The Rotisserie .

I went back and forth I my head whether or not build a rotisserie. What kind of car am I building? Is this model a rare collectible? NO. Is this going to be a show car? NO. Is this going to be a car I’m keeping forever? MAYBE. It’s going to be a daily driver…nothing more. The spirit of the entire project was to do it all myself and since I’ve never restored a car before, but if I’m going to do it…I need to go as far as I can. Besides…crawling under the car to clean off the grime, grit and rust with everything falling in my mouth, eyes, and ears was getting old. Yes I wore goggles and a dust mask…but it was still a mess.

Matt Hargrove has an excellent rotisserie design that looks strong and seems easy to build so I decided to follow his plans. So the first thing I did was to print out the material list Matt had put together and go off to my local metal supply house. I was able to get 80% of everything I needed on that first visit right out of the scrap bins and that was enough to get me started.

The plan was to cut and drill everything before the first welds to take advantage of my drill press. I didn’t want to be drilling through 3/16” steel with my cordless drill.

I needed to modify Matt’s design slightly to accommodate how I was going to be attaching my Comet to the swing arms. I decided to use 1”x2”x12” solid bar and bolt those to the bumper mounting points. I could probably have used ½” x 2” solid bar but I used what I found.

Before drilling into 1” of steel, I wanted to make sure I made an accurate wooden template so I know exactly where the holes should be. If I’m a 1/16” off, it’s hard to ream out a hole in thick steel without getting a bigger drill bit.

Once I got the measurements, I transferred them to the steal bars and drilled them through…Here are both the front bars loosely bolted into place.

I then repeated the process for the rear bars.

The next step was to weld the solid bars to the swing arm adjustment sleeves. I needed to weld this solidly because the last thing I need was for the car to come crashing to the ground because of bad welds.

I cleaned the surfaces of both pieces and deeply beveled the solid bar to help get deep penetration.

Since the two sleeves needed to slide on to the swing arm, I needed to align all the parts prior to tacking things into place. Once that was done, I welded the adjustment sleeves to the solid bars. For added strength, I also welded gussets on both sides of the bar.

Here’s another view of how the solid bars are attached to the chassis.

I then did the same thing to the rear bars.

I then took both the front and rear horizontal swing arm pieces and drilled holes for the adjustment pins.

The next step for me was to use a 3” hole saw to the top of the main upright tube to form a notch to accept the rotator sleeve. I took my time and kept the saw well oiled and pressed down very slowly. This process threw oil and bits of metal all over the place including my chest. I finished with a nice oil strip across my shirt.

I next cut the sleeve tube to length and cleaned and de-burred the metal to prep for the welding.

Here’s the welds…You can also see the safety pin holes and the grease fitting hole.

With many of the pieces cut and pre-drilled, I started putting everything together. In the below picture, I’ve already welded the bottom “T” and an preparing to weld the upper vertical piece.

Next I clamped the front wheel mounts into place and got those welded in…

Here are both front wheel mounts and the main vertical upright in place. Matt’s design is starting to take shape.

I then welded the rear wheel mounts and the two support bars.

This thing is very heavy so I temporarily finished tapping the caster holes and mounted the wheels to make moving it around easier. I also welded on the support gusset between the upper and lower tubes.

As part of the rotating assembly, I then welded the vertical adjustment sleeve to the rotating pin. I still need to cut back the support gussets I added.

Once that was done, I then welded on the vertical tube of the swing arm to the horizontal piece of the swing arm and ensured that they were square to each other. I also added support gussets on both sides.

The next step was to wash everything in the driveway. The metal was streaked with oil from all the holes I had drilled. I removed the casters I had temporarily installed for the washing and painting.

I selected a dark copper color using a Rust-oleum paint with the hammered finish. Here’s how they look painted.

Here’s the attachment pieces…

…and the swing arms…

Next I completed the sleeve and pin assemblies and bolted everything together. Here are the front and rear assemblies positioned in place.

Next I pushed then in and bolted everything up…

Here are close-ups of the front and rear attachment points…

I attached the swing arms to the lowest positions possible at first. I wanted to make sure the welds held up and everything was stable. I then tried to turn it but because we had it in the lowest position, it was very bottom heavy.

I used a floor jack and a 4x4 across the bottom of the Comet to lift her into position. We went between the front and back until we got her to where we thought she should be. In the back, we ended up lifting the Comet to it’s highest position! The front still has a couple notches for lifting but the guys helping needed to go so I’ll have to push her up next time.

Here the rear swing arm positioned in its highest position.

Here’s the front with a couple more holes for lifting.

The turn is much easier now but once I move the front to it’s highest position, I think it will turn much more easier.

This is the most it will turn because the rear fender hits the caster cross member! When I did my measurements, I didn’t consider that the cross bar would take away 2”.

Sooooo…I cut out the caster cross member…

…and this gave me the clearance I needed to turn the Comet completely perpendicular to the ground…As you can see, I have about 1/2” in clearance.