DIY Rotisserie

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funkyscooter
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DIY Rotisserie

Post by funkyscooter »

So getting to the point where crawling under the car to do repairs is not fun. Car is on a hoist, but I am limited by the shed roof height. Shop bought rotisserie will not fit with the hoist, so decided to have a crack at a DIY solution.
Something along the lines of Clay's van engine stand rotisserie maybe. Or maybe something built from scratch based on this http://redwingsteelworksplans.com/wp-co ... 242012.pdf

But before all that - need to confirm some basic measurements I made, and confirm where the pivot should (roughly) be relative to the bonnet bolts on the fire wall. On Clay’s Van it looks like the pivot is approx in line with the bottom bolt, so for these initial calculations I am using that as a guide.
IMG_8702.JPG
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Here is a rough sketch I made. The base line is where the body is currently sitting relative to the hoist platform. From that I get a car height from sill/rear suspension bracket to roof of 1370mm. Widest point of the body is around the top of the rear wheel arches, visually lining up from the B-pillar I have calculated this to be 1700mm. The bottom bolt for bonnet hinge is 700mm above the sill.

If I then treat the car as a box, Google pythagoras theorem calculator gives me the longest point from the centre pivot to the sill at 1092 mm.

Now adding to the mix I am going to build the rotisserie to sit in the gutter of the hoist platforms. There are two steel trays that slide/roll along between the platforms and are currently holding up the car. Figured they might get a second use as the base. The gap between is 880mm so back to the calculator and I have a minimum height from base to pivot of 1000mm to spin the widest part of the car between the platforms.

I can go higher as the hoist is a metre off the ground at the moment, and the body is 200mm off the roof, but the lower the better. I may also make the pivot point adjustable, but as this is a one trick pony, If I don’t have to, I won’t.

And all that is a very long winded way of asking - what is the approximate pivot point for a sedan relative to the bonnet hinge bolts?
Scott
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Errol62
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Errol62 »

Not what you asked, but anecdotally, the rear is in line with the fuel filler hole.

I need to free up some space in my shed so I can get to the van now the ute is “done”. The van centre of mass will be marginally higher than sedan but not that much really, I wouldn’t have thought.


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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by ardiesse »

Scott,

At the front, the centre of gravity is about in line with the "O" stamped in the firewall, just above the transverse seam. At the rear, like Clay says, just about the same height as the fuel filler (maybe a little above).

Disclaimer: FC sedan.

I'd suggest incorporating rubber mounts in the brackets to avoid stressing the body shell in case the two axes are not perfectly aligned.

Rob
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by funkyscooter »

Thanks as always to the both of you. Rubber mounts are an interesting idea. Off to the garage with the tape measure!
Scott
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Errol62 »

Took some measurements. At the front I have it centred 35mm below the bottom bonnet hinge bolt hole. 120mm above firewall seam.Image

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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Orange Betty »

Hi Scott

I built my rotisserie from plans for this one (plans attached below)
Auto-ROTISSERIE-PLANS-For-all-Cars-Trucks.jpg
Auto-ROTISSERIE-PLANS-For-all-Cars-Trucks.jpg (28.01 KiB) Viewed 1125 times
It has a mechanism to adjust the height of the pivot to find the right balance. Can't remember where I got the plans from but hopefully you can access the doc below.
pdf i
Rotisserie_Plans_08-08-07.pdf
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Hope it helps

Dave
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BILLY BLACKARROW
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by BILLY BLACKARROW »

I have a couple of engine stands i am not going to use if you are interested i am in NEWCASTLE make me a offer they are not the same but I am sure they will work!!!
BILLY BLACKARROW
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funkyscooter
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by funkyscooter »

Thanks for all the replies. So if Clay's Van is 35mmm below and Rob's FC is on the 'O', I reckon if I adapt the Hand Crank balance system on Dave's plans to work between those two values I should be set.
And thanks for the offer Billy, I'll PM you once I sort out my plans to see if I can easily adapt them to the engine stands - be a shame to cut up good stands just for the metal though. Might be in the market for an engine stand as it is - the cheap ebay one I got for the 202 can't hold it up. Had to prop it with 4x2's.
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by ardiesse »

Correction (now that I've dragged the shell out into the sunlight) -

Front: just above the firewall seam.
Rear: 100 mm above the lip of the boot opening, but beware: the body is not sitting level in the rotisserie. If it were to, I'd guess that the balance point would be 25-50 mm above the lip.

If you're mounting the body on the bonnet hinge bolt holes at the front, it would be helpful to dimension the bracket so that it doesn't interfere with the front subframe. That way, you can put the subframe on without taking the shell off the rotisserie.

Rob
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Errol62
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Errol62 »

As rob says it’s important to be able to install the subframe if you need to repair any of the mounting points, and not already done.


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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by funkyscooter »

Good tip on the mounting - I was working on the concept of rotisserie with sub off. Makes more sense to be able to use it with the sub frame on.
Now all I need is a solid firewall to mount it on. :problem:
Scott
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by funkyscooter »

So was crawling round the back of the car taking some more measurements and happened to look up and find these.
IMG_8745.JPG
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Flash back to '97, Wonder Wall playing on Triple J and me swearing as I knuckled myself removing the last seized bolt holding the towbar on..... "who the hell would want a tow bar on a car like this"
Was this a factory option? Looks professional and has captive nuts. Well I think so - can't look into the boot with all the crap on top at the moment.
Can't work out the thread - tried every bolt and tap I could find.
At least I have a mounting point now that means I don't have to remove the rear springs. Well that's the plan - need to check the other side for rust but this looks good.
Scott
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by ardiesse »

Scott,

You've found the rear bumper mounts. They take 3/8" bolts, but I can't remember whether UNC or UNF.
And the threads in the captive nuts frequently get chewed out, or the bolts break off inside.

Rob
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Errol62 »

3/8” UNF. Yes, the tow bar mounts over the bumper irons. I accidentally “liberated” a couple of the captive nuts on my ute trying to get the bolts out. I had to saw access holes inside the rear to weld in new ones. Suppose I could have used nutserts but not as strong.

On my van I used these as mounting points, but I also ran a bolt through the rear spring hanger to be sure, to be sure.Image


Image
You get the idea.


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Brett027
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Re: DIY Rotisserie

Post by Brett027 »

I think you don't want to use the spring eye, but it worked well for me. Ran the bolt through the rubber. Gives plenty of flex.
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