Looking for info on '67 Coupe. If somebody out there has a car without the subframe under it, could you measure the distance between the passenger and driver side front firewall body mount holes, from center of the hole to center of the hole? I'm putting the finishing touches on my body rotisserie with adjustable mounting arms, and I need that measurement to drill the holes, I don't have my front clip off yet so I can't get a straight angle on it. I want to have this all ready so when I tear the front end off and take the subframe out I can bolt right in. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

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Bing
1956 Chev 150 2dr sedan 302ci
1965 Chev Malibu 2dr hdtp 496ci
1967 Chev Camaro 327ci
2001 Harley XL1200C

[This message has been edited by CReM@$TeR (edited 02-15-2003).]

Do a search under bonecrusher,he helped me with the plans for a body rotater,the dimension youre looking for is there.He has it at 40-1/4 C/C holes,but again check it out.Even the rear mounts are there.Its built for a 67 coupe.

Thanks Late '68, I'll try that. I already owe thanks to Bonecrusher, I used his idea of the two engine hoists, however I modified the plan a little to make mine adjustable. Man it works slick, and at a third of the cost of buying one, just several hours of work involved. If anybody's interested in adjustable body mount plans front and rear, email me. I've made mine so I can start on the Chevelle after the Camaro is done, then the '56 sedan after that.

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Bing
1956 Chev 150 2dr sedan 302ci
1965 Chev Malibu 2dr hdtp 496ci
1967 Chev Camaro 327ci
2001 Harley XL1200C

[This message has been edited by CReM@$TeR (edited 02-15-2003).]

Hey CReM@$TeR, you're welcome.
On those front holes I went out and bought a new 5/8" drill bit. It was one of the few tools I didn't have for this project. The 40.25" should be pretty dead-on. The front subframe caged nuts will move about 3/32" within the cage, so there is some leeway if you make the spacing + or - almost a 1/4". Plus, if you were as much as 1/2" off, I bet you could pry the arms apart or cinch them together to get them to fit the front. The rear bracket is really stout and would be more difficult to flex.

To drill the securing holes in the long spliced together tube that connects the bases, I used a rope to tension and hold the stands at the proper distance while drilling.

Hey when you get yours mounted and balanced. Could you confirm for the coupe the 8.3" drop center of gravity from the center of rotation to the subframe mounts? I remembered after posting the plan dimensions that the front windshield glass was left in on the coupe when I put it on the rotisserie last year. It probably won't make more than a 1/8" difference, but I thought I'd throw that out to Late68 or anyone else that is chopping-up tubing right now.

The post with pictures and dimensions: http://www.camaros.net/forum/Forum3/HTML/004027.html

The adjustable idea is definitely a good way to go. My brother, who is into autocross, wants to commandeer the rotisserie next to put his Datsun 510 on it. I don't know how much he intends on modifying it, but he is ten-times the welder that I am so I'm not too worried about it.

Bonecrusher,
I'll try to confirm that drop center distance for you. That 8.3" was the drop for the front mount, but what about the rear mount? I noticed yours was pretty much centered with the pivot point, do you think there needs to be a little drop there? I'll see if changing the rear makes much difference. As far as being off on that 40.25", my adjusters are set up so that I can play with height and width adjustments and drilled every three inches on the stationary beams, two inches on the sliders so that it can be bolted at one inch increments, and with the little bit of slop in the tubing sizes I found out I can take care of anything within an inch range.

I did end up buying a 24' stick of 2.5" od square tubing for the bottom lengthwise connecting piece to take out the slop there, because the larger tubing sizes in the hoist kit have a 2 5/8" id. They fit very nicely and are more stable than the 2 3/8" od black pieces in the kit. In reality you only need about 12', but I have plans for the rest. In hindsight, I might not have used the black tubing that came with the hoist kits, and used the other 12' for the vertical sliders and adjusters. Oh yeah, and if you don't like drilling holes, don't make them adjustable, between pilot holes and final 1/2" holes for the adjusting points, I've drilled over 200 holes. Two nights were spent after work on the project with drilling alone! However, I can now adjust in all directions, i.e. the car length for different cars, vertical at the pivot point for changing center of mass on different cars, and front and rear body mount spacing is adjustable from about 24" to 52" which will cover about anything out there.

Well, back to work on the Camaro. Thanks again for the initial idea Bonecrusher, you are the man!

P.S. A few notes for anybody going with Bonecrusher's plan:

1) A chop saw can be created easily if you already have a 10" compound miter saw for wood. I went to Home Depot and bought a 10" carbon fiber laminate metal cutting disc for $6 bucks (I actually bought two but only used one and still have enough disc left to cut). You will need the compound miter to fabricate rear tailpan mounts that are on a 33 degree vertical angle. The rest of the cuts are all 90 degree.

2) Also, do buy a 5/8" drill bit if you want holes the same size as the hoist kit bolts. I only had a 1/2" so my adjusters use a little smaller bolts.

3) You only need about 18" (2x9") of larger round stock and 24" (2x12") of smaller round stock for the rotating joint, so find a metal shop that has scrap metal. I went to a metal supplier and told them what I needed and after they cut the stuff, they charged me $40 bucks for 3 1\2 feet of steel. I could have bought a 24' stick of the stuff for that much.

4) If you are not against grinding a few welds, you can grind the support beam and mounting bars off of the main hoist beam on the engine hoist kit, cut the tubing in half, and that will give you your outer vertical sliders for the rotator with four holes already drilled at 9" apart. By grinding a few welds, I have reused tubing pieces such that I have enough of the second hoist kit left over to build a movable four point body jig similar to Bonecrusher's at http://www.surfari.net/~scottmoo/rolling.jpg (http://www.surfari.net/~scottmoo/rolling.jpg.)
This was important for me because I need to fix many more panels on my Chevelle than I do on my Camaro. I can use this rolling jig to fabricate a six or eight point body mount jig that is spaced at factory specs so that I can bolt the body to it at the factory body mounts, and weld the panels without the body distorting from the heat. Both of these handy devices (body rotisserie and body jig) I will have made for a third of the cost of buying a rotisserie.

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Bing
1956 Chev 150 2dr sedan 302ci
1965 Chev Malibu 2dr hdtp 496ci
1967 Chev Camaro 327ci
2001 Harley XL1200C

[This message has been edited by CReM@$TeR (edited 02-16-2003).]

[This message has been edited by CReM@$TeR (edited 02-16-2003).]

[This message has been edited by CReM@$TeR (edited 02-16-2003).]

The rear drop would all depend on where you weld the angle iron with nuts in relation to the arms. Since I obviously had my unibody on the rolling sled and it was already leveled, I concerned myself with the front rotisserie bracket first. Then after I was happy with the front I adjusted the rear rotisserie telescopic base to match the front, so that the rotating pipe heights would be equal. Because the rear bumper holes are closer to the body belt-line than the front subframe nuts, there is less drop required for the rear. If you compensate for the size of your tubing if it is different than mine, and you come close to where I welded the rear angle iron and nuts, you will find that the body is equally level inverted (laying the level on the rockers in the sill area).

Glad I could help another bowtie brother.
Scott

I had to come back and add a funny tidbit. I was doing some paint prep on the underside with a Roloc and scotchbrite pad and a Pizza delivery kid drives up next door. He was driving a 1965 Mustang that looked pretty trashed. After delivering the Pizza next door he came over and said "Hey where do you get one of those whirly thing-a-ma-jigs?". Of course I said, "Well they come in kits at Harbor Freight". I then unloosened the stop nuts and flipped it 360 degrees with one hand. He scratched his chin a couple of times, said that it was real neat and drove off. I bet he's telling the rest of his Mustang buddies about it this weekend. Our university mascot is the Mustang, so they are everywhere. I can just see the puzzled employee's faces down at Harbor Freight when they start getting requests for this thing.

Nice! Harbor Freight is going to love you. I didn't intend on ever putting a F#%d on my body rotator. It is only reserved for Bowtie products, but I guess you could direct those poor lost souls to the Camaros.net site for info on it, or sell them yours for a grand or so and build another! :D :D :D