body swap help......and any other advice

[theelanman]

hi guys,
Im changing the chassis over on my +2 I have a rolling chassis made up with a new galv chassis ready to go under the car...the thing is.....how do I lift the body??....have some strong mates but its gotta go quite high to leave the turrets and engine free so you can roll the old chassis out...
does any one have any tips for doing this and anything I should be looking at or to do whilst I have everything in the air???.....
thanks in advance
cheers
gareth

[types26/36]

hi guys,
...how do I lift the body??....have some strong mates but its gotta go quite high to leave the turrets and engine free so you can roll the old chassis out... does any one have any tips for doing this gareth

Gareth,
I've helped do this with a +2 and it's not so difficult, .....O.K. we were all 8ft tall and bodies like Charles Atlas ..... but it can be done.
Just remember to take off the carbs AND REMOVE THE STUDS FROM THE MANIFOLD as they catch, make sure you have all the wires disconnected and dont forget about the steering coupling.
Brian

[Foxie]

Gareth,

I made up a lifting cradle which fits into the four jacking points on the Plus 2, see photo :

http://www.lotuselan.net//gallery/index.php?cat=11875

in my photo gallery.

You can lift the body off using one hand only on the block and tackle.

And stop at any point in between, something always jams !

Sean Murray

[Nick Godfrey]

Hi Gareth,

Do not lift by the wheelarches - not good and I learnt the hard way !
Still I am better at fibreglass repairs now

What we did in the end was to place 2 jacks on each side of the car with a plank of wood runnin between the jacking up areas. Once the body way high enough, we supported 2 scaffold planks across the chassis and then lifted the entire body using the planks and 2 people (one at each end) to stop the body sliding forward or backwards. it worked well. We put it back on in much the same way.

The only thing that is difficult is synchronising the lifting and getting the body offf the turrets as it tends to stick.

I left the doors on, but removed the bonnet and boot and all of the seats.

I hope this helps and good luck !

regards, Nick

[Elanintheforest]

I've only done this with a 2 seat Elan, and my method was the same as Nicks, except at the final stage. When the body is high enough to clear the rear strut tops (plus a few inches), I put a scaffolding stand either side of the car, with planks going across between them. Then lower the body onto the planks, and roll the chassis out from underneath.

However, I like the idea of using the jacking points on the Plus 2 as Sean used, but want to keep the shell inside....the block and tackle would probably be too tall for most garages. I'm thinking about using tractor jacks, one at each jacking point, to raise the body up. I'm a bit nervous about the jack being too close to the bodywork, or not locating properly / slipping out of the jacking point. I'll just have to get a couple of these huge jacks and experiment I guess.

The scaffolding stands are about ?20 each, and the tractor jacks about ?30...available from Machine Mart and of course ebay. So not a big outlay, and as I have 3 Plus 2s to do, a good investment!

Getting a gang around to do the lifting can be a bit hairy. I've seen the result of a person slipping when doing this....it's expensive!
Mark

[berni29]

Hi There

I have done this three times now (once by myself). The last time I used two farm jacks and some rope. In fact the body is still in the air a year later. Must do something about that. There are pictures on my site at:

http://www.searchsmart.co.uk/lotus/2005_mar_apr.htm

Good luck!

Berni

[Elanintheforest]

Hi Berni
Did you use the tractor jacks from the begining of the process, or once the body had cleared the chassis sufficient to get the plank across widthways? Would tractor jacks work in the jacking holes on the side, or is there not enough space between the body and the jack? And of course the jack would have to fit in the hole! I was thinking of one jack in each of the jacking holes (4 Jacks) to make it nice and stable with no interim tieing-up operations as jacks are swapped from front to back etc.
Mark

[berni29]

Hi Mark

Good question. From memory I used a couple of trolley jacks with ever increasing blocks of wood and axle stands to start the process and then put the beams across when space allowed. The farm jacks are good, but totally unstable. You have to have some way of stopping the body from swaying. That was the purpose of the rope hanging from the frame in my situation.

Ultra tall axle stands are probably a good investment for this sort of thing. If a one off you could sell them to other Lotus owners (for a small loss) and so on ad infanitum.

Berni