Rollover jigs....

[eddypeck]

I've taken on a new project car, 1988 Mk2 Golf GTI which is rather rotten in the sills and floor area. It's a limited edition 'one in ten million' campaign model to celebrate the production of ten million golfs. Which makes it quite desirable, so I'm really keen to do my best to save it.

I'm thinking a rollover jig is going to be a really good idea when I get stuck into this but it's a reasonable outlay so I want to buy wisely.

I've come across these suppliers, and wondered if anyone has any first hand experience of either or both, or has any other recommendations.

http://www.rolloverjigs.com/store/jigs.html
http://leonbirchall.co.uk/jigs-spits/standard.html

I know another option would be to build my own from scratch but I don't think I'm confident enough to try that yet.

[History]

Roll over jigs are a smashing bit of kit. But for one restoration only and a not very expensive car. It a fair bit cash to lay out.

If you are going to strip to bare shell the shell will be not so heavy.

I have found that by using a floor crane I can get a shell at crazy angles so that I can weld in comfort.

Also think carfully about exactly where the welds are going to be. I try to do welding above rather than under.

Bob

[eddypeck]

I've actually got 2 golf's, one on the road and the project. Once the project is finished it will probably be time to bring the other one off road and give it some attention so I'll get to use it twice at least. Then I can no doubt sell it on through the mk2 golf owners club so I'm no worried about the outlay so much. I'll know more once I've got it stripped which obviously I can do before purchasing one.

Oh and don't underestimate the retro 80s scene ,very lively at the moment. Maybe not true classic status but some of the best examples are fetching between £5000 to £10,000. And as stated this particular one is a very limited edition, I've contacted vw to get figures and it's possible only 200-300 came to the UK, so take off the ones crashed, rotten and scrapped over the years and all the ones ruined by the max power brigade and numbers could be very very low indeed.

Thanks for your input, I'm very much enjoying this forum. Thanks for making me feel welcome even if I'm not quite there with a proper classic.

[History]

Can you find another to share the cost. Not necessarily a golf owner.

By not expensive I meant less than £10,000. I am very aware of the 80s scene. I like Pug 1.9 GTis.

In the scheme of old cars 10k is a not a lot.

Bob

[Flatlander]

From what I can see from the photos of the posted jigs, I would not buy either. Both seem to lack the important feature of height adjustment. This is needed for a number of reasons. First, to enable the body to be mounted in the jig more easily. Secondly, to get the body in balance when it is lifted. To make it easy to turn, the CofG should be in line with the pivot axles.

A nice finesse on some is the use of a worm gear mechanism to actually turn the body. Not only does it make things a lot easier, it also gives an infinate number of automatically locked positions.

[Minxy]

Back in the eighties I worked for the Audi UK factory rally team. In the main we built and maintained Audi quattro's. Now in 85 we were presented with a pre - production / pre type approval Golf 16v by the VW Motorsport programme with a view to eventually build several rally cars, four to be on track at any one time and driven by an Englishman,Welshman,Irishman and Scotsman ( cue jokes). Anyway I digress, the first thing we did was to strip the car in its entirety so as to remove all the sealing and seam weld it. Clearly the easiest way to do this was to make a 'rotisary' type frame so as to turn it. We did this using the bumpers or at least the metalwork, it really was simple and by virtue of the style of the bumper figment there is loads of strength there, for those who don't know the bumper irons pass into the chassis and are bolted through with massive bolts ( also holds the front subframe on so really strong). We made a simple braced three legged frame front and back with a simple pivot, think in terms of a pair of engine stands one at the front one at the back but instead of bolting an engine to the jig we used the bumper. If I recall it only took two of us half a day to knock it together ( although metal was to hand)

[History]

On minis if I remember correctly. A pole could be put through the speedo hole and though a handy removable small panel behind the rear seat and out through the boot.

Two 4 ft high axle stands and a scaffold pole.

Bob

[rich.]

i used to turn them on the side...

[TerryG]

I've repaired my inner sills by cutting a section of the floor out and welding from above. This is possibly not the best way of doing it but I hate welding upside-down. I've done it once and the extra work of repairing the floor is definitely preferable.

[History]

Terry,

I weld floors in the same way. From the top.

If there's a box section under neath and the floor closes the box. Then I drill holes to aline with the boxes flange and plug weld. Or cut the repair panel so the cut alines with the flange centre and use continous welds.

I like to take my time with makin the repair panel and measure stuff and use squares.

I always think carefully about how to make the welding comfortable. Comfort = better job sort of thing.

Also an aide to fire watch.

Bob.