Ok so now that we have ironed out the issues with the drawing and made them about as clear as we can I decided to start a new thread with them so they are easy to find without having to dig through all 900 pages of Todd’s book . There are a few people that should be mentioned here and thanked, Dave (Aka. Fitter48093) for the org drawings, Chris (Aka Arai) For his help in confirming and helping this project along and Todd (Aka 6781camaro, Master Blaster) for his help along the way as well. I know that Chris, Todd and I and I'm sure Dave as well when on the forums will be happy to answer any questions that arise.
and here's a photo or two of what it should look like. My personal cart.
I love the post... Especially the title of my "cart". Thank you for your diligence on this. Looks great!
I would be happy to help or answer any questions about the cart build and what I used for my leveling system! Just send up a post! Happy Camaro (re) Building Everyone!
Hey no problem Don that was the whole idea behind doing all this to make it easier for those that have yet to build one of these great tools for their car/s :yes:. And I do mean that, next to my welder this has to be my favorite tool during the build so far and was actually a blast to build once I got through all the math .
But I still think it qualifies as a "jig" since specific locating and critical mounting/alignment points are one of the primary benefits of building it, right?
Excellent plans guys. I wish you all had done this before I built mine. I have no complaints about mine but it doesn't locate all the factory points like these plans do. Sweet job!
Since your cart is steel, it probably wouldn't be too much work to drill out some holes in the verticals and weld in some locating pins. They are 5/8" diameter and 1 1/2" to 2" long each. Just make sure to get them at the factory distances and then re-mount the car. You can easily use the plans to morph yours into one. Just an idea...
Great job with the cart, and a large thank you for sharing. Assuming it will work for the vert, how to print the diagrams and specs? Thanks
Mike
'67 vert
Mike if you mouse over the image you want right click and select "save image as..." and save it in a easy to find location ie. desktop, you will be able to open the image and print it with your favorite software. If you do not have something you favor for software already on your computer win paint will open it and you should be able to print it from there. :yes:
I can not see why it would not work for the verts as well just be sure to add bracing to the interior before cutting into it to keep it from sagging.
X2 on what Kevin said. Brace across the door openings from front to rear to act as a "ghost roof support" if you will. That will prevent your convertible from bending in half at the door openings. The rocker panels will support the bottom end just fine.
Well guys, I made a necessary addition to the body cart today for people, such as myself, who do not have their rear frame rails installed yet. Since I was having a heck of a time without these, deciding on how low to let the body down so that I can weld in my full floor, frame rails, and trunk floor, I went ahead and welded them to my cart. (yes Kevin, I ruined my nice paint job again... he he...)
This extra pair of verticals with an L-bar cap measuring 2"x3" by 1 1/2" wide x 1/4" thick, welded to the top will keep your Camaro shell level to the cart by supporting the outer rocker panels while your rear frame rails are removed.
The verticals are sitting on top of the wheel plates and are welded to the 2x3" tubes along the sides of the verticals and where they meet the wheel plates. The verticals I used are 1.5"x1.5" square tubing measuring 11' long each. The L-bar is 1/4" thick and adds to that height for an OVERALL HEIGHT of 11 1/4" for this vertical outer rocker to wheel plate support. I positioned these verticals 1/4" from the edge of the wheel plate starting from the front of each plate. (SEE PICS)
Now my car is level on the cart and I do not have any rear frame rails installed yet! Kevin, we may want to add this mod option to the plans... This mod let me remove that silly little L-bar that was only 1.5x1.5" size and running across from inner rocker to inner rocker. It is still sitting there in the pics below, but I grinded the welds off of them where they connected to the inner rockers and took it out. MUCH BETTER and out of the way now!
Check it out and let me know what you think. ( I think I remember seeing something similar to these on Chris' cart earlier):
Well guys, I made a necessary addition to the body cart today for people, such as myself, who do not have their rear frame rails installed yet. Since I was having a heck of a time without these, deciding on how low to let the body down so that I can weld in my full floor, frame rails, and trunk floor, I went ahead and welded them to my cart. (yes Kevin, I ruined my nice paint job again... he he...)
Now my car is level on the cart and I do not have any rear frame rails installed yet! Kevin, we may want to add this mod option to the plans... This mod let me remove that silly little L-bar that was only 1.5x1.5" size and running across from inner rocker to inner rocker. It is still sitting there in the pics below, but I grinded the welds off of them where they connected to the inner rockers and took it out. MUCH BETTER and out of the way now!
Man you really need some stripes on that thing to take it to the next level .
Todd sent you an e-mail with the mod look it over starting to think may need to incorporate a front view to help with clarifying the plans they are starting to get a little busy looking. where did you get the 11 1/4" measurement from just out of curiosity? Being as my build is going to require the full floor, trunk and rail replacement I'm going to probably do the same mod to my cart when I get a little closer to the time.
Right now I'm still finding things to weld up and fix before shooting the epoxy primer. Starting to wonder if I might be catching a bit of OCD and maybe I should just shoot the thing and remove the primer from where I need repairs then re-shoot those areas.
Well..... I'll say it again, I would have never thought my cart drawings for Chris would have turned into this! Now that my little one has turned a year old I plan on heading back into the shop to get my tub built out. Nice job on the new prints sure beats the hand drawn scribble I started with.
VERY nice Joe. I remember that one from a while back when I first thought of transferring my build over to it. I especially like the removable firewall jig. I could have used that at the time... man that was frustrating...
On behalf of Kevin and I, here are the most updated plans for the bodycart shown below. This plan now includes the outer rocker panel support for restorations requiring the replacement of the rear frame rails. These additional vertical supports add what you need to support the front 2/3 of the shell while your frame rails are removed.
Ryan I would say that depends a lot on how far down the body is stripped and what support you have added, in my case because most of the metal is gone including almost every piece of outer body metal except the rockers which I will be replacing making it fairly light, if I had the inside braced well enough I could see being able to support it from those inner braces with straps hung from a lift or small shop crane. But I have seen others say they have managed to get the floor in through the door opening and set it in place and I personally would feel much better keeping it on the cart. There is a front mod to the cart plans that I have on my person build thread that allows for the floor to be installed from the front and bottom which I intend to do to my personal cart when done this build to accommodate floor installs in future builds might be something to look at if you have not built your cart yet.
Any detailed pictures with BODY mounted on cart......????
I'm adapting my rotissiere to serve as a cart. It has two long horizontal square tubes running 20' down eith side of body/frame/whatever.
I want to take away most of the rotissiere arms/brackets etc and have 1970 body sitting on four mounting points.
Was thinking I would still use subframe mounts below firewall in front.
Where BEST to mount rear of 70' Camaro body?? Should I make special metal bushings (that vert tubing could be welded too) and install bushings in rear spring front mounting "cups"
..........OR what about making brkts that bolt to where rear wheelhouse diff snubbers bolts up???
Are you intending on this to be for your '70 or '69 Camaro?
I would do a search for the 1970 Fisher body specs sheet and go from there. All your dimensions that you'll need are on it. :thumbsup:
This particular body cart uses four pins that insert into the factory locator holes. Two are at the front ends of the rear frame rails and the other two are just outside of the firewall subframe bushing cage nuts.
I'm just getting into this again and I am very impressed with your plans. Could you clarify the quantities for me on A, C, D, F, G and H in your materials list.
Good catch Dan and I did have someone proof read this for me before posting and we all missed that. Yes A,C,D,F,G and H should all be one only. The bad thing about catching it this late is I can not edit the original post. I'll have to see if I can mod the materials list on photobucket with out breaking the link to this site.
AH HA! Now I see what he meant. The materials list is incorrect for those quantities. Hmmmm.... We must have been tired that day huh Kevin? Well, just like these cars from the factory, nothing's perfect. You did an awesome job on these plans!:yes:
Okay guys... I know it's been modded and tweaked a few times, but here it is again. The newest set of plans modded to perfection (until next time)... Thank you Kevin for taking the time to revise these!
No seriously... the rear frame rail and center frame rail cross supports were adjusted slightly towards the front of the cart to allow clearance for the trunk pan drain holes and underside trunk reinforcements so that they would clear. (learn from my mistakes) It's only cutting and welding so anything is repairable right?
Here's two pics of where it was hitting so you know what I am referring to BEFORE fixing these issues:
Just at the front-most edges of the trunk pan drain holes...
Just at the rear-most ends of the gas tank mounting strap braces.
and here's the re-re-revised copy of the plans.... ENJOY!
Todd - does it look like it's possible to "scallop" out the supports to clear the trunk drain plugs and supports ?? From the pics it looks like you'd only have to hog out 1/2" or so. I'm just trying to avoid moving the uprights.
I made one of these too, based on the earlier plans, with a few modifications, but haven't set the body on it yet. I have the body chained up and ready to lift once I pull the subframe and axle - it's the next step !! Here are a couple of pics of how it sits right now and the setup I'm using...
Todd - does it look like it's possible to "scallop" out the supports to clear the trunk drain plugs and supports ?? From the pics it looks like you'd only have to hog out 1/2" or so. I'm just trying to avoid moving the uprights.
I made one of these too, based on the earlier plans, with a few modifications, but haven't set the body on it yet. I have the body chained up and ready to lift once I pull the subframe and axle - it's the next step !! Here are a couple of pics of how it sits right now and the setup I'm using...
Yes.... for the rear-most cross support since it only really needs to move forward about 1/2" or less.
For the center frame rail cross support it would be possible too, but you'd have to cut out a little more than that to clear the drain holes surface in the trunk pan. You could do that though. No problemo..
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