Jacking Points

[Stuart+2]

I am a lucky man - just bought a great +2 (C/No 50 1035)- my first long-awaited Lotus and loving it!
I'm putting a CV kit in soon and am looking for advice on how best to hold up the back of the +2 whilst doing the job.
Jacking points look too problematic for jack stands - perhaps remove the exhaust and support the chassis?

All advice greatly appreciated.

[peterako]

Hi Stuart!

Happy to hear you've fallen....ooops....risen to the +2 fold!

I have a +2 (as a daily driver) since March this year and recently converted
to CV's (Mick/Sue Miller) driveshafts.

Here's how we did it (in summary):

1. Loosen the rear wheel nuts/spinners
2. Jack up rear of car in suitable way. I
- jacked up left then right side using the 'jacking points'
placing the car then in risen position resting on blocks
with wood between the body and block each side of the
car in place of the jack(s). The car is now raised
with back wheels off the ground.
3. Remove rear wheels
4. Place suitable jack (we used a scissors jack) under each
rear strut. Take care not to damage the strut etc.
5. Jack up suspension to as level as possible. The car will
now be resting very lightly on the aforementioned
blocks/wood.
6. Remove the donuts as usual....hee...hee...
7. We then released the wishbone from its inner mounts to
allow the strut to move out slightly. This allowed simpler
insertiion of the new driveshafts....which actually went in
reasonable easily.....
This sounds bad, but you only need to move the strut
a cm or two.
8. Put everything back together. Tighen everything up etc....

Whole job too abou 4 hours, including some coffee.

Don't forget to check the nuts on the new driveshafts after a
few hundred km. SIX of mine had to be retightened.

The car is transformed when you put the CV's in. In my case
its handling tightened up considerable, but poor wheel balance
became more eveident.
Now wind-up, but poor transition between throttle off to on became
evident.

But, these are things that have to be fixed anyway.

Good luck with the change,

Peter 1973 +2S 130/5 (Currently mud coloured and weighing
about 20kg extra....ahhh...winter in Ireland!!!)

[peterako]

Just noticed that you too don't trust your jacking points....

You can jack teh car up by using a jack (duh) with a string
20x15 piece of wood between the car and the jack.

Place the wood roughly starting at the back wheel arch, on the
inside of the sill lip and along from there (close to the edge) and
jack.

First time I did this was nerve wreaking. But it works fine.
Was recommened by Paul Matty to my car's previous owner and have
had it subsequently mentioned by other Loti owners.

Do it slowly and listen for any groans or creaks.

I really do need to change my sills, but even when I do I'll
still jack this way.

Best of luck,
Peter

[peterako]

Arghh....I should go back to bed....

STRONG piece of wood (not string)!!!

20x15x2.5cm

[john.p.clegg]

Or if you have a few pieces of wood handy you can knock up a "trough" type of affair that sits (inverted) over the exhaust pipe and allows a trolley jack to lift the rear of the frame.....

John

[Stuart+2]

Peter & John - thanks to you both.

My kit arrives next week then it looks like I'm off to the timberyard.

I'm looking forward to working on such a fine piece of machinery.

Cheers and best regards

Stuart+2

[1964 S1]

Hello Stuart, yes, a fine piece of machinery it is that gets raised in 2007 with the help of slabs of wood. I don't jack my Lotuses under the fiberglass, this subject is discussed numerous times in the archives.

Hello peterako, you can click on edit to change your messages, I use it all too often. I knew string was strong but what do you do if you hear creaks or groans?

Eric