Elans and Two-post Lifts

[abstamaria]

I am thinking of getting a 2-post lift (possibly a Dan,ar MaxJax) and wondered what the current wisdom is regarding lifting an Elan on these 4-point lifts. There appears no alternative lifting points except on the ends of the sills. I recall one of the Lotus shops said before that this is how they lift Elans regularly without problems, but I am concerned about the continuing strength of those old sills and the bobbins holding the frame to the body.

I will appreciate any suggestions or advice.

Andy

[StressCraxx]

Andy,

If you look at the jacking points in the owners manual you will find they are the outer sills near the fender wells. lifting at all for corners is less stressful on the body than jacking one corner. You can use soft wood shims or hard rubber pads to go easy on the fiberglass gel coat. The two post lifts are widely used to service elans here.

Regards,
Dan

[abstamaria]

Thanks, Dan. I have seen photos of Elans suspended wholly on 2-post lifts in workshops in England, as you advised.

In 1978, I left the Elan jacked up overninght, using the original jack on the rear corner of the left sill. In the morning, I found that the sill deflected! There was no damage to the fiberglass, but I never jacked the car up that way again. But you are right, lifting at all four corners should be less stressful. Perhaps a long 2"x4" piece of wood spanning the length of each sill will make me more comfortable.

Thanks, again. That is encouraging.

Andres

[69S4]

I've sometimes wondered whether the glass fibre changes its characteristics as it ages. When I bought my car it was about 12 yrs old and I used to jack it up on the sill corners quite happily without without obvious splintering sounds .

When I changed the chassis in the mid 80's the body was lifted off using a fork lift truck either side with their prongs under the sills and left there for a couple of weeks until the new rolling "subframe" was ready. No damage that I could see or hear.

These days though there does seem to be audible distress when I've occasionally tried jacking on the sill corners. With my ears aging and decades of exposure to the twin pipe exhaust there should be less noise

[john.p.clegg]

Is that a sign that you should check the sill members?

John

[69S4]

Is that a sign that you should check the sill members?

John

That had occurred to me but it all seems to be fine when I've poked around in there periodically.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

For some while I've been considering installing a car lift but I'd only consider a drive/push on four post lift similar to the one our friend Alex black uses.
I wouldn't consider lifting my car, by any means, by loading the glass fibre body shell.

I've even considered maybe two Motorbike scissor lifts as a cheap space saving alternative but then nearly all access to the drive train would then be obscured.

Cheers
John

[gordont]

100% agree John, and glad to see someone else had thought of the motorcycle scissor lifts... I ended up just buying a nice new low profil trolley jack / axle stands and a lie on trolley..

[cabc26b]

Andy,

The original elan workshop manual has advise on lifting the whole car - the recommendation is to use "trestle supports" aka thick boards to span the width of the body in the locations shown in the manual . The jacking points in the same manual are on the suspension, the manual is explicit in saying under no circumstances jack from other points ...

I would think if you put the lift pads on the trestles you would be in compliance ..

George

[martinbrowning]

Andy,
I agree with John on this. I would never consider using a two post lift on my Plus 2 or Europa. (Even the MOT centre will not jack the car up). I bought a good second hand 4 post lift for under ?500 a couple of years ago from a garage business; all those tricky jobs are suddenly easy!

Just my thought

Martin B

[ken ob]

You lucky guys with car lifts in your garage.
I presume you had a lot of headroom in your garages before installation?

Ken.

[elansprint]

No No No No
Ian

[john.p.clegg]

For what it's worth ,you can't beat a pit....

John

[bcmc33]

I would have no concerns about using a 2 post lift for short maintenance periods, but not as a storage device.
I'm with the full car lift brigade on this issue.
I have the height in my single garage to fit a drive-on lift but it would need to be specially designed to miss all the obstructions I've installed over the years. So if anyone has a universal/bespoke design at hand I would be very interested to see it.

[alexblack13]

Well... Here we go again sound about right.. I took advice on the lifting of the car from Frank @ Option 1. I trust his advice. He said that there would probably be no damage from lifting the car via the corners. It would probably be ok he said, but he would not do it. However I suspect they might have two posters in their shop.

Its a case of do what YOU think is right after you have asked all the questions and weighed up the answers.

I personally would not be too keen on lifting with the body corners only. But that's just me. And having used both I much prefer the lift to a pit. I once had to get out of a pit quickish and it was not fun. Nowadays I just stroll out from under the car and put the kettle on... To each their own..

For the record the 4 post lift from Intern BV Holland has been 100% reliable and is very strongly built with good safety features and quality electrical components. So far so good.. I did a little mod' and fitted an umbilical control so I can operate the lift from anywhere. Its great... Recommended 100 %...

Alex...