383 240z Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I got this from a good friend of mine when I started my Z project. He used it on his and it worked great. I had my Z on it for over a year, and I loved it, she is going back on for the body work after I get the rest of the Fab work finished. First you will need 2 engine stands these are the 4 wheel type I used cheap ones from Harbor Freight. They were cut and had 8" spliced into them for the height needed. YOU CAN NOT FLIP THE CHASSIS UPSIDE DOWN WITH THIS!! just roll it from pan facing left to flat to pan facing right, it is way to heavy to pull up from an inverted position. I know that I should have used a boxed steel tube with crush spacers, instead of the 2x4 that I used. But hind sight is always 20/20 right? To load the chassis I stripped it down until just the front x-member was left, lifted it with my engine crane, and slipped the front adapter in the front stand. I then stripped the rear suspension and wrapped a LARGE tie down strap (a 10000 Lb) around the rear wheel well. Again lifted it with the crane and slipped the head in the rear stand. The front attached to the stock bumper mounts, and the rear also went to the bumper mounts with spacers holding the un-milled flange off the body, I could of used abox tube in the rear as well but I had that heavy angle and a mill so that is what I used. Keith This is the rear adapter[/img][/img][/img]This is the front adapter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 If you spliced in just a bit more height on the main mast then you could flip it all the way over. I can flip mine and it is basically the same as what you've got there. Here's a link and some pics: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=104151&page=2&highlight=rotisserie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
383 240z Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 I guess that would have worked:biggrin: But like I said I got it from a friend, I really like the extra stabilisers you welded into place to support the main column, I posted these after Sparks280z Asked to borrow a rotator. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Free is always good. Even just being able to tip the car sideways is a HUGE help, especially when you're doing a lot of work on the bottom of the car. If I had to do mine over I'd make it about 4" taller. As it is I cut the rear fenders for flares, but if I put them on and flip the car, the flares wouldn't clear the bottom part of the engine stand. Luckily I figured that one out before I tried it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I wish I could all give you guys a set of Atlas Copco ZR3 Bullgear and Pinion Gear setups! They work great as a geared way to crank those rotisseries around. The Bullgear has a bolt circle on it that adapts to the back of the engine stand head nicely, and you then just tack a place to put the pinion gear and weld your crank handle to it. Anybody else have an electric rotator ideas? I was thinking of sacrificing a Harbor Freight 800# overhead winch to see if there is an applicable wormgear drive inside that would be adaptable. Being able to hit a button on a pendant to move something while you're settled in and welding to get a better angle would be so much more convienient than having to go crank the thing by hand---I don't want much, do I? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlalomz Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Hey Tony, I used gravity instead of electricity. By counterweighting the rotating assembly you can rotate my car with your little finger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Sorry Keith I didnt post these up, slipped my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Cranking it around by hand isn't so bad. I offset my mount like the other thread describes. That offset is for a 280, so my 240 was a little bottom heavy. Now with the cage in there it's a bit top heavy. Even so, it's not THAT hard to flip over. Not hard enough that I'd be looking at gear driven stuff. I do like Steve's setup with the counterweight, but it's more effort than I wanted to put into the stand itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
383 240z Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 Don't worry about it sparks, I needed to figure out how to post pics anyway. I'm glad I could help ya out!!. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 I like that counterweight idea, what I was thinking of in particular is repositioniing without getting up and going to the end of the stand to move the car. This is assuming you guys are safety-pinning the car in place---only so many pin positions you can get, but with a gear rotator you can infinetly position the vehicle and only need to pin it in position if you are done for the day. Basically punch a pendant and it rotates---or better yet a foot switch---and it STAYS where you rotated it to, not so much the ease of rotation, but an infinetely adjustable positioner. The Z-Resto rotators were a clamp on a pipe so you could do it like that without a pin (like on the HF Stands), but loosening to rotate and then retightening is not the same as the geared rotator. The best example I can think of is those pipe rotators you use to rotate piping whlie you are making passes on it. I like to weld in some positions more than others (take that any way you like: can't weld vertical, can't weld overhead, only wants horizontal buttwleds...lol) so getting the car to move while I'm welding so I keep the correct-for-me-position would be nice. I really like the counterweight idea, though. That in combination with some sort of lighter electric rotator would probably be what I end up doing. Come to think of it, with a rotator, I could invert a car, then hoist it to the roof of the storage container, and roll antother one in below it. Hmmmm, this means I can fit four in the container in the back yard. That would free up some space. Yessss, ex-cellent! Thx guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlalomz Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Excellent, and when they are both in the container you can ship it to my house. The counterweight is just a rectangular tube and a post welded on, a lot less work than many I have seen. I lock it in place with a nut welded over a hole on the spinning shaft. I just tighten the bolt to clamp it down. It doesn't need much tightening to lock in place. I have been inside the cockpit with the car sideways and did not need to lock it down. I would just move it a little to get access to the hard to weld tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76s30 Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 just thought I'd add this the cross bar to conntect the two isn't shown. Itcost me 100 for the wheels and 40 for the steel. The wheels are 10" makes it super easy to wheel around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLave Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 wow, it must take a lot of force to flatten the angle like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76s30 Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 not really it was only 2x2x 3/16 if I remmeber corectly , 5 lb mini sledge and anvil.or just something hard and heavy. I got the wheels from harbor frieght for 20 each . I've had my celica frame on here and a 1966 chevy cab held up great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thunderfoot Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Excellent, and when they are both in the container you can ship it to my house. The counterweight is just a rectangular tube and a post welded on, a lot less work than many I have seen. I lock it in place with a nut welded over a hole on the spinning shaft. I just tighten the bolt to clamp it down. It doesn't need much tightening to lock in place. I have been inside the cockpit with the car sideways and did not need to lock it down. I would just move it a little to get access to the hard to weld tubes. How did you determine the weight and heigth of the counter balance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thunderfoot Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Cranking it around by hand isn't so bad. I offset my mount like the other thread describes. That offset is for a 280, so my 240 was a little bottom heavy. Now with the cage in there it's a bit top heavy. Even so, it's not THAT hard to flip over. Not hard enough that I'd be looking at gear driven stuff. I do like Steve's setup with the counterweight, but it's more effort than I wanted to put into the stand itself. What was your initial math on figureing out how high to extend the stand? Does it help to off set the attatching points to get a more centered (weight wise) rotational axis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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