Rotisserie Fiat

Looking for some advice/opinions/words of wisdom (or foolishness)

I'm about to put my new X19 project on a rotisserie so that I can lower all of the floors, rework the cooling, do body work comfortably, etc.

Where would you put braces?

My current plan is to put in bars from the upper hinge on each door to the strike plate to prevent sagging.

Since I'm cutting out the majority of the floor, should I also put temporary braces across the floor from rocker to tunnel? Or x brace from shoulder belt mount to outside lower seatbelt mount?

Twist is a big issue when doing the kind of work you propose. For that reason I do not do structural work on a spinner. I create a single plane with the tops of the axle stands ( just means the tops form a level surface, done with wood shims under the stand if needed) 

When I put the car on the stands I do it ins such a way that the body thinks it is is still on the wheels. 

The door bars are not a bad idea on the Fiat. Seldom do I bother when doing MGBs cause the tunnel is not going to bend.

Pete

IIRC, the X 1/9 is seriously overbuilt by unibody standards - something about passing American rollover standards for convertibles that were eventually watered down after the design was locked in. 

But the bars are still probaby a good idea. 

Can you temporarily tie the windshield header to the targa bar with something stiffer than roof panel?

EDIT:  Never mind, just saw the windshield channel rust. 

In reply to psteav (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah, windshield frame is nearly toast. I plan to integrate a full cage with the remains of the windshield once I can actually fit in the car

In reply to NOHOME :

I'll expand on my idea/plan:

I want to run 1x3 box tubes the length of the passenger compartment just inside the pinch welds, with 2 to 3 new cross members connecting the sides to the tunnel. I then plan to put a flat floor under the entire car, allowing me to mount the seat to the new crossmembers much lower than the factory position. Someone my size was never really meant to fit these cars, and from what I can tell a heels higher than butt laid back seat position will be the only way I fit with a helmet on

What would your opinion be if I welded the structural drop sides and cross members to the frame prior to cutting out floor structure? I admit I am trying to avoid scrubbing around on the floor doing overhead welding for several months

I'd do each hinge back to the striker, or even a trellis over the whole door opening, as well as each side to side, maybe even an I beam build table ala Binky. Of course, this is all coming from an idiot who has warped more than one car to E36 M3 doing rust repairs (one was even an X1/9

psteav (Forum Supporter) said:

IIRC, the X 1/9 is seriously overbuilt by unibody standards - something about passing American rollover standards for convertibles that were eventually watered down after the design was locked in. 

This is actually true. X1/9 shells are extraordinarily sturdy...which explains why they weigh so damn much for the size they are. I think just doing the door opening will be plenty adequate.

TheTallOne17 said:

Someone my size was never really meant to fit these cars, and from what I can tell a heels higher than butt laid back seat position will be the only way I fit with a helmet on

I'm 6ft and ran a Fiat 850 so I get it. My eventual fix was to eliminate the aftermarket seat and build / attach a "seat" into the cage. The bottom of the seat, a flat sheet of AL, sat on the floorboard.

With the doors removed will you be putting cross brcing across the interior?

I would weld the doors in place and then cut them free when done.

When I do MGB shells, I leave the doors on and work on a flat surface as I mentioned. If the gaps change, I have a problem and I know right away. I twisted a shell one from inexperience and once will not do that again; no more chassis work on spinners. 

You don't have to finish weld everything on the floor, but getting it flat and well tacked is a good idea. You can also mount the car on the spinner with tube that runs front to rear and supports the tub so that it does not deform.

Sounds like a good opportunity to work on your upside-down welding. Used to scare the crap out of me but now its just a weld.

When I did my rusty E-Type I braced the hell out of it, much like they did with Binky 20 or 30 years later. I did have it on a rotisserie and it made it worlds easier to get quality welds, especially in hard to reach places. 

The flip side is that it also made replacing a few of the panels more difficult, but overall I think it was worth it and the doors and bonnet fit when it was ready for paint.

More braces = more security when cutting out large parts of the car, and also like Binky, I wound up cutting out a LOT of the bottom of my Jag before it started going back together again.

So, I say brace it well, then add a few more and maybe a few after that to tie the others together. That's what I did.....