Car rotisserie/spit worries Eunos

[Lshore]

Hi Everyone

I pretty much have my mk1 Eunos/Mx5 to bare shell - just got the fuel tank to remove. I'm wanting to create a roll over jig/rotisserie to help me remove all the OEM undercoating & tidy up any rusty bits. Car is in good condition and is solid, but i want to repair the frame rails (where some silly people/s have used them to jack the car up) whilst im under there before i apply all nice new undercoating. My worry is working on the frame rails whilst the car is on the jig & whether the car is going to twist and bend...

I'm hoping that because its a small car & a bare shell, i shouldnt be worried. That i should be able to repair away and the rest of the car will keep still providing i only do one frame rail at a time.

OR should i be worried as its a convertable and already have less structure than normal & i should be doing something different?


Please help

Thanks in advance!
Luke

[droopsnoot]

Normally when you see convertibles on these rotisserie devices, there are braces welded across the top of the door shuts to stop it folding up in the middle. Is it one that goes on the bumper mountings, or on the hubs?

[NDNDNDND]

My understanding is those 'frame rails' aren't particularly structural - I've even heard it said they're only there to stop the floor plan from drumming!

Harness bars can be bought that bolt to the seatbelt towers, which might be an easier way of reinforcing the top of the shell. Mk1 1.8s came with a brace here as standard.

[newsatten]

As long as you dont cut out floor and sill's nothing will move,
you only need to brace if the shell will be compromised.........................

Enjoy

[arn22110]

How will you be removing the under seal? Interested to know as I have a project to which I will be doing the same

[Keep it stiff]

A few years ago I purchased a spit/rotating frame for a restoration and it worked fine. I later sold it and got my money back. It certainly makes things a whole lot easier. The frame I used did not lift the car high enough to do a complete 360 but this did not matter as it was easier to work on the underside with the car side on. My use was for a saloon, I do agree with the earlier post, for a convertible I would be inclined to tack in a couple of braces.

[NDNDNDND]

If you're not 100% concerned with originality, you might want to look at fitting butterfly brace. I have one fitted to my car and it makes a huge amount of difference. It does say they shouldn't be used instead of chassis rail repair, but the body shop that fitted mine simply 'gently massaged' the existing rails into shape and then bolted the butterfly over the top.

Strongly recommended if you're intending to run uprated springs.

[Lotobear]

I had an Alfa Spider S2 until last year.

The most instructive demonstration of the 'floppiness' of a drop head car was when I put it on the 2 post lift - the door gaps were decent and it was in good structural shape (even for an old Alfa) but you could get you fingers into the tops of the door gaps when it was raised on the lift and the doors would not open until you dropped it back onto the wheels.

I had a Eunos once and seem to recall a similar effect - the scuttle shake was probably worse in the Alfa though.

[Peter3442]

I don't know much about these cars, but, in general, I'd prefer to do most frame/structural work with the body carefully supported on stands. Keep the doors on as long as possible and adjust the stands so the body is square, the door and other panel gaps are even and the doors open and close nicely. Make some suitable framing to keep the body straight: for a convertible that means some bracing across the door opening. Once the main structural work is done and you are sure of the structural integrity, you can move the body on to the rotisserie. If you really have to do structural work with the body on the rotisserie, then still go through the levelling and adjusting of gaps process and build a very stiff frame to hold the body rigid before putting it on the rotisserie.

[droopsnoot]

arn22110 said:

How will you be removing the under seal? Interested to know as I have a project to which I will be doing the same

I used a hot air gun to soften it on my Vauxhall project, but that didn't work so well on my Audi as the covering is more rubberised on the Audi. I'm using an old wood chisel to scrape it off the Audi.