[alfa] rotisserie

[John Hertzman <giovannisvedese@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sasha Nackovski and Beatle Bayly have started a discussion on the
subject of body restoration rotisseries  initially for Sasha's 105
Giulia coupe, but potentially relevant to any underbody structural
repair.

I would emphatically agree with Beatle that using the bumper mounts as
a primary support attachment point is inadvisable, on any car but
especially on a thirty or forty year old unibody. The bumpers on a
Giulia were barely more than decorative trim, intended to provide a
little protection against light contact parallel to the car's axis, and
the chances of none of the mounts ever having been damaged and weakened
either by accidents or corrosion are near zero. Would you lift such a
car with a bumper jack? If you did, would you work under it? Would you
even trust the designed jacking points?

The suspension attachment points proposed by Beatle are a lot better,
but still not foolproof. The risks of corrosion damage, accident
damage, and cracks from metal fatigue may compromise both the repair
process and the results.

The one car on which I seriously studied the problem was a 1900 type
four Superleggera coupe (a project long abandoned) on which the
aluminum shell shrouded the wispy rust traces of a once steel platform.
The proposed rotisserie would have had a core or armature from the
grill opening to the trunk opening, surrounded with a spaceframe (or
"birdcage") attached at several points to the doorposts. The 1900 had
an open firewall and no trunk bulkhead, simplifying this solution, but
on a Giulietta or later car the same result could be managed with
front, center and rear sections bolted together through the firewall
and trunk bulkhead.


Nobody should underestimate the importance of achieving and maintaining
correct alignment before replacing or repairing damaged or rusted
structural metal. An excellent body shop did a beautiful job of
restoring the damaged shell of Fred Di's wrecked Junior Z, but didn't
get the platform straight first; Fred then had to either bend the
straight body to fit a straightened chassis, or alter the suspension to
fudge the bent chassis to match the immaculate body. Neither was an
appealing prospect.

FWIW, the Giulia body shop manual #1570 includes a "diagram of
dimensions of main unit attachments" covering Giulia Saloons, Berlinas,
and 1300, 1600 and 1750 coupes and Spiders, well worth having either an
the original manual, if you can find one, or in photocopy from the AROC
technical library. It may exist on the Cardisc; I haven't checked.

Also FWIW, Accessible Systems Inc (http://www.accessiblesystems.com) in
Tennessee offers a line of modular rotisserie components, tilters,
wheelstands, accessories etc. They are probably not a practical source
for overseas clients, probably pricey for parsimonious US hobbyists,
probably scaled more for US musclecars than for Eurosports, but
probably worth looking at and possibly worth considering. Many of us
will think we can do as well, or better, for less, on anything,
"someday". Yet another project for the tail end of the queue.

Enjoy yours,

John H
Raleigh NC

164 base
Milano Platinum
MBz C 230 Kompressor coupe
Too many various 115 (ideal) & 116 (dubious) tintop projects
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided