Rotisserie question for Targa

[nm912e]

I have a 71Targa that I would like to restore the suspension and remove and restore the undercoating. The car is complete and intact with no rust. The motor and transmission are out as of last week for a refresh.
My question is can I put the car on a rotisserie without welding in any bracing?
The roof, glass and doors will all be on the car. I'll just remove the bumpers, tires and wheels. When it's up on the rotisserie I will remove the suspension and restore the undercarriage.
The rotisserie I have is made for a Porsche and will attach to the front bumper mounts and engine mounts in back.

I don't want to tweek the chassi and am just concerned about the weight of the body parts like doors hood ,glass and interior.

Rick

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by nm912e

I have a 71Targa that I would like to restore the suspension and remove and restore the undercoating. The car is complete and intact with no rust. The motor and transmission are out as of last week for a refresh.
My question is can I put the car on a rotisserie without welding in any bracing?
The roof, glass and doors will all be on the car. I'll just remove the bumpers, tires and wheels. When it's up on the rotisserie I will remove the suspension and restore the undercarriage.
The rotisserie I have is made for a Porsche and will attach to the front bumper mounts and engine mounts in back.

I don't want to tweek the chassi and am just concerned about the weight of the body parts like doors hood ,glass and interior.

Rick

Rick,

The targa body will flex and that’s a fact of life. Install additional steel braces to minimize the body flex for your targa using the door frame of the chassis. A cross-brace for additional rigidity.

Tony

[nm912e]

Thanks Tony, I may have to go a different route, I'm not going to weld to my door frames (A&B pillar) and am not sure how I could brace without welding.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

This is what I did and did weld M10 nuts to the rollbar. Thick wall tube and one side reverse thread allowed for proper tension. Worked beautifully.

[Mixed76]

Brace from both door hinge points to door latch point. Use the existing holes to bolt to.

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[Eric Hahl]

I'd be surprised if it needs any extra bracing as you mentioned the doors and roof are staying on. If the car can drive down the road without bending in half it can be rotated on a rotisserie without all the engine/transmission weight.

[john walker's workshop]

Keep the doors shut. Kinda heavy, as opposed to a bare shell on the rotisserie. Hope it's stout and the car is well balanced so it doesn't flop upside down.

[r_towle]

This is similar to what is needed when putting a 914 on a rottisierre. Take a look at this, and the pics above.

https://tangerineracing.com/shop/ols/products/4-rod-chassis-door-brace-set

[Mixed76]

Originally Posted by r_towle

This is similar to what is needed when putting a 914 on a rottisierre. Take a look at this, and the pics above.



https://tangerineracing.com/shop/ols/products/4-rod-chassis-door-brace-set

Exactly that. Can do it with any old angle iron too.

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[nm912e]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

I'd be surprised if it needs any extra bracing as you mentioned the doors and roof are staying on. If the car can drive down the road without bending in half it can be rotated on a rotisserie without all the engine/transmission weight.

This is the one I'd hoped I would have been able to do , I was kinda leaning towards if it can handle the rigors of the road then can it be suspended if the doors are on and stay shut
.
Maybe a hybrid of all the suggestions, leave the doors on and closed but pull the top and make a crossed brace and front to back tubing roof jig that would be stiffer than the foldable roof panel.

Also I was thinking that most of the bracing was needed when you are going to cut out metal for repair, this one doesnt need metal work.

[Mixed76]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

I'd be surprised if it needs any extra bracing as you mentioned the doors and roof are staying on. If the car can drive down the road without bending in half it can be rotated on a rotisserie without all the engine/transmission weight.

If you were suspending it at the wheel/ torsion bar locations it would be about same as driving on the road. The extra length from suspending it by the bumper areas increases the bending moment.

It still might be fine but I prefer the door bracing.

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[r_towle]

If you weld the doors shut temporarily, sure

[BK911]

A decent dolly will get you access to all the suspension, brakes and steering components.

[nm912e]

Originally Posted by BK911

A decent dolly will get you access to all the suspension, brakes and steering components.

I have a couple of them but wanted to have the undercoat work facing me from a vertical position not on my back from a horizontal position.

[930cabman]

What is your plan to remove the undercoating? I have heard brake cleaner, but it just makes a mess for me. Dry Ice blasting maybe?

[Zeke]

I don't get on the 911 forum much these days, but I was very active here for a long time and have read 100's of posts about rotisseries. As John Walker said (listen to him) that's a lot of weight to hang on a rotisserie. So you need a very beefy (read costly) fixture to hold the car. I personally would not use the one pictured made out of engine stands unless longer outriggers were put in.

The thought about the normal bearing points vs. the bumper attachment points is valid. Removing the doors (no easy task being that there are electrics involved) will not be that difficult to reinstall if you mark everything. Adding bolt in braces will definitely help and the car will be that much lighter.

Removing as much as you can like the seats is all going to help, You're still dealing with nearly a ton. Of course it will get lighter as you remove the suspension. so I'd consider doing all of the above before rotating the car. Then as light as it's going to get, flip it and do the undercoating work you propose.

Get the car back level and then start adding back the weight. The doors should be removed and the adjustable rod end style bracing installed while the car is still on the ground. Spanning the Targa bar to the windshield frame will have minimum effect.

I can't find a pic of the door braces a lot of people use. Maybe someone knows what I'm talking about.

I found something similar. These are pro made which is not necessary:

[targa80]

Below is an old post (2003) of my 80 targa stripped down and on a rotisserie. I did not weld any body support bars in the door frames and I had no issues with tweaking the body frame. The car was completely stripped of all parts before mounting on the rotisserie.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/101371-im-having-barbequed-porsche-rotisserie.html?highlight=Rotisserie

This is my car now.

[Discseven]

^ Nice work Pat.

[targa80]

Originally Posted by 930cabman

What is your plan to remove the undercoating? I have heard brake cleaner, but it just makes a mess for me. Dry Ice blasting maybe?

Another old post from 2004.
This is the fastest way I found to remove the bulk of the undercoating.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/145654-ultimate-undercoating-scraper-cheap-jeri-rig.html?highlight=Scraper

[Classic11]

Why are you removing the undercoating on a rust free car to begin with?