Dolly for a Car Shell

[BChild]

So I'm working on a car and it needs "repairs" that need to to be stripped to a shell



My garage is narrow so I can really maximise space to work around the car by parking it on a moveable "Dolly" that can move in any direction



So this week I got to the point where I could strip the car no more - suspension wheels and brakes were all still under the car so I could move it and they all needed to come off



So 11m of 40 x 40 x 2 mm box section sourced collected and brought home (in the Mrs BC's car)



Knocked up the basic frame and welded on 5mm plates for the wheels to sit on



At the time I didn't have the wheels but then I got them (spot the odd one out ordered two braked and two unbraked)



They are rated I think to around 250kgs each (four on a 1000 kg wheelie bin normally)

Drilled the plates to suit the wheels - yeah would have been so much easier to have done the plates before I welded them to the frame but where there is a will there's a way





Then bolt the wheels on and it rolls - want to make the car supports removable on this one so that once the car is finished I can take wheels and body supports off and store it against a wall - it's the third one I've made in 5 years....... The round tube is a nice size to insert 40mm box into so 4 of those will provide the location points for the sill supports



Get the car in the air



Dolly underneath



Miggy miggy let's get busy



I'm supporting the shell on the sills because the inner sill was good and the outer sills have been replaced and it's way better condition than some of the chassis rails



Moment of truth was raising the car up and removing the supports



And from the side



Once the crossmember, suspension, hubs and brakes is removed from the front and the axle and brakes plus four link and suspension is removed from the rear it should be easy to move about and all the areas I want to get at are a nicer working height

 

[eSCHEn]

Great job Mr B, looks very useful and easy to knock up new rails for different sized vehicles if needed.

 

[BChild]

Great job Mr B, looks very useful and easy to knock up new rails for different sized vehicles if needed.

Yeah - 3rd one I've built - keep changing and improving - planning on keeping this one and adapting to suit whatever I do next after the rally Monza (which already has one under it)

The other one went with a shell on it

 

[jpmillermatic]

nice job so far, B....great idea.....with a narrow space like you have, I can understand why you need to maximize the ability to move things around..even if its just enough to work on one side, then the other.....

I have seen one like this that incorporated hinges on both sides...then the shell can be lifted for work on rockers and such...I think the hinges were made from tubing welded to the frame with a clevis pin running through them...

JP

 

[Wallace]

Nice frame, like the Commodore too. I did something similar here as an addition to a car roller.

 

[BChild]

Nice frame, like the Commodore too. I did something similar here as an addition to a car roller.

That's something I'm probably going to need sooner or later - I was leaning towards rottisarie but I like what your did

 

[BChild]

nice job so far, B....great idea.....with a narrow space like you have, I can understand why you need to maximize the ability to move things around..even if its just enough to work on one side, then the other.....

I have seen one like this that incorporated hinges on both sides...then the shell can be lifted for work on rockers and such...I think the hinges were made from tubing welded to the frame with a clevis pin running through them...

JP

Space is always my issue and making best use of it needs careful thought. will be better when the cars are together

 

[Wallace]

That's something I'm probably going to need sooner or later - I was leaning towards rottisarie but I like what your did

Thanks, necessity is the Motherhood of invention! The work I have done on that car would have been much easier with a rotisserie but the garage is too short to accommodate the framework and move around the car without opening one of the doors. Turning the car round with the Autovip roller is a bit of a ballache but using the dolly I can do it on my own in around an hour and being able to lock the castors is a bonus as you can turn the car 180° in a small area. The next car to do is a '78 Manta so I will probably build a rotisserie on wheels for that as it's shorter than the Jensen and likely sell the Autovip. Is the Commodore yours?

 

[jpmillermatic]

I had an Opel or two in my younger days...I liked them quite a bit...being a Yank, we didnt have access to them for very long, but we did get the manta, GT and Kadett....

cool project.

 

[BChild]

Thanks, necessity is the Motherhood of invention! The work I have done on that car would have been much easier with a rotisserie but the garage is too short to accommodate the framework and move around the car without opening one of the doors. Turning the car round with the Autovip roller is a bit of a ballache but using the dolly I can do it on my own in around an hour and being able to lock the castors is a bonus as you can turn the car 180° in a small area. The next car to do is a '78 Manta so I will probably build a rotisserie on wheels for that as it's shorter than the Jensen and likely sell the Autovip.

Sounds like a good plan - I might be interested in the Autovip when the time comes?

Is the Commodore yours?

Yes - I thought that was an odd question - can I ask why you ask that?

 

[Wallace]

I'll keep you updated on the Autovip. I asked if the car was yours as reading the sentence in the first post "So I'm working on a car and it needs "repairs that need to to be stripped to a shell" sounded like you might be working on it for someone else.

 

[BChild]

I'll keep you updated on the Autovip. I asked if the car was yours as reading the sentence in the first post "So I'm working on a car and it needs "repairs that need to to be stripped to a shell" sounded like you might be working on it for someone else.

Ok, now I understand. I should have put needs to be striped to half a shell

 

[BChild]

OK some explanation of what I am doing before everyone gets confused

I love Opel Monzas - I love the way they handle and drive and in the case of mine I love the 24V lump I threw in it - loved it more when I put old school sidedrafts on it.



However after many years of tracking my Monza I ran out of talent and stuck it on its roof which didn't make it very pretty (still got it bashed into shape and finished the track day) - I always reckoned if I got a few years out of it before binning it I'd be happy and I exceeded those expectations but it's pretty battered and RRG2012 was it's last outing as a track car I just needed to work out how to resurrect it.

Have a picture from RRG2012



it looked OK but much better before the oooops moment in France.



So after RRG2012 I parked the Monza up (OK abandoned it on the drive) and concentrated on getting another long time owned car back on the road for RRG13 - this took me way longer than I wanted and missed my deadline by a year however even when working on the Lotus I kept spending way too long thinking about what to do with the Monza.

Big green thing at RRG14



Now many years ago I bought a 1972 Opel Commodore B - 2 door coupe and I had some intentions of getting it back on the road but to be honest I was having way too much fun with the Monza to worry about it so I got it solid on top and kept it as a back up project floor pan and chassis rails still needed some work.

So where is all this going I'm sure you are saying

Original Plan A was to transfer all the running gear into the Commodore but I'd have ended up with a live axle and I'd need new suspension to suit as well as a tunnel enlargement to take the getrag box and then the car would need a cage so I'd be doing it all again and that didn't float my boat especialy as all the chassis, suspension, running gear and engine and box are really good on the Monza. It has an 8 point welded in cage that ties everything together.

So I started thinking (this is bad) because my thoughts normally exceed my abilities.....

I could have re-shelled the Monza into another Monza but I'd still have the issue of transfering the cage and I've already accidently got another Monza project anyway plus I'm actually banned from owning two of anything apparently (it seems to be a rule that I'd broken a few times)

So my biggest problem is space (isn't everyones?) and needing to keep the Green Thing and the Rally Monza garaged means that driveway working is the consequence and I'm getting a little old for that and Mrs BC gets a little pissy when I cut cars up on the drive.

Well just before Xmas a friend agreed to store the Lotus for me (once he cleared his garaged) and a few months ago the Lotus finally moved to it's three month holiday home leaving me with a space in the garage......

So I got busy with my Plasma cutter and removed the body of the Monza until I was left with a floor pan and roll cage that linked all the suspension points from front to rear and provided some much needed support to stop the floorpan folding in half between the wheels

Cheeky picture with the Monza looking at it's new bodywork when it arrived



So top of Commodore - bottom of Monza - Monzadore or Mongrel?

 

[Wallace]

Are they the same wheelbase? I'm sure someone will buy the Commodore rear end and front hubs off you for a Manta 400 replica!

 

[BChild]

Are they the same wheelbase?

I'm sure someone will buy the Commodore rear end and front hubs off you for a Manta 400 replica!

Had a couple of enquiries - One from Greece one from New Zealand and one from Ireland - so confident I can find them a home

 

[Wallace]

Just some tasteful arches then unless you go for the Group B look. I built a mini Commodore from Manta & Ascona bits some years back.......

 

[BChild]

Just some tasteful arches then unless you go for the Group B look.

I may get away with no arches - seems something went wrong with my tape measure on the track measurements

I built a mini Commodore from Manta & Ascona bits some years back.......

Nice work - looks different in a very good way - I flat fronted an RS2000 many years ago just because I could and I wanted to

 

[BChild]

OK Back to the grind (no pun intended - OK it probably was.....)

So the doors had scabby edges - and a few holes - started at the edge of one with a strip disc and found filler - lots of it so stripped it all out to see what I was dealing with (garage resembled a winter wonderland scene)

One door good - couple of small skin repairs at the corners needed

One door horrible - it's been hit and creased 3/4 of the way along the door and the dent has just been filled with filler - at some points it was an inch deep (25mm for our continental cousins)

I looked for a door skin - yeah right like they are gonna be easy to find

Best I could get was a lower skin repair panel so as I could get that I thought I'd try something first

Ran a slitting disc down the crease and then applied some pressure from behind and the skin closed up again before the dent was out

So I widened the slot

Using what I had to hand (length of 22 mm cooper tube and some cardboard I packed the skin out behind the slit to minimise the dent

Yeah I should have took pictures - I didn't

But after a bit of mig action and then some grinding back I had this


Sure I'll need some filler but not inches of it this time so I can live with that





Tried to take a profile shot but it's not come out that well



I chopped a couple of corners off and using what was left of the Monza door skin added the start of some repair sections





I need to repair the frame of the door in the corners so sticking some repair sections on the skin gives me a base to work with

 

[BChild]

Time to test the dolly (goal support the shell already achieved - support the shell with no internal bracing when the floor is all gone yet to be tested)

Tunnel be gone



Then one side of the floor pan because I now had a hole to stand in





Salvaged for someone



Then a bit more came out (a bit got left in for tommorrow)





Then an easy bit to finish



Followed by a good sweep up

And through the square window

 

[Wallace]

Gulp!