Sometimes you've gotta do some work...before you can do some work!

 And thus was the order of business for me the week of July 4, 2007. I really wanted to knock off some more paint on the Sprite and see what was under there...it's kinda like looking twice when you pass a wreck, or picking at a scab when you were a kid...but I already had a pretty good idea of which panels would need replacing on the Sprite and had called in an order. So, I spent a few days of this abbreviated work week building a car rotisserie. It took a little time, effort, and money, but in the long run, with the amount of bodywork I'm going to have to do, I think it will be well worth the investment.

 
I had checked out a couple web sites and saved off a few photos for ideas a while back and had gone ahead and picked up two heavy duty engine stands during a trip to Harbor Freight. It's not brain surgery building one, pretty easy really, and each varies somewhat based on the car being suspended.
 
One problem I had notice on every one I had seen was that the attachment point for the rear pivot was invariably a bracket(s) attached to the trunk floor pan. Well, one of the major panels to be replace on my Sprite is...the trunk floor pan! Additionally, the trunk floor pan is very near the very bottom of the car and is too low...the center of mass is off too far. That means that when you go to rotate the car the center of mass will move horizontally away from the centerline of the pivot and the whole thing will want to tip over. I saw one mount that had some offset in the bracket but it was ungainly and I would be scared to death to try to rotate it.
 

I estimated the center of mass on the Spridget rear to be at about the top of the rear valance (the bottom of the trunk lid). The sheet metal that forms the central rear of the car is curved and not well braced; it is not conducive to attachment, or strength...EXCEPT, the flats where the taillight buckets attach (see photo). The location was right and I could counter the angle of the flat with a correspondingly angled bracket AND it is one of the strongest sections of sheet metal on the (monocoque body) car...just look at the various curves and angles converging there. The bracket has a gusseted, shaped 3/16" plate that attaches with five 5/16" bolts through the body AND a corresponding 3/16" plate on the inside...forming a sandwich of the two plates with the captive body panel in between...it's very strong.
 

The front end was pretty simple (photo), the two frame members provided a good square attachment point and the radiator braces proved good anchors for stiffening braces.
 
 

These photos show the rotisserie in action. Going with the heavy duty engine stands was a good call, not that the extra weight capacity was required (the stripped Spridget body is under 500 lbs.) but because they employ an "H" lower frame and four wheels instead of the usual "T" frame and three wheels. Of course you still have to cut off the two stub axles for the el cheapo non-swiveling metal casters, but since I was replacing all the casters anyway with heavy duty swiveling rubber ones, that wasn't a big deal. Another thing I found is that this design, using these stands, does not seem prone to splay. That is, the bottoms of the two stands (where the casters are) do not try to move away from each other under load. The load seems to transfer vertically, pretty much equally to all four casters on both stands...even when being rotated (remember what I said about the center of mass remaining constant?). I do have a 2"x2"x8' piece of 1/8" angle (the kind with a bunch of 1/2" holes in it) that I can use to tie the two stands together at the bottom should I see a need to do so.
 
None of the mods made to the engine stands would negate their use as engine stands after I finish with the rotisserie. I'll just unbolt the brackets and store them, in the event I ever need to string up another Spridget.
 
So, it's been a good week...and next week I can get down to some real work!

 

E-mail Ray at ray@raysmg.com about MG interests you may share.