Ebay body spit

[tr7dan]

Had a quick search on the forum but couldn’t see any reports on these body spits on ebay - looks ok to my untrained eye but are they any good ?.....

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rollover-jig-s ... mwBanner=1

[Bobbieslandy]

Hi Dan,

It Looks similar to mine. It appears VERY flimsy (like mine) and does not in any way fill you with confidence, but, it is absolutely capable of doing the job. Makes life SO much easier. It’s nice to see it is height adjustable, I had to buy a separate ‘lifting device’ comprising of a length of stud and some box section to get the car high enough to mound to the spit

Might be an idea to have a second pair of hands when ‘testing’ for the centre of gravity too

Rob

[tr7dan]

Yeah, I thought it looked like it might topple over as the wheelspan between those castors doesn’t look particularly wide but it looks really stable on the demo vid. Probably wouldn’t be much of a job to add a stabiliser to it though, just for peace of mind....
https://youtu.be/WTdWWLL9tk0

[FI Spyder]

So long as you aren't jerking/leveraging things around you should be fine. You would want bigger castors if you are rolling it over anything but smooth concrete.

[tr7dan]

Hi Rob

do you know how 'stripped' the car needs to be before it can be mounted and rotated on the jig ?

Obviously I know everything underneath has to come off - wheels, axle, subframe, engine and g box and also the interior and dash removed plus boot and bonnet but what about doors and windscreen glass ?

Dan

[Beans]

In my humble opinion a body spit should only be used for paint preparations.
All welding should be done with the car on its wheels. With a scissor bridge used where needed
Much better for getting the various gaps and alignments correct

g

[tr7dan]

Thanks for that Beans...

..... yes, the car will be going to the bodyshop to be repaired/ painted but in order to make the job as easy for the repair guy as possible I will be stripping the car myself. The reason for the body spit is so I can do the entire underside of the car myself - clean, treat and paint and underseal, which I think will be easier if I don't have to work upside down under the car.

The floor has no rust perforation just muck and a few rust scabs.

The car is in great condition but almost every panel has a defect of some description, a chip or scuff or ding, so it will need repainting. I was just worried if I leave the windscreen on is it likely to crack with the stress of being on the jig and also will the jig cope with the extra weight if the doors are left on.

The car as it is at present.

[FI Spyder]

In my humble opinion a body spit should only be used for paint preparations.
All welding should be done with the car on its wheels. With a scissor bridge used where needed
Much better for getting the various gaps and alignments correct

While that is certainly true for stuff like sills, front fenders etc. I think things like rear sill, bottom of spare wheel well (my situation) I think it would be fine as these are not really significant stress members and if you are prepping the bottom of car (getting off old sealer for repaint it is almost required, if you aren't dipping the chassis).

[Bobbieslandy]

I used it to seam weld the rear suspension locating points but yes completely agree, it wouldn’t be too difficult to turn your pride and joy into a 1000kg banana! My car is stripped apart from the glass / doors/ dash and a few underbonnet odds and sods. There’s no definitive max load on these and although i’m Sure it’s strong enough, you would not find me underneath the car whilst just supported by the jig.

[prackers]

It "should" be fine with the doors and screen left in situ, although leaving the doors on probably isn't a good idea as they are easy to remove and doing so eliminates the risk of damaging them when working on the car and also makes working on/tidying up the interior far easier. Welding is also far easier/neater (when I am doing it) if you can adjust the shell to suit you rather the other way round! As Beans comments, if I am doing anything structural like wings/sills etc. I lower the rollover jig and let the chassis sit on a pair of chassis dollies.

[busheytrader]

I'm working on a classic Mini Cooper bodyshell and I'm with Prackers on welding in comfort. Lying on your back, nose inches away from the floorpan whilst gravity tries to cover you in molten metal isn't fun. ive had to redo my work sometimes. The shell was internally braced whilst I replaced the sills one side at a time to stop it flexing.

A DHC shell is floppy compared to a tin top Mini. i don't think I'd be replacing the sills at home without some sort of comprehensive jig holding everything in place, using a spit or not......