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Rotisseries / dollies - pros / cons / recommendations?


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They really don’t need to be very complicated.  Braked swivel castors are a must and although mine is made from fairly heavy steel, you will get away quite easily with 40mm box section, for example.  I used what I had to hand, although I could turn a Scania over on it.  The key bit, perhaps obviously, is to get the pivot point correct.  Both of my frames are exactly the same, with a secondary frame fitted to each that picks up on decent mounting points on the car.

I would advise welding something across the door apertures as a brace, depending on what the chassis is and what state it is in.  The shell in the pictures obviously has a cage in that negates the need, but in the absence of that, or a very strong structure, it will save you some heartache.  The shell went from my place to the Bodyshop for paint on that spit and returned on it as well.

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By the way, I put the castors on after those photos were taken 😉

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I’m using a combination of scissor lift and rotisserie for my 914 - between the two of these I can access all areas and work at decent angle for welding etc. I’m only just starting to work in the underside but it’s already a massive improvement over working upside down. I wouldn’t do another bare shell restoration without either the lift or the rotisserie.

As above I’ve braced the door openings well due the strain on the shell from holding it by the bumper mounts.

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I used one of the cheap ebay kits ,make your own mounts to fit and you’re away.

makes life a lot easier when working alone ,turn over to tack and then back over to seam weld,easier to dress of the welds without sparks all over you as well.

made a dolly to go to paint and move around the garage,then sold on to another iber on here for his project ,so recouped the cost ,would not do another full strip without either first.

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4 hours ago, jevvy said:

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Nice bracing ;)

Cheers 👍 They’re all blue now too 🤓

Its been interesting to see how much the chassis flexes on the rotisserie. With a single door brace each side the gap between windscreen frame and targa hoop decreased by 1mm when I put the car on the jig. When I rotated the car upside down the same gap increased by nearly 1.5mm, so around 2.5mm total flex. 
With the long diagonal braces added the total flex is now about 1mm from right way up to upside down. I feel more comfortable attacking the underside now without any risk of bending the car!

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