mydatsunroadster.com

I spent the afternoon building a stand to hold the body of the car up so it will be easy to work on and so I can move it away from the frame to work on that. I got the plan from Mark Sedlack's website, and followed it to the letter with just a couple of additions to suit my particular situation. One thing, although his parts list on the plan says you need five 2x6s, I count that you actually need six (two for the four uprights, two for the base pieces, and two more for the cross-pieces that the body rests on).

In any case I know of a few people who have used his plan so it is proven to hold the weight of the body. I'm planning to put mine on some heavy-duty casters so I can wheel it around so I'm adding a couple of lateral cross-braces. I began with a stack of lumber.
Two of the 2x6s I cut in half to act as the four upright pieces. I made a jig by drilling two holes into a scrap of 2x6. Then I drilled two sets of 1/2" holes in each upright pieces so the pieces the frame rests on can be set at two different levels.
I cut down two more of the 2x6s to 92 1/2 inches to act as the bottom (foot) pieces. I nailed the uprights into each end of the foot pieces using sixteen penny nails. I also used the recommended L-brackets with some 1 1/4 inch screws to strengthen the insides of those joints. I cut three of the 2x4s into angle braces to further strengthen the uprights. The shorter braces are 12" long on the short length, with 45 degree miter cuts on each end. They all came out of one eight foot 2x4. The longer angle braces are three feet long on the short length and two came out of two more 2x4s. I nailed the cross braces in place, making sure the brackets were square. Next I cut the pieces that run laterally across the two assemblies I'd already built. Those 2x6s I cut to 74" in length. Using the same jig I drilled 1/2" holes in each end of both pieces. Those pieces bolt the two sides of the frame together with two 4" long carriage bolts with washers and nuts. I finished up the stand with several more L-brackets and screws to secure the 90 degree joints. Since I intend to put casters at the four corners of the stand, I added a piece for lateral bracing on one end. I secured a 74" 2x4 using four 3" screws at each end plus some more L-brackets. The other end I will leave open but may fashion some sort of temporary bracing in that direction. This piece really tightened up the end of the stand.
Now the structure is complete and I just need to find some casters with wheels to bolt onto the bottom.