Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Garages in BC Canada are required to have the lifts inspected annually, and set up by professionals.

I think the one post pallet jack style would be fine for an elan, but...Most hoists/lifts are not for storage. Main reason is it point loads the ground and specific metal and points on the hoist.
Elan is a very light “car”

I installed a Twin Busch two post lift in my workshop approx a year ago. My workshop floor was specifically designed for the lift with 250mm thick concrete, rebar and the cube test on the concrete showed I had 4200 psi concrete which is good.

I self installed the lift and commissioned it and it has been fine. The one regret I do have is that I used the standard wedge anchor bolts that came with the lift. My concrete is quite fine grained and the wedge anchors took a few goes to bite properly. I think in hindsight a chemical anchor system for the bolts would have been preferable.

I have done a load of work on my two 911's with it and it has been great. The Elan will go on it soon. At some stage I will remove the body from the Elan and this should be possible with the two post.

The reason I went for a two post is because I can use it to do engine drops on the 911's and I can do the body removal on the Elan as mentioned above.

Whatever lift you end up getting will make numerous jobs much easier.

I am quite happy with my 4-post set-up. I work mostly alone on my Plus 2 and have been able to remove the engine and separate the body from the frame by myself. The lift has a rolling gantry on a bridge with a 1000 lb. capacity. Plus I ordered some aluminum pans that fit between the lift ramps that would protect a car underneath from any oil drips. And we all know a Lotus will likely leak some oil here and there don't we? My lift was fabricated in Ohio with a 7000 lb. lift rating. My ceiling height is 10'-6" which provides adequate clearance although I did have to modify the garage door to a high lift track with a side door opener.

My local body guy has limited space in his workshop and has been singing the virtues of a lift from Automotech Services Ltd, the model he has is the AS-7530D. This lift has basically two platforms with noting down the centre between them unlike so many others on the market. The benefit of this when I watched him using the lift was that he was able to work along the length of the vehicle on the engine, gearbox, back axle and also remove things like the exhaust system without having to wiggle them past any sort of centre cross brace.

The lift is extendable in length and will fit in a normal size garage with a ground height of 105mm, so low enough to get some very low sitting cars on. More importantly this is not something that is brought in from China, repainted and of possible dubious quality. Having spoken with the owner, he has many years experience in this line of work and knows what classic car needs are. Also its not going to break the bank, is 240 single phase and unlike two post lifts, it allows an Elan to be lifted without the drive shafts and doughnuts to hang loose causing damage. They have a variety of different lifts but this is a sensible lift for those that need to work unhindered along the length of their car. For those across the pond, this is a British made lift so may not be suitable to ship abroad.

My paint man apparently did a lot of research before making his purchase and seeing it in action I am certainly going to invest in one, as I am now of an age where crawling round the floor is no longer a sensible option. There are one or two companies around with similar names so make sure you use the link below.

https://www.automotechservices.co.uk/pr ... ile-lifts/

Before I bought my two post from Twin Busch I looked at most the suppliers in the non commercial type market. Most of them told me they would be totally uncompetitive if they didn't source lifts manufactured in China. I can't recall if I checked Automech but their whole range of products is priced competitively and looks very similar to their competitors. The one Company I thought was supplying British manufactured was Strongman lifts, but on checking they come from China. None of these companies will advertise this really.

I think you might have to go to the non commercial world like Bradbury to perhaps get non-Chinese, even then maybe not.

Nothing wrong with Chinese manufacture providing some control is used. They probably now build a good percentage of the ships in the world and I now see the Cruise Ship owners are starting to go there for ships.

Unfortunately and sadly there are now no British made lifts anymore!
Sorry Tony but you have been misled!.I would hate you to buy thinking you had bought a British product. Probably still a resonably acceptable product though!
The AS-7530D from Automotech is definitely made in China along with all the other lifts on their website that they sell.The same is with Strongman Tools and GEG ( Garage equipment Group), Twin Busch etc and others...all sadly made in China.
The main problem, others may have a view on this, is that these Chinese lifts have been built with varying quality control. I think as long as you buy with this understanding of expectation you will be fine!

Alan

So my Twin Busch was OK, some details like the cover plates for cables/piping needed a bit of fettling. I think Autobush would be fine as well.

If you look at all these Chinese lifts they are all of a similar design and at the heart of it you are probably buying the same product.

Strangely the one that seems British which is Strongman I found had some bad reports so i steered clear of them.

As mentioned don't condemn Chinese products, Chinese manufacturing capability and quality is probably in general terms better than the UK ever achieved. To be honest quality wise we didn't set the world on fire, our modern Land Rovers are actually terrible in terms of reliability.

Autobush?...Not heard of them?.....Do you mean Autobench? If so just make sure that the spec of the scissor lift you buy/receive is the same spec as the ones shown in their product photos on ebay and the same spec as what you think you are buying!

Alan

I meant Automotech

What's with all this anti-Chinese stuff coming out?

My 4T two poster is I am sure mainly Chinese components assembled in Germany and as tough as old boots.

Having had trouble free German cars for the last twenty five years, and changed to a British car built on an airfield out in the wilds of East Anglia just last year, please do not get me going on British quality Thankfully it has a Japanese engine and gearbox though, so I am reasonably confident I will at least get home!

British is great when it is a one-off or highly specialised. Outside of these nothing special.

661 wrote:Agree with the above.
I have a Model 1 from these guys, and it's been very good
http://www.sjrgarageequipment.co.uk/parking-lifts/
I can work on the car using a motor bike scissor lift which fits in the tray supplied with the lift

what woudl be the overall dims of this one please? cantfind it on there website. have sent an email but no reply as yet?

andyj007 wrote:

661 wrote:Agree with the above.
I have a Model 1 from these guys, and it's been very good
http://www.sjrgarageequipment.co.uk/parking-lifts/
I can work on the car using a motor bike scissor lift which fits in the tray supplied with the lift

what woudl be the overall dims of this one please? cantfind it on there website. have sent an email but no reply as yet?

Length 3.5 app, Width 2.5 app, Post Hight 2.2M. -from the website

thanks I have just ordered this as similar size , probably the same lift... but no prices on SJS website

https://www.garageequipmentonline.com/p ... rking-lift

purchased from onebuy.com works out 2175 inc vat and delivery .. need to add the middle cross lift bits..
should be here next week.. fingers crossed its an ok product

Yup, same lift.
No doubt the same factory in China.
I've been really pleased with mine.
If you choose not to have it fitted then you will need a lot of helpers.
It is extraordinarily heavy.