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rotosserie bracing questions

6packMIKE

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Hi all. I have a 69 gtx I want to put on a rotisserie. The floor pan and trunk pan have already been removed. The car has also been stripped of everything except the k member and the rear axle.

What kind of bracing, if any, do I need in order to ensure I don't tweak this whole car. Should I brace between the doors and trunk?.

Does any one have any advice or pics of what you did before you put your car on a rotisserie.

Thanks in advance.
 
Yea I was kinda thinking the same. Installation would be easier if I could rotate the car but I don't want it to twist. I also wanted to blast the inside of the frame rails. If I blast them should I use weldable primer to at least protect the metal once the floor and trunk pan is in?

Thanks for the reply.
 
I would use weldable primer where you are going to weld the floor and trunk pans to the frame rails and inner rockers. For all other area's you blasted that is not having anything welded to it, epoxy or a self -etching primer will work.
 
If I get the floor in properly should I still brace anything with some cross beams? Especially in the door area?
 
The door openings need to be braced. Brace the car to aset of 4 floor jacks. Use a level in the door opening and get the car body level front to back and side to side. You will need shims to level body on jacks. Wire tye or use bailing wire to hold body to jacks. Then use a level and check again. Once you have the Body trued then grind all the left over Spot weld left over. lay the new floor in car and use maybe 12 metal screws and install floor temporary. Go under car with can of Silver or Gold Weld thru primer and spray the out line where the floor meets substructure. Unscrew floor and remove from car. Look at the area you just outlined with spray can. In this area punch weld plug holes. grind the sub structure where your going to plug weld on the tiop of the floor. Reinstall floor and screw floor back in and begin welding with light tacks only. get the floor tacked in all around. Then repeat with full welds.
 
It wouldn't hurt to put cross bracing in the door area and maybe another cross brace from side-to-side across the backseat area. You don't have to fully weld them in but just a tack here-n-there.
 
OK so now for the braces. Would it just be one beam across the upper parts of the doors. Drivers side to passengers side? Maybe even trunk area since there isn't a trunk pan either. Do I need to connect the bracing for added rigidity?

Thank you guys for the info. All good information.
 
I'm not a structural engineer but, this is what I did before putting my '71 on the rotisserie:

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Nice. OK I will focus on the floor first and do some bracing. Can't hurt right?

Anyone else have any pics? Maybe what your doing or what you did in the past. What works and what doesn't.

Should I put the trunk pan in first too? Before the rotisserie?
 
Better safe than sorry I figure. Here are some pics. from when we braced up my Charger.

P1070145.JPGP1070146.JPGP1070147.JPGP1070148.JPGP1070149.JPGP1070150.JPG
 
Wow that's a lot of bracing. Better to be safe than sorry. Looks good.
 
I personally think everyone goes into hyper mode on this, if the car isn't all rusted out (you put the floors back in) these cars were driven for over forty years being suspended on the fronts and rears with full weight and they were fine. Why does everyone think they are going to go to $hit from being hung on a rotisserie "yes if they are in really bad shape or have allot of metal removed". For crying out loud I could pick the whole front end up by myself "the shells weigh nothing". I did all of my metal work first to where it was back in 100% solid condition then put it on the rotisserie, once removed from the rotisserie and assembled I had absolutely no problems with lining all the panels up. Just my 2 cents
 
I agree that a lot of bracing isn't needed when putting a solid car on a spinner but for as easy and cheap as it is to use falsework to make sure nothing moves, why not? Especially in locations that won't be in the way of what you need to do. It's a fact that the post cars were more rigid than the hardtops because of the added structure....
 
I agree that a lot of bracing isn't needed when putting a solid car on a spinner but for as easy and cheap as it is to use falsework to make sure nothing moves, why not? Especially in locations that won't be in the way of what you need to do. It's a fact that the post cars were more rigid than the hardtops because of the added structure....

Totally agree with you Matt. We replaced so much metal on this car including the rear frame rails. Why take a chance with something moving or flexing?
 
Something also to consider, metal likes to go where it wants to go, if under stress from previous impact, you need to release it. Best place to check for damage and previous impact is behind the rear seat sheetmetal on the floor between wheelhouses. So, all the bracing in the world won't fix this if present, in fact, you'll preserve the stress...not something you want to do.
 
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