2 post lift jacking points?

[madbilly]

Hi everyone,
I'm going to take my Elan to a friend's garage this weekend to remove the fuel tank. He's got a 2 post lift. Can I lift the car up on the sill jacking points with this lift or do I need to use other points?
https://imgur.com/a/pNtPOno
Cheers

[Saltire]

I too have a friend with a 2 post lift, and my S2 has been up and down on it many times over the last seven years - including one period when it was up there for about six weeks while the suspension was away for powder coating.

[FunElan]

It's been discussed here before, but highly recommend buying or having some hockey puck like pads for the jack points. I bought 4 of these bottle jack pads: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234339123769?c ... JvEALw_wcB

I then drilled out the hole a little bit deeper so that the 'puck' is flush with the sill, and the jacking nub is within the puck.

[dapinky]

Billy,

My only thoughts are that I'd be tempted to have a length of 4x2 timber (or similar) jammed between the engine and the ground once it's lifted,

The front jacking points are quite close to the 'balance point' of the car, and as you're removing the rear suspension arm on the NS, with a hefty lean on a socket it *could* tip the car a bit and make it a little unstable.

Probably not absolutely necessary, but I do tend to worry about things!!!!

(oh, and remember to mark the position of the cam bolt on the inner wishbone so that it can be refitted in the same place when you put it back.)

[madbilly]

Hi Dave,
Yes I'd thought about the balance point, we're going to work something out about that...!
Cheers

[Neil D.]

Just caught this tread. I lift the Elan on my mobile lift, no balance problems experienced.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/195781657@N08/shares/9XS08jLzs7
But it may be worth securing the rear with ratchet straps.
Wooden block at the front are drilled out to fit jacking points. The car is elevated as high as possible from the lift to get access to exhaust if needed.

Neil

[madbilly]

Thanks Neil, very helpful. Nice background car!
Cheers

[HJ2]

Nice and flush with the floor when lowered, nice.
I’m jealous!, but the work involved in my situation was just too much to achieve the same.

[Tuga2112]

as dave mentioned, the front jacking points are VERY close to the balance point of the car.
what i mean by that is that if you lean on the front of the car when its held by those points, there is a chance it will tip (almoust happened to me when the seats, fuel tank and spare wheel were all removed)

considering the goal is to remove the fuel tank, the chances of project creep are considerable, my advice would be to not use the front jacking point, and jack from the other point mentioned in the wiki (where the lower wishbones bolt on to the car)

also, unless previously confirmed, i would avoid using the front jacking point untill checking it for rust from the inside, mine was badly rusted and needed welding in order to be a reliable point to lift the car.

[lotusflasherman]

I put mine on a small scissor lift with rocking supports so the CofG is important. It's more or less in line with the wing mirrors.

scissor lift.jpg

In this case I was changing the alternator so raised it to give a front weight bias hence the jack and axle stand.

(I put drilled 'hockey pucks on the jacking bosses and with lengths of steel channel I'm able to position the rocking supports where ever I want.)

[madbilly]

Hi all,

Tuga112, that's what we did, we supported the car on the front wishbone mounting points and rear sill jacking points.

Another nice shot of a scissor lift, lotusflasherman, I'll need to put one of these on my shopping list.

I'll note that the jacking points on my car are solid, and I don't use hockey pucks. I'm pretty sure someone who looked inside the sills (epipete?) had said that it's actually the protruding part of the jacking points that takes the load, not the surrounding part. Anyway, it works for me and will continue to work until it doesn't, in which case I'm sure I'll eat my words

For the full record, we did first consider doing the job on the four post ramp, but decided that jacking up the car with a trolley hack whilst it was on the ramp wasn't a good idea safety-wise and that the jack-in-cross-member which can run between either side of the ramp also wasn't a good idea because it would prevent us from dropping the wishbone.

In case it's interesting to anyone, my mate's garage is Augment Automotive in Longhope, Glos, and he specialises in 924s and 944s, he knows them inside out.

Cheers

[Tuga2112]

I'm pretty sure someone who looked inside the sills (epipete?) had said that it's actually the protruding part of the jacking points that takes the load, not the surrounding part.

as far as my car is conserned. that is absolutely correct, and jacking around that protruding part is something i would advice against (all the hokey puck users are now mad at me)
the surrounding area will appear to be ok to jack under the assumption that the jacking point frame inside is completely flush against the fibreglass. (making a fibreglass sandwish between the washer and the inner frame. ) which it probably isnt, because in the Elan, usually you find any metal supporting structure is "glued" to the fibreglass using PU adhesive (which i found in my rusted jackpoint)

[FunElan]

as far as my car is conserned. that is absolutely correct, and jacking around that protruding part is something i would advice against (all the hokey puck users are now mad at me)
the surrounding area will appear to be ok to jack under the assumption that the jacking point frame inside is completely flush against the fibreglass.

Should the wiki be updated? I will stop telling tire shops to use my hockey pucks if they aren't necessary. I was under the impression that the fiberglass could crack if they jacked straight onto the short protruding part.

[Tuga2112]

I was under the impression that the fiberglass could crack if they jacked straight onto the short protruding part.

that short protruding part is just a bolt that screws into the inner frame. (you can take an alen key and undo that bolt to make it protrude more or completely remove it. )
if you lift from the bolt, your putting the pressure straight on to the frame by all the bolt's connection points (both threads and base)
if you jack from the washer you are effectively putting the pressure on to the washer, spread through some fiberglass, then past the PU adhesive, and finally the bottom of the frame. the fibreglass has some flex to it, and the pu adhesive should also have some flex, but the load will be distributed to the plate eventually,

by using the bolt, you are effectively putting more strain in a single point of the frame structure, if it fails, the fibreglass *should* not be damaged. but there is a higher likelihood of failure. if you spread the load, there's less chance of failure but if there is a failure, you will need welding, fibreglass and paint work to repair..

i've recorded the work i done to repair my jacking point frame. it should give you a good insight as to what is there, how/where it rots. and one of the simplest ways to fix it. (Ive used rather thick angle iron for my repair, you will find a professional using thinner stuff mainly for cost and practicality)

as far as updating the wiki, i will leave that decision for someone else more competent. My opinion is just an opinion based on my experience over 8 years. other members here have more than 20 years of experience around the elan. their opinions may differ, and there is always the possibility that the later models have a different configuration to mine

[madbilly]

Wiki updated but certainly not by someone more competent in this topic