Sure. We’d all love the convenience and practicality of an auto body rotisserie, but many can’t due to either budget, space, or both — decent automotive rotisseries cost between $1,000 and $2,000.
Building your own automotive rotisserie costs upwards of $500 to do it well, and we don’t mean sketchy solution using Harbor Freight engine stands. If you’d rather build a steel rotisserie, check out these free detailed plans (PDF) from Red Wing Steel Works.
For backyard builders and DIY weekend warriors using a home garage, it should be considered where the automotive rotisserie is stored when not in use. I have this issue now with my engine stands. They are piled up in a corner somewhere.
So what other options do we have to get our cars flipped over to deal with the undercarriage?
A crafty Redditor is restoring a second-generation 1975 Chevrolet Camaro — With the mechanicals removed, the next task was to strip some paint from the underside of the body and weld in new suspension mounts.
Both jobs that would be far easier if the car were on its side, as opposed to overhead, as in up on a lift. Here is a quick demonstration of wooden tip-over jig made from dimensional lumber and plywood.
Flipped my 75 Camaro over from r/specializedtools
DIY Wooden Tip-Over Jig and Plans
Call it what you like: tip-over jig, wooden rotisserie, redneck rotisserie, rollover jig, whatever this is a solid solution for easily accessing the bottom-side of your ride on the cheap.
RestoCar shows you how they built a wooden tip-over jig for their 1971 Chevy Camaro project car as an alternative to purchasing a rotisserie.
They built this wooden tip-over jig for under $150. This wooden tip-over jig should work for most F-body cars but can be easily modified and adapted to fit many other classic cars and projects.
Front Tip-Over Jig Plans
Rear Tip-Over Jig Plans
Full plans, cut list, and complete instructions are available free on RestoCar’s website.
