Inexpensive Body Cart

I was at that point in my 1967 MGB/GT with 3.4L and T5 project where I had to decide how far I was going to go with the body restoration. The two options I considered were limit the work to the body and not the undercarriage or stip the car down to the bare shell. The first option would allow me to finish the car sooner as any suspension rebuilds would be done in place. The second option obviously involves more work and time but you can be sure of the condition of all panels and the quality of the final finish top and bottom. Since I’m retired, time wasn’t an issue so I decided on the second option but realized I would need some type of body cart for the shell. The cheapest cart I could find was about $400 plus shipping which was more than I wanted to spend. There was an article in the April issue of Street Rodder on building a cart out of wood which was interesting but it was mostly for moving the body around and limited how much work could be done on the bottom of the shell. So, I sketched out a simple design which worked out pretty good and cost less than $150. The main frame is 3" x 3" 11 gauge square steel tube, the uprights are 2" x 2" x .125" square steel tube, and the wheels are 8" units from Harbor Freight. The rear uprights connect to the front perches of the rear leaf springs and the front uprights connect to the front crossmember mounting hole. There’s plenty of space under the car to work on the undercarriage and be able to move the shell around the garage.

Cool!

Here's another approach: http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Car-Dolly-Project.htm

Nice work, but you're going to wish that you could roll that shell over!

The cart looks very good. I made the same decision when looking at how far to go with the body work on my car as well. It is now painted top and bottom and though it was alot of work, looking back I am glad I made the extra effort. If nothing else the body is nice and clean and easy to work with.

Ryan Reis Wrote:

Not a lot more room though Jim, the rotisserie I built is much lighter than yours and is pretty compact. I wouldn't hold a car with the drive train installed but is fine for a bare body. http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Auto-Body-Rotisserie.htm

I wish that I had the room for a rotisserie in the garage but unfortunately I don't so the cart is the next best thing. At least now I can push it outside to bet it blasted. Thanks for your comments and input.

I opted to have my cart support the car closer to the rockers so I could attach the suspension with the cart still in place. Essentially, the rails run under the (membrane?) bottom piece of the sill assembly without blocking the spring hangers or front crossmember boltholes. Essentially it was made from the center section of my rotisserie after I was done sandblasting, but still painting.
1000 ways to skin a cat!

NIce cart. I just wonder, I am asking. It would be nice to attached a hinge and a jack to the cart, so that the shell could be tilted to apoint. That would be great to be able to work ounder the car at a angle. Not as good as the rotisserie like Bill's (very nice) but it would help.
Very nice idea Ron L.

How about using the bumper brackets for supporting the cart? I am thinking of building a cart for my future B project, Any ideas?

Bill,

I like the idea of attaching the cart to the bumper mounts. I had considered the rear leaf spring mounts but I would have had to buy two 20' pieces of 3"x3" tubing.
Basically I selected the mount positions to fit the size of the cart I could make from a single piece of steel. Before I mounted the cart, I cleaned, stripped, and painted the areas with POR 15 knowing these areas would be missed by the painter.

Everyone has good ideas. It's just a matter of finding something that works for you and your budget.

I have an old mill cart that works pretty well. They used it at the mill to move sacks of grain around the place. Has two very large wheels with solid rubber treads and a pair of casters about 6" dia, and a flat steel bed about 16" high. Can't get to the center of a body with it, but it's real convenient for being able to move it around.

Jim

Bill, just use two engine stands attached to the bumper mounts. Take off the front wheels of the stands and build a 2x2" box between them (you need 3-8' pieces of steel, 1 cut in half) and mount the wheels and stands to the steel box. The box supports the car better while you're moving it around, since the wheels are further outboard, and you can have your rotisserie. Since the wheels are already on it, you can weld on a couple rails later to use it as a cart. Total cost is about $125 and a half a day of screwing around with some of your favorite tools!!!

Otherwise if you just want a cart, I'd search for body holes that will hook and support the car just by setting it onto the cart, out of the way of the suspension. Otherwise you have to round up a bunch of guys of you want to put it on or take it off the cart. I can't even get guys to show up around here if I have good beer in the fridge! :)

It sounds good Jeff. Perhaps I can use some front wheel hubs and attached the mounting section for the bumpers, this way it would turn a bit easier and use a pin and hole for lock down in place. Just thinking via the key board.

Jeff, an engine stand is not that tall. Did you extended the center post. Also some engine stands have the mounting section at an angle, did you straighten this portion?

I like Bill's but your idea is simpler. Perhaps also use heavy duty (industrial) casters for easy mobility.

Or do you guys suggest using regular wheels? I need to put the project aside every evening, so easy rolling is a must, my grand kids are not old enough to push my stuff around, I would have to wait a few years.

A lot of engine stands have the head inclined a few degrees and not parallel to the ground, make sure you have a stand that is parallel so that the two can rotate together and not bind. Another down side of engine stands is that usually the rear wheels are not casters, not a problem with only three wheels but bolt another one on the other end and you don't have any steering for the rotisserie once the body's mounted. By the time you add the cost of extending the heads hight enough, adding casters, and possibly modifying the head angle I though it would be easier to just build my own rather than modify a couple of the cheaper HF type units.

Bill, what do you think about using the B hubs for ease of rotating? and a hole and pin lock down.

A B hub works fine, if you reverse the rotor you can bolt a square tube or channel to it. It does add length though. I really liked the cantilevered design with height adjustment built by Peter van de Velde:
http://www.britishv8.org/MG/PeterVanDeVelde.htm
If I was building one from scratch this is the way I would do it.

Jim

His "cart" is a pretty slick design too.

Jim

Very nice Jim.The dash is similar to one of ideas, except mine is going to have wood and leather,Vantage Bently style.
Very nice equipment.

Ok, I think I will use the MG hubs, I may integrate two long tube jacks (hydraulic rams) to each pedestal, so that the car can be bolted while in the ground, then raised to desire high.
The hubs have four studs, which can be used for supporting the horizontal arm, where the rotor bolts to the hub, a disc, like a rotor with holes can be attached to the hub and a pin to lcok in place.

I saw a heavy duty engine stand, (Harbour Freight) the upper section is straigh (maybe this will work) The rotisserie can also be used as a cart if bolted to sections that will not interfere with the front and rear suspension.

I am just fishing here for ideas.

An old neighbor of mine builds industrial car rotisseries. His have a crank system (like used to pull a boat onto a trailer) to raise the car to any height you want. then it rotates by pulling a spring-loaded pin.

Mine was built using two stock engine stands with the straight pivots, so no modifications. The car wouldn't fully rotate, rather just far enough to get a good approach angle. It was sufficient considering how little time or money I had into it. It was designed for a single use and the bumper brackets were eventually passed on to another forum member.