Spitroast

[Chunky Monkey]

Hi guys.

Well in about 6 months (I know thats ages away but is like next week for me!!) my very very long term project will be finally heading undercover to start on her! (its only been sat up to its door mirrors in weeds for the last 6+ years)
I plan to design & build a spitroast type afare to enable me to work on the shell much easer.
My question is, does anyone know if the T-bar shell would take the roatational forces of being on one?
The main reason I will be building my own rather than buying one in, is that I would like to have the car on the spit with the engine/suspension still in place. I would naturally drain the fluids/fuel before rolling her!

In my head the spit would slot into the end of the chassis rails front & rear (providing they're open & not closed box sections) & be a 2 man operation, although with the engine fitted I would not physically turn the car upside down but maybe past the 90 degree mark.

So what do we think would the chassis take it or would it all go horribly wrong at the first 360?

[Jim-SR]

it will work fine, the car can take the loads, its whether your frame can that is the issue, over-engineer it for sure if you plan to turn a complete car, they are generally used to rotate stripped shells normally.

the chassis rails are open at the front and the rear with perfect bolt mounting positions. youll just need to make a suitable frame to bolt in.

your biggest issue is going to be balance!! with a full car its a lot of weight and very bottom heavy. youll have to get your pivot axis absolutely spot on (it needs to intersect the centre of gravity) or the car will just flip upside down as soon as you get it past vertical. and youll need a dozen people to catch 1000kg flipping round on you

[Chunky Monkey]

Thanks for the reply, thats good news. I was worried being a tbar the centre bar wouldn't take the stress.
Now I've had some more thought on the matter & taking into consideration what you say about the thing naturally wanting to end up sunny side up when past vertical. I will now most likely remove the engine/gearbox before putting the shell on the rotisserie, I won't have the room to remove it when its on anyway so it might as well come out.
That will save some deadweight & obviously the wheels won't be on either.

For the most part the car will be completely stripped while I get the refurb done, it is mainly to make life easier on the rebuild. I imagine it starting/ending up complete on the rotisserie all bia the front & rear bumpers, (now) engine/gearbox & wheels.

As I was saying it will be a 2 man operation to rotate the car - even if it turns out a single person can do it - it's still my pride & joy!! I will also incorporate some sort of failsafe for the locking pins, should something go wrong.

Do you have the mr2 exact measurements? including the wing mirrors (folded)? I used to have a picture of one taken IIRC from the back of the owners manual with all the sizes in, but can't find it.

[Jim-SR]

dont have the dimensions, sure theres a picture somewhere but i cant recall where. with regards 2 people operation, once youve got it balanced it should be, but prior to that it will be at least 4 for safety.

when you make the mounts for the chassis make sure you have vertical and horizontal adjustment in some form so that you can correct for imbalances.

so far as T-bar chassis stiffness goes, if its not strong enough to withstand being put in a rotisserie then it sure as hell wont withstand road use lol. i know they can flex a bit over bumpy surfaces and in hard cornering, but youll never replicate those kinds of forces in a static position.