Levitating bodywork

[Ben]

Working in smaller spaces is sometimes quite challenging, thus I needed to figure out where to store my center spider. My only idea was to hang it from the garage door rails.

The garage door is a single-wide that is steel inside and out with insulation. So, I guestimate that it weighs more than the spider, or at least I hope so.:stunned:

I built a support frame out of 2x4's, which is suspended from the door rails by 1/8th triple clamped wire. The frame is built to the exact width of the spider when mounted on the car, and I bolted them together to help prevent distortion.

Now I can get going on running the coolant and brake lines

 

[Matt K]

Looks good! Can't wait to see the final product. You've got a loyal blog reader over here :shy:

 

[Larry L.]

You have more 'guts' than I!

I think I'd have located the ceiling joists somewhere in the garage ('have no idea how much ceiling area is available), installed some stout screw eyes (maybe a pulley setup) and suspended it from them.

Besides, who knows, sometime you might have a need to open that garage door.
:thumbsup: :chug:

 

[Ben]

Thanks Matt! Feel free to chime in on any of the entries.

Larry: More guts, or less brains? I think the latter.

I thought about using a joist, but then I would have to buy a huge ladder. I don't have a neighbor that I can borrow one from. It won't be long before we get snowed in up here, so opening the garage door won't be an issue. In fact, the garage door hadn't been opened in over a year before the SLC delivery.

 

[Ken Roberts]

Hey that's cool. I'll need to do something similar here.

 

[Ben]

I'll call the garage door company in the morning to find out what the weight of the door is. Maybe they can tell me the weight limit of the door rails?

 

[Ken Roberts]

Two 12' fence posts (6" diam) cut in half would also hold it up at each corner. That's what I bought.

 

[Ben Whittle]

You've got it home! Yes!

 

[Ben]

Two 12' fence posts (6" diam) cut in half would also hold it up at each corner. That's what I bought.

That's a pretty good idea, which I might use if the conversation with the garage door company dictates so.

Yes Sir Ben.

Say, speaking of my build blog; despite just taking delivery of the car a few weeks ago, I can't believe that I already have 13,000+ followers from all over the world, and I just took delivery of the car a few weeks ago. Says something about the car doesn't it?

 

[Larry L.]

...so opening the garage door won't be an issue. In fact, the garage door hadn't been opened in over a year before the SLC delivery.

Evidently you've never heard of "Murphy's Law"!

...Maybe they can tell me the weight limit of the door rails?

...that limit - in actual practice - would totally depend on what the rail's mounting screws/lag bolts were sunk into and how far. IOW, 'your results may vary'. :sneaky:

 

[Ben]

Looks like the rails are mounted to a joist with 2 lag bolts each, but I have no idea how long they are.

The door is 9'x8', and 2-5/8ths thick. Insulation is sandwiched between 19ga steel panels inside and out. They are pretty heavy. I just hope the door outweighs the bodywork by a reasonable amount:embarassed:

I looked at the other garage door, which is 16'x8', and the rails are bolted to the joists using only 2 lag bolts. Both doors use the same rail system. I would imagine that the door is almost twice the weight.

 

[Alex]

It's all good as long as no cables snap while you're sleeping :O

 

[Ben]

Cables are rated for 358Lbs, so I should be good.

Just got off the phone with Ankmar, the maker of the door. They say that, including hardware/struts, the door weighs 168Lbs. :uneasy:

 

[Dave Lindemann]

Cables are rated for 358Lbs, so I should be good.

Just got off the phone with Ankmar, the maker of the door. They say that, including hardware/struts, the door weighs 168Lbs. :uneasy:

Ben - I don't know for sure (yet) what the spider weighs but I think you're fine as long as the door stays closed. I've done pull-ups from a garage door rail (don't ask why....) and I know I weigh significantly more than the SLC spider!

Dave L

 

[Vidal]

Nice,

Working in my two car garage required me to store my body suspended from the ceiling.

I used bicycle hoist lag bolted to the ceiling joist. The use of them made it a one man job. I added the straps for security once the body/hood were in place. I garage ceiling is just shy of 10' and I'm only 70"s so there was ~7 inches of clearance for walking under the body without issue.

....:stunned:.... It's a GTM, but the concept fits .......

 

[Graeme Stebbing]

Hi, I found this on a site looks like it works if you have limited space, and looks safer than it hanging, and you can wheel it away outside when you need the extra head height.

 

[Vidal]

Hi, I found this on a site looks like it works if you have limited space, and looks safer than it hanging, and you can wheel it away outside when you need the extra head height.

That would be an option for a one-car garage with a low ceiling.

Where there's a will there's a way.

 

[Ben]

That's pretty nice. I decided to take a little weight off of the garage door rails by adding some 2x4 "leg posts" at the four corners. So far so good! If not, I'll be doing more bodywork than planned.

 

[Cam]

I remember those days....

 

[Ben]

Actually Cam, I got the idea of hanging the bodywork when I saw your photo a while ago. So, thanks for posting that photo.