinning
her on a spit turned out to be more difficult than I thought.
Problem #1 – I Need a
Coupla Inches: The engine stands are
too short. In order to rotate the body
90 degrees, the engine stands need to be taller than half the width of the
car. After much measuring, I need them
to be at least 34 inches from the stand’s mounting plate to its bottom rail.
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| The engine stand upright (cut) with the 2X4 rectangular stock that get it to 34" (or close enough) |
A friend who manufactures laser cutting machines, gave me a
length of 2X4 rectangular mild steel tube stock that fits over the post of the engine stand,
meaning the post will fit inside the rectangular stock. First, I had to cut the engine stand post in
half. Next, I inserted the engine stand
upright inside the rectangular stock and laid it out on the bench. I expanded the post/rectangular stock until
the bottom edge of the mounting plate receiver was 35.5 inches from the top of
the bottom of the post where the perpendicular beam meets the post.
Thirty-five
and a half inches turned out to be the magic number that will allow Alphie to
rotate 90 degrees without banging into the legs of the stands. I can work and weld her rusty underbelly
without having to muck about on the floor.
Fun fact, welding upside down SUCKS!
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| Close up shows the angle adjustment screws |
I have never worked on a restoration without having to
scooch under and out-from-under a car thousands of times. I’m looking forward to NOT doing that!
Problem #2: - I Need
a Few Degrees: Engine stands tilt
the engine mounting plate back slightly; I assume to keep it from sliding off
the stand. The receiver on the top of
the post where the mounting plate attaches is not at a right angle to the
post. When you press engine stands into
service as a car rotisserie, the mounting plate must be perpendicular to the
car’s center line.
In other words, I need
to tilt the receiver and mounting plate down a couple of degrees to level them.
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| Not bad. We call that Bonehead Level |
My solution is to mount the upper section of the post (the
section with the mounting plate receiver) up against the inside of the
rectangular stock so that it is locked in-line with the rectangular stock. (See the pictures; it will help you follow
this discussion immensely!) I placed the
lower post section in the middle of the rectangular stock to give me some
movement where I can adjust the angle of the mounting plate.
I drilled holes and welded three nuts on the sides of the
rectangular plate so that I can adjust the angle of the mounting plates. The bottom two cap screws give me some
fine-tuning and lock the angle. (I added
the cap screw just below the mounting plate receiver for adjustment to eliminate some
movement. I only want movement that I
plan for.) Again, check out the pics.
Problem #3 – I Need a
Wider Stance: The width between the
engine stand’s wheels is too narrow. I
don’t want Alphie pitching over when I rotate her on the rotisserie.
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| Extra stance and racing tires |
Sub-Problem: I also need to be able to roll the whole kit
and caboodle around the garage, so I need some decent wheels. The little metal casters that come with the
stand just don’t pass muster. I bought
some 6” pneumatic casters from our patron saint, Harbor Freight.
I mounted the engine stand post to a 5-foot section of 4X4
and mounted the pneumatic casters to the 4X4.
Plenty of stance with plenty of wheel for rolling about!
Problem #4 – I Need a
Connection: I watched a few Engine Stand to Rotisserie Conversion
videos, and I noticed a situation. In
the one video, a guy using the same HF engine stands I’m using had each stand
holding up its end of the car independently of the other stand. It looked to me that if he tried to roll the
car on the rotisserie – or move the car
on any axis, for that matter - the engine stands would separate from each other
and drop the car, mashing the car and any hapless soul who happened to be near
it at the time.
I need to connect the engine stands, front to back, so that
the whole contraption moves as one piece.
Enter another a length of 2X6 - I had a twelve foot one taking up WAY too
much room in my shed. Instead of
mounting the supplied rotating caster on the front leg of the engine stand, I
mounted the front legs of each stand to a 2X6 to set a fixed distance from each
other. I mounted a fifth pneumatic
caster in the middle of the 2X6 to prevent the whole thing from sagging in the
middle.
Problem #5 – I Need
Better Mounts: Alphie has had
surgery before… It seems that someone in
the Alphie’s past welded nuts on the end of her front frame rails where the
front bumper mounts. The angry studs
that protrude like British dentistry from the frame tips threaten to tetanize
(it’s a word, I Googled it) anyone walking past. The studs are scary, rusted, stripped, and
they’re too short.
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| Ahhh! |
I mounted the stand’s mounting plate to a 2X6, which I then fitted
to Alphie using the shiny new bumper attachment points. For all this mounting to happen, I added
longer bolts (actually, they are pieces of ½” all thread) than the studs
currently poking out of Alphie’s smile.
Sub-Problem – Shiny New Frame Rail Tips: The frame tips where the front bumper mounts
are “perished;” I need new ones! (See
the blog post, FIRST FABRICATION, about making new ones.)
I love the smell of mig welding in the morning!
Problem #6 – Trimming
the Fat: Alphie needs to be at her
lightest when she twirls. I stripped
everything down to her shell – nothing on the firewall, interior or
underbelly. I removed all manner of
parts tossed in her boot and interior, all of which went to my secret storage hidey-hole. Nothing is piled under the car… yet, more of
a challenge that it sounds.
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| Going Up! |
Problem #7 – Hoisting
Her: Once stripped to her
knickers, I hoisted her high enough for receivers to meet mounting plates.
My engine cherry picker handled her front end
and my chain hoist mounted on a substantial I-beam that my house builder so thoughtfully
included in my garage. He added it to
keep the attic above the garage, you know, actually above the garage. I use it to lift various kinds of heavy kit
off the floor, including Alphie, smashing!
All Mounted Up!
She’s finally spitted on her rotisserie!
At first, I thought I had her too high. I feared that she would hit the garage door
when I spun her. I thought of several
ways to drop a couple of inches – each idea required a good deal of
re-engineering and a bit fiddly. Then I
thought, may as well give it a whirl (snort!:)
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| This angle shows how the rotisserie works |
I took out the pins that keep the mounting plates from
spinning inside their receivers, and she sat peacefully on her center line. Then I nudged the handle on the front
mounting plate just a smidge and Alphie rolled belly-up all on her own. Seems she’s a bit top-heavy, not exactly
balanced.
I could slow her roll so she’s
somewhat balanced but she is too heavy for to stop her from rolling, much less
rotate her back the other way.
If she had been less balanced, the let’s-give-it-a-whirl” idea could have been much scarier. It’s better to be lucky, especially if you’re not that good.
Note: Use the I-beam chain hoist to manage the roll
in the future. Cars are heavy, turns
out.
Next up: Serious Surgery!
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| Now I can get to work! I couldn't fix all this laying on the ground! |
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| Oh, I have a grinder, two in fact! There is good metal in there. |
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