After cleaning up the rotisserie and greasing all the moving parts, I cut off all of the 1955 Chevy mounting points from the 4″ box tubing that is used to mount the body to the rotating arms of the rotisserie.
Next up was leveling the car body front and rear and side to side so that it would sit without binding in the center of the rotisserie. After everything was straight and level, I started at the back where I had decided to use the rear most body mount positions to attach it to the rotisserie. Since this was an area that was only sheet metal, I reinforced it with a piece of 3/16″ thick bar stock that I had drilled to match the body mounting holes. Once it was bolted in place I tack welded it to the sheet metal to stiffen the mounting points. When I finally remove the body to install it on the new chassis, I will cut the tack welds to remove the bar from the body prior to attaching it to the chassis.
At this point, I cut a piece of 1/4″ angle stock and drilled it to fit the mounting points. Then I cut some .83 wall rectangular tubing to extend thru the bumper mount slots in the body back to the plane of the cross bar rotating mount. A couple of more pieces of 1/4″ angle to connect the rectangular tubing to the cross bar mounts, a little welding and a few gussets and braces and it was good to go!
Moving to the front end, I kept the piece of angle that I had bolted between the two front body mounts and then built up an attachment fixture similar to the ones I had used at the back. Some cutting, welding and a few gussets and braces and the body was mounted. I must say I really like the easy at which it is able to rotate the car back and forth with little or no effort! When I use the hydraulic jacks on the rotisserie to raise the body up, it will be possible to flip it upside down to work on the bottom of the body as well as the sides. I cant wait to start the body work… what the heck did I just say? bzzzzzzzt! it can wait!
The next challenge was moving the mounted body over to the first bay and rolling it up on the lift. The ramps on my lift are 80″ apart – side to side. The wheels on the rotisserie are also 80″ apart making for a precise fit! One of the biggest tricks was to pull the whole contraption up the hill in front of the shop, then roll it down to the 1st bay. Michelle and I were able to get it out of the door and on to the asphalt but not much further. So, we got the truck and towed it up the hill. Using a long bar I was able to nudge the chassis around fairly easily to get it lined up with the bay. A good push, a few nudges and it was aligned in front of the lift.
Next up was to attach the shop winch to the front of the lift and use it to pull the rotisserie upon to a couple of long board ramps and up on to the lift deck. It took some amount of fussing and nudging but we did it! I then loaded all the body parts and pieces that I had taken off of the car back into it and onto the lift for storage, until I am ready to start the body work.
All in all it was a great day. I have things somewhat neatly stored and identified. The chassis is in a position where I can easily move it into the shop and I have room to garage both the ’39 and ’56!
Life is good!