I just finished using mine and it did work fairly easily. Using the centers of the holes the mini is rather well balanced.
I made it out of 50mm box section, some pipes I had lying around and some steel plates.
The stands were 1050mm wide, 500-600mm long and 870mm tall to the center of the pipe (a taller stand could be better as clearance was low).
The pipe simply slid inside the stands and had a series of holes drilled with a pin attached allowing different angles. I also welded a nut on the outside end allowing a bolt to be screwed in at 90* to the pipe, this prevented the pipe from sliding out of the stands.
To mount the pipe to the car I decided to make some plates in both front and back holes (note the holes are different sizes
) this took a while as I had to build up the plates to fit correctly. I then welded some tabs on so I could put a bolt through the mounts and pipe to make them one.
The plates are built up so they sit on the body like they would have in the factory, the bolts are only their to hold the plates in place not to take the weight of the mini. Also this design (in my eyes) is better than the others that bolt to the bulk head and rear parcel shelf as they take up minimum space and allow more access to the firewall and rear parcel shelf/boot. My mini was prepped and painted on the spit and the panel beater said it was the easiest mini he has done to date
.
