Bennyz Rod Shop Restoration

Man they are going to love that! I’m really curious to know what the experience is like rotating the thing, especially with no visible counter weights. I plan on building a cheap and compact rotisserie, but I am worried about rotating it. I suppose having four men and one orange-capped teenager in the shop helps.
 
Also, I just threw away those angled under-seat sheet metal supports. I was out of time to remove them. I have local access to another parts car if they want to avoid fabricating that area. Maybe W&N makes them, I don’t know...

8ECACF5E-7994-46D5-966E-33C183AA820E.jpeg
 
I am always fascinated to see how different people/shops chose to attach/connect the rotisserie to our "frameless" coupes. There is generally a different approach to connection points, temporary bracing, etc depending on who is doing it and what state the car is in. I have a plan in mind for mine, and hope to fascinate the forum with it eventually. :D Bennyz approach is different than what I think I've seen - specifically on the rear.
 
autokunst said:
I am always fascinated to see how different people/shops chose to attach/connect the rotisserie to our "frameless" coupes. There is generally a different approach to connection points, temporary bracing, etc depending on who is doing it and what state the car is in. I have a plan in mind for mine, and hope to fascinate the forum with it eventually. :D Bennyz approach is different than what I think I've seen - specifically on the rear.
Click to expand...

He used the bumper mounting points, which isn’t uncommon for cars that actually have sturdy bracing there. For a euro or pre-74 e9, that is just a sheet metal attachment. What we are looking at here is the US 1974 reinforced bumper mounting points.

I intend to use the suspension pickup points for my “someday” setup.
 
teahead said:
Other folks' method.
Click to expand...
I rather like that. I am contemplating similar mounting points, but also incorporating a continuous "beam" under the car so the car itself doesn't have to span between the two sides of the rotisserie. Kind of a hybrid between a rotisserie and a frame rack. But that does sound heavy... :eek:
 
Markos said:
What we are looking at here is the US 1974 reinforced bumper mounting points.
Click to expand...
I didn't realize that the rear bumper mounts were so far out to the sides, and that rigid to the rest of the shell that they can support the weight of the car so far rearward of the rear subframe mounts. I don't know a lot about these cars, but what I do know seems to be limited to pre-74 spec. Its all about the bumpers. :D
 
autokunst said:
I didn't realize that the rear bumper mounts were so far out to the sides, and that rigid to the rest of the shell that they can support the weight of the car so far rearward of the rear subframe mounts. I don't know a lot about these cars, but what I do know seems to be limited to pre-74 spec. Its all about the bumpers. :D
Click to expand...

I just recently became familiar with the rear of the car. I’m not an automotive engineer but the limitations of the pre-74 design are pretty apparent upon dissection.

I like the pic that @teajead posted, but Bennyz will likely be just fine. The shell is quite heavy though You can pick up the front of the shell by hand but the back weighs a lot. Doing the math in my head, I would guess that the whole shell weighs about 900lbs. That is based off of me sending 480lbs to the scrap yard.

There is no e9 rear “frame rail”. The whole back end is flimsy sheet metal. The rear wheel arches serve as the frame. Particularly the tubular structure at the crest of the arch. They are quite stout. If you look at the 74, they moved the bumper points inline with the arches, and made a shark fin that goes from the arch to the tail light (visible inside the trunk).

Here is a pre-74 (Thanks Sven). The bumper mount is directly below the tail. They won’t survive the tiniest collision. See that there is basically just sheet metal back there. A small piece of angle iron that braces the thin rear sheet metal to the thin floor sheet metal. The last thing to note is the tubular structure above the arch. The wheel arch is where all of the strength is at, and they played off that with the US ‘74:

8886256D-3686-4327-A209-6A8F2E8979F3.jpeg
 
Markos said:
There is no e9 rear “frame rail”. The whole back end is flimsy sheet metal.
Click to expand...
Exactly. This is why I prefer to support the car in the same manner as the rear subframe. The thinking is that with that support, I can assume that the stresses on the overall chassis will at least be proportionally similar to how the car is when sitting on its wheels (save for the weight of the components). Dangling it from the bumper supports may be fine, but it is not how the car supports itself in situ. At 900 lbs, this might not me too critical - but we'll see what I come up with... :D (probably an over complicated truss below the car...)
 
Cool video. Agreed on getting the wood out to Bela sooner than later. Take a look at the work done for @rsporsche and @Gransin. The Tiger wood looks very cool and would give the car a custom look. Looking forward to seeing more video time with the Don. :D If he billed for every hour that he spent helping the community we would all owe him a hefty sum of money.

Not sure how I feel about your business idea but I know I would watch all of the videos. :D
 
I understand that @sfdon is coming to my town to turn the engine over, or whatever the correct expression is. I will go to shot a video, and hopefully ski with Don.
 
scottevest said:
I understand that @sfdon is coming to my town to turn the engine over, or whatever the correct expression is. I will go to shot a video, and hopefully ski with Don.
Click to expand...


Scott- how about Monday ski at Sun Valley?
Keep in mind I’m just a blue run old guy now with a titanium rod in my leg. Goal is not getting hurt and walking into the bar at the end of the day.
 
Cool vid, thanks Scott.

Curious what blasting media they'll use. Hopefully no SAND on the outer panels. Soda has its issues as far as leaving residue around that can come up during painting. Dustless perhaps? Haven't heard of any bad things about that yet.
 
Floors a lot more shot than originally thought.

Looks like they're doing it all right!

Black paint...what a PITA.

Does that ceramic coat stuff really protect the paint?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top