Interesting alternative car lift/ramp

[prezoom]

I bought a Max Jack last year because of a 8' ceiling. My only complaint is I could use about 5 or 6 more inches of height. Hate working with my head bent over. Thinking of making some extensions that are longer than the ones that come with the lift. But it would take jacking the car up to be able to swing the arms under the car. Getting close to making the modifications to the Plus 2 chassis for the Zetec installation. When I get to that point, I will probably decide if I really need them or not.

[billwill]

I'm thinking I might get one of these, but will it really be OK to lift an S3 Coupe with what will essentially be large flat pads on the fibreglass underneath the seats?

http://www.cjautos.eu/product_p/cl01.htm

I know people here have said they have lifted their Elans at the outside corners near the wheels.

This model is adjustable so it could be used to lift under the door sills; would that be better?

[billwill]

Hmm, does no-one have any thoughts on where underneath the car it is safe to lift an Elan?

[rgh0]

I lift on the corners of the body behind the front wheels and ahead of the rear wheels with my 2 post maxjax. These are the only locations on the fibreglass with enough strength.

Otherwise if jacking up I would lift on the chassis.

In both cases you need use pads or blocks to spread the load sufficiently to avoid localised damage.

cheers
Rohan

[billwill]

Thanks, Rohan.

So It looks as if to use such a tilting lift, we would need extensions on its lift pads so that it goes along the full length of the door sill to the fibreglaas corners near the wheels.

Has anyone ever had the weight of the chassis suspension & transmission cause the metal bits to rip out of the fibreglaas shell, when it is lifted by the corners as described by Rohan?

[mbell]

For my lift i made up some "lift pads" (2x 2x4 studs with foam cover) that run the length of the sills on the +2. I make sure they are as far forward as possible under the front wheel well and still hit the rear seat/sill area. Haven't had any problems but the +2 is a different car to lift with the steel sill members.

That lift does look interesting. Hard to tell scale but my first impression is I'd make a lift pad that targeted the chassis not the sills for an Elan. However I suspect ground clearance may be an issue depending on how the pads were secured. The lift pad would probably need to be quite high to provide exhaust clearance.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Has anyone ever had the weight of the chassis suspension & transmission cause the metal bits to rip out of the fibreglaas shell, when it is lifted by the corners as described by Rohan?

St Wilkins lifts that way all the time and I've often lifted a rear corner on the body which is even more stressful due to the chassis twist.

[rgh0]

HI Bill
I have lifted the chassis and mechanical components with just a handbrake cable that I forgot when lifting the body off so all those bolts do a fine job of holding up the chassis

Photo of the Elan happily supported on the body corners. Never had any sign of problem when using an approximate 100mm square rubber or soft timber (pine) pad in the corners

cheers
Rohan

[billwill]

With the CJAutos 3-in-1 lift pictured above, I imagine that for the tilt facility to work easily, that the lift would need to be under the centre-of-gravity of the car.

Anybody know roughly where that is on an Elan. I expect it is forward of the centre-line between the 4 strongest corners of the body as shown on Rohan's Lift.

[davidc]

i've been looking at this with envy!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... hp?t=35433

[rgh0]

The car centre of gravity is about the bottom of the steering wheel rim with no driver in the car.

cheers
Rohan

[stugilmour]

I purchased the EZ Carlift and absolutely love it. It gives me plenty of headroom underneath and the creates almost no obstruction when I'm shooting around under there on my creeper. Plus, when retracted, it's completely flat for easy storage. Extremely well made, too.

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Thanks for posting. I found this excellent review and unpacking description of the EZ Car Lift here. Really looks very well made. Even found a local to me Triumph owner on their testimonials page, so hoping I can connect and look over some details.

http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/EZLift.htm

jbeach,

What size cross bar are you using with the Elan? The EZ Car Lift web site calls up XMC59-X for the Plus 2 (C indicates custom size) and XM52-X for the Elan. Assuming the "X" in both part numbers indicates the EZ Car Lift is installed cross ways like in your photo? My guess is for the Elan there is insufficient wheelbase to accommodate the 60" ramp length so the EZ Car Lift has to be positioned across to fit? The Plus 2 looks like there is sufficient wheelbase to fit the ramps. Also looks like they are recommending the cross bar length based on wheelbase to allow the pads to be slid inward and lift directly on the frame, where in your pics it looks like you have effectively padded up to the floor pan?

Does the cross bar nominal part number indicate the total width of the assembled lift, or is it a few inches wider? Looking at the unpacking photos it looked like the whole assembly is slightly wider than the bar length, but I don't know if the part number is the exact length of the cross bar or if they have allowed for the slight extra width of the ramps? Am asking is I am thinking the XM64 cross bar will accommodate the Plus 2, Esprit, and my BMW M6, which would be great.

Stu