Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dear All

The pondering continues,as the front of the proposed garage will have an opening height of approx 6" 6" (not 6 inches 6 inches but 6 foot 6 inches-where is the "foot" key?) I have had to cross off the list the four post lift as it is too tall to roll in/out,and am now down to a home-made gantry or one of several engine cranes on the market.....This is where you good chaps come in,bearing in mind that the Plus2 has a longer nose,does anyone have any success stories and recommendations for a good workable engine lift/crane with a long enough reach and height !!!
They all seem marginal to me?

Thanks
John

John,

A Draper special worked well for me but the intriguing question is in respect of the proposed garage - why not make it higher

If I was building from scratch and lifting beam and small electric hoist would be high on the list


Jon

Jon

With it being in the rear garden next to the boundary I am limited to height,not wanting to kill all my neighbours lawn, having plumped for a pent design 40ft x 12ft...

John

Have a home made gantry and block and tackle at the ready...

Jon/John
I had planned on mine to have a large timber 6ft up fixed by joist hangers to the sides of the garage and then one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... ROKL5A1OLE

Having not done this before , will this work?
(I use to use a trolley jack to take the Ginetta engine out ......... my record was under an hour )

Thanks
Terry

terryp wrote:I had planned on mine to have a large timber 6ft up fixed by joist hangers to the sides of the garage and then one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... ROKL5A1OLE

Having not done this before , will this work?

Hi Terry,
That's what I use and it works fine but you need to get the beam as high as you can to give sufficient clearance underneath it for the engine to clear the body. My beam is 7' 3" above the floor and it's only just enough although my block and tackle is old and somewhat more bulky than the one you are looking at. The dangling chain is a bit of a problem to keep away from the bodywork while you are operating the pulley - you need an assistant or do as I did and pass it through a loop attached to the garage wall.
I also used it to remove and refit the body.

John, I have similar overhead clearance issues in my garage. I ended up using our club's crane on the front driveway when placing engine & transmission in the bare frame. I think anything with a long enough arm to reach over the Plus 2 nose will hit the ceiling when the drivetrain unit is tilted for removal. If looking at cranes, note to check the crane front legs are not spaced too wide to fit between your tires.

Thinking Jon & Terry's suggestions will the only practical way to do it, and that might still be tight. Ideally if there is enough clearance the electric winch or chain hoist would be capable of fore / aft movement so you don't have to roll the car out from under the drivetrain unit?

Soon I am probably going to have to lift the engine & transmission with the body in place (for the first time) using the same club crane. Have been looking at photo's here showing the amount of tilt needed to get the drivetrain unit out of the engine bay. Considering it's approx. 3' length, adding for the clearance required for a tilting mechanism on the crane hook or chain lift, and the desire to have the car off the ground to unfasten the transmission mount during the operation, I am thinking my 7' 9" ceiling height is too restrictive. Note I have an additional constraint from a heating duct to deal with that might be influencing my thinking somewhat.

Anyway, very interested to see if there is a solution.

Cleggie,
I've put a few engines in and out over the years; given a clean sheet of paper (within your garage dimensions) I would build in an RSJ (or several) as high as possible in the block/brick elevations; something like the timber beam shown in Roger's photo.

A mobile crane is always going to be a second-best solution for us home-mechanics. I have one at the moment (from e-bay) and it really is a 3-man operation to get the engine in and out of a +0 Elan without damage; the longer nose of the +2 (I imagine) would not make things easier. A totally flat/smooth floor is a bonus.

If you get the RSJ(s) built in you can ponder how to sling a lifting mechanism at your leisure; I rather like the Tirfor for smooth operation but a chain block works well if you keep the chains away from the plastic. I've even used a set of vintage wooden "handy-billies" which probably started their working life on an East-Indies tea-clipper!

With a 40 ft long (but narrow) garage, some thought would be required re where to put the beam(s).

WHY IS THIS THREAD IN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE POND?

When did the pond change sides?

Gary

piss-ant wrote:When did the pond change sides?

Gary

Exactly! John is just up the road from me; is there a process for moving threads on this forum? Maybe a job for the mooted "house-keepers" Gary?

Dear All

I put it in the left side of the pond due to the fact that I wanted an engine hoist/winch/whatever which is available in the U.K...

Sorry

John

piss-ant wrote:When did the pond change sides?

Gary

I thought the pond was the English Channel

Terry

Bugger...

John

john.p.clegg wrote:Bugger...John

john.p.clegg wrote:Dear All

I put it in the left side of the pond due to the fact that I wanted an engine hoist/winch/whatever which is available in the U.K...

Sorry

John

Erm I thought the pond was the Atlantic, hence USA = left & Europe = right side of the pond.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I expect that only a moderator i.e. Jeff can move a topic from section to section.

Where's Gary's post gone? I thought it was really good

Terry

East / Right side of the Channel