Cheap, redneck engineering ideas sought!

The time for my full concourse neon restoration is approaching. Tear down should start tomorrow actually.

The below are copied straight from the build thread.

Paint, body, and suspension refresh are going to be the biggest time commitment. Especially since i want this thing flawless on every surface. 

So, thats kind of where were at. I need to either develop a body dolly that can roll on gravel that is high enough to get underneath the car to vlean and paint, create a mobile rotisserie that can go over gravel, or some alternate idea.

Having never gone to this extent before, it will be interesting.....

So, what are yalls ideas? Driveway is gravel and sloped. Bodywork and painting will be done outside, and the car stored in the carport (also gravel and sloped, and about a 30 yard push from the shop)

I dont want to put a ton of money in this contraption as it will be going away as soon as the suspensio. Is back in the car. 

Im comfortable working with wood, wich is cheap, and steel, which isnt. 

So, napkin blueprints? Links? Ideas? Loaner tools? Bueller?

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Buy cheap golf cart from Craigslist/FB Marketplace, strip the body, stretch the frame, add mounts for body/rotisserie & remote/relocated controls to operate it?

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I dont hate that idea, but seems far more expensive and complex than necessary. 

Really, one of those tilters made out of 2x6 and plywood would be perfect, excep that it wouldnt roll over the gravel. 

Im also not sure how well it would work in gravel tilting....

How about something like a grassroots boat crane/gantry? Seems it should be wide enough to be stable. With the wheels outside the car body you could use larger tires that would roll on gravel easily.

Build your rotisserie on an old boat trailer.

Two Hammer Store engine stands facing each other with additional steel welded in between? Swap out casters for something more gravel appropriate maybe, and stretch the width out a bit?

My first thought is rolling anything heavy on gravel will suck. I'd want some steel tracks that I could easily roll the rotisserie back and forth on. Maybe add a winch to bring it back up the slope into the carport.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael : 

How heavy is the bare tub?  If the total weight of the car is 2500#s minus running gear, interior bumpers, etc etc.  800-1000 pounds?  
 

You should be able to find a swing set that will handle that. It doesn't take much to convert a swing set to a rotisserie.  An engine hoist will lift one end up to the center of the rotisserie Then go around to the other end and lift that up. Once it's up build a plastic covered "garage"  out of a handful of 2x4's 

yard kart / go kart with neon body mount uprights welded to it?  make sure your throttle and kill switch are mechanical remote controls.  sure would suck to WOT that thing into the Duster.

I'm not wild about using the words "cheap" and "redneck" to describe something that will be supporting an object heavy enough to crush me if I'm under it.  Blah, blah, Safety, Blah, blah.

So, this is a proper rotisserie... 

The trouble being that is rolls on small casters.  

Now, see these wheels?  I envision mac-struts/hubs from a Neon welded in place to create a Neon carrying device that can be pushed on Neon wheels and tires.  

In reply to John Welsh :

That'll make the thing roll really good. Maybe too good, if there's a slope. Might be good to devise some brake-type things to go with those big tires. Like a bar that goes through the spokes of the wheels or something.

frenchyd said:

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael : 

How heavy is the bare tub?  If the total weight of the car is 2500#s minus running gear, interior bumpers, etc etc.  800-1000 pounds?  
 

You should be able to find a swing set that will handle that. It doesn't take much to convert a swing set to a rotisserie.  An engine hoist will lift one end up to the center of the rotisserie Then go around to the other end and lift that up. Once it's up build a plastic covered "garage"  out of a handful of 2x4's 

 

 

That is an amazingly good idea. Why is it a bad idea? What would I need to do to the basic A-frame swing set design to make it hold up to an 800 pound body?

Two yards of sand, drain the fluids and remove mirrors and a few friends to help you roll it upside down. Cost is Sand and beer.

...

If I use the spare set of wheels and tires, like leftovers from my Miata or any other of a few sets I have laying around, how would I get them to rotate to steer the setup? Or am I overthinking this?

What you need are some cheap/JunkYard bearing hubs from most any modern car (in the right bolt pattern) and attach them to some tube/pipe that can be sleeved on another tube/pipe for steering.

Get the wheels patrick is taking off the golf cart thursday.  They would roll easily on gravel and are 4x100 lug pattern.

pimpm3 said:

Get the wheels patrick is taking off the golf cart thursday.  They would roll easily on gravel and are 4x100 lug pattern.

Genius! 

Remind me of that. Hes driving right now, so i wont bother him.

And i found something called the rolltisserie

Essentially an L shaped wooden structure with a curve instead of a corner. Build two, one on either end. Rotates the car 90 degrees and holds it there. 

I would have to put down plywood on the gravel to give it a surface to roll on, right? Then, use a farm jack to puck the works up enough on either end to sit on the rollers for moving.

Is this feasable? Seems cheap and expedient, which makes me nervous ....

For the rotisserie part, grab a rear axle from a front wheel drive car, something with a cable operated park brake mechanism in the caliper. Use the hubs as your rotisserie pivots, leave the brake assembly on one end and rig up a mech to activate it (probably the cable and brake lever from the donor vehicle). You've then got a nice easy to turn rotisserie that can be locked in whatever position you want.

Grab a couple of twist beam axles in 4x100 off just about anything cheap from the junkyard and use normal car wheels to roll it around. 

Edit: I should have read daemons post first, he suggested the same thing but better. 

i don't know about the rolling on wheels part but for turning it on its side you can't beat a couple of free on CL mattresses.

The Brits use them all the time IIRC. 

I have heard that rolling the shell on an old mattress works really well.  Or a new one, if that is all you have.

How about two Harbour Freight dollies for the tires (or you could just buy 4 tires and wheels for cheap). No need to steer, just shove it where you need it. Other than that, a rectangular frame is easy, and I know someone who built a redneck rotisserie that worked flawlessly.

Sorry for the blurry-old thread