Mounted to the rotisserie---question

[absintheisfun]

I have two questions...

1. Where is the center axis on a first gen camaro shell?


2. In the pic below, do you (the knowledgable welders out there) think that the 4 welds (two 1 inch welds on each side) holding the perforated square tube will hold when the car is spun?

It seems to me that it has 4 inches of welds when it is vertical...once it goes sideways, the welds will be under a completely different pressure. Should I weld on a couple of "L" brackes to the sides for added support?

[JMarsa]

I would not be concerned about the welds but the strength of the metal thats welded. It's too thin in my opinion.

--JMarsa

[absintheisfun]

I was concerned about all of the perforations, but several stress tests proved that the two perforated tubes are plenty strong (12 guage)

Considering its doubled up on itself throughout the whole of the shaft, its strengthened a little more than if it were on its own.

[toxicz28]

Do you have better pics of the welds? What did you weld with? My opinion, those welds do not look too good. I would not rotate this car yet!

[absintheisfun]

well...one doubter, plus me makes two. I think that I am going to get some added support.

I am a newbie welder, but I have done numerous stress tests on my welds--they may not be the prettiest out there, but they are pretty strong. My concern is that they are pretty strong under the vertical pressure...horizontal is an entirely different beast!

Any input on the roll center??

[scotzilla]

I just put a first gen on a rotisery and the back was mounted to the bumper suport brackets and the center was a few inchs above that- the front centerline was maybe 2/3 the way on the firwall- I was able to spin it myself

[Mathius]

Those welds do look a little scary from those pictures, but then again they say one good tack weld can hold 1000lbs or more.

I would try to brace it as much as possible and weld every surface I could. Unless you've got an engineering degree, or know someone who does, most of what we do is by experience, or guestimating. I don't know the amount of forces those welds will be under, so I would try to shoot for overkill.

I've seen really good welds laid down, a full bead even, but with no weld on the backside, if you apply force in the right direction, you can rip it right out by hand.

I've also personally eliminated good solid welds by merely taking a chisel to the surrounding parent materials.

Mathius

[jilge71]

i built my rotisserie out of 3\16 square tubing and mounted it to the sub frame mounts in the front and the rear spring hanger and my car spun easily... i think there are some pics on my camaro pt garage

[jilge71]

ill see if i can get a better pic of it

[indyjps]

I would not use that rotisserie. take a look at the size of the tubing used on the engine hoist sitting next to it, thats just for an engine.

you have one bolt (looks to be a hardware store variety) holding the rear brace to the rotisserie.

dont mean to be an ass but I would not risk it.

[skinnyboy67]

Those welds do look a little scary from those pictures, but then again they say one good tack weld can hold 1000lbs or more.

I would try to brace it as much as possible and weld every surface I could. Unless you've got an engineering degree, or know someone who does, most of what we do is by experience, or guestimating. I don't know the amount of forces those welds will be under, so I would try to shoot for overkill.

I've seen really good welds laid down, a full bead even, but with no weld on the backside, if you apply force in the right direction, you can rip it right out by hand.

I've also personally eliminated good solid welds by merely taking a chisel to the surrounding parent materials.

Mathius

I also would use grade 8 bolts to hold everything together...also triple check quality of welds those do look alittle weak.. I thought I had mine welded solid up and down both sides when I built mine...flipped it one night and the whole weld broke all the way around and dropped the car on the new qtr panel..
Thought I was a dumb-ass at the time but I just had a friend last week drop his camaro on its roof upside down from a weld breaking...I felt alittle better about my situation...better to overbuild.

[rubadub]

This might not help, but might give you an idea, you can see how I bolted mine on, I was worried about this 110 mig I have welding it to the thicker plate. And I'm not to sure about the quality of metal in these plates on the engine stands.

http://www.1969supersport.com/roto3.html

Rob

[absintheisfun]

wow...just checking through the site and noticed my old post got some recent attention--

I decided to go with "L" brackets and mount them to the perf tube and engine mount with grade8 hardware.

The car has been mounted and spun for a long time now--no problems.

It is now immobile-
I have built a body jig around the rotisserie, replaced the floor, trunk and rear tubs. (I have the passenger side tub left to do. As soon as this is finished, I will remove the body jig and start spinning again to access the new floors underneath.

I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that I will have the car on the ground by the end of the summer!!

[63SW]

Heres a couple pics of my rotisserie ...same plan , - 2 engine stands.
took about 3hrs to build ...Nothing special but it works great.

The only thing i would change is i have a connecting bar down the center ...I am going to change to a bar on each side and remove the center bar.

support braces , more weld , GRADE 8 Bolts , strong enough tube... your going to be using it so BE SAFE !

[JPMACHADO]

My dad and I bought rotisserie. It was very heavy duty steel and completely seam welded.

[Sparky67]

I decided to go with "L" brackets and mount them to the perf tube and engine mount with grade8 hardware.

The car has been mounted and spun for a long time now--no problems.

Doesn't matter as soon as you turned it on the rotissorie, mostly likely you bent the frame. Very easy to do on a unibody car. Which means that you won't be able to fit the doors back on. There is no extra support for the rear frame, other than your attachment on the bumper support. Only design that supports the rear frame is a whirly jig.



Jeff

http://www.kodakgallery.com/67rscamaro

[gkring]

looks scary to me, no matter how good the welds. making a rotisserie out of two old engine stands just sounds like a bad idea.
Personally I bought a professionally made one. Sure it cost a grand with all the bells and whistles, but I feel perfectly safe under it cutting, welding, or hammering. The great thing is a professional quality one, whether bought or made, can be sold for a majority of what you paid for it. The home built ones tend to be cheap and you can't get much more than the value of the metal in them back. So think of it as a $200 lifetime rental with a $800 deposit to get a prebuilt setup. I realize some of you guys are great fabricators and have no problems building your own in a couple hours for pennies. For the rest of us it just isn't worth the time, headache, or safety to try to build one in our garage with leftover engine stands and whatever we can find at home depot. Kind of like using cinder blocks for jackstands. Cheap and works great MOST of the time.

[rubadub]

looks scary to me, no matter how good the welds. making a rotisserie out of two old engine stands just sounds like a bad idea.
Personally I bought a professionally made one. Sure it cost a grand with all the bells and whistles, but I feel perfectly safe under it cutting, welding, or hammering. The great thing is a professional quality one, whether bought or made, can be sold for a majority of what you paid for it. The home built ones tend to be cheap and you can't get much more than the value of the metal in them back. So think of it as a $200 lifetime rental with a $800 deposit to get a prebuilt setup. I realize some of you guys are great fabricators and have no problems building your own in a couple hours for pennies. For the rest of us it just isn't worth the time, headache, or safety to try to build one in our garage with leftover engine stands and whatever we can find at home depot. Kind of like using cinder blocks for jackstands. Cheap and works great MOST of the time.

You have a valid point, just to add a little bit here. My home made engine stand rotisserie rolls over real easy, but when I sandblasted inside and on the bottom of the body, I tried to roll it over.

It wouldn't move, so I stood up on the side of the front of it, and leaned way out to get my weight on it and kind of bounced up and down a little, finally it moved, then as the sand fell out as I turned it, it got easier, the sand will add some major weight to it.

So I guess if a rotisserie will take the sand blast test you should be good to go. I weigh 180 lbs.

Rob