"nother lift question

[brian browning]

Hi folks,
I only recently found this site, love it. I'm currently about to pull the trigger on a house. Most of the ones I'm looking at are pretty standard 2 car garages. I'm going to need a lift in order to get the corvette and el camino in, along with my girlfriend's Z4. I've been searching but don't really see anything definitive about what kind of ceiling height I need. I think 4 posts require less height? Since its mainly a storage thing I think it would be better to have the upper car setting on its suspension anyway, but don't know this for a fact. Can I do it with 10 feet? How about 9 if the cars are low slung?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Texas Aggie]

I've got a 1966 Chevy II stacked on a 1962 MGA, with ceiling height just shy of 10 ft. I've probably got 4-5 inches between the MGA and the bottom of the lift and 8-10 inches between the Chevy II and the ceiling. I'm using a BendPak HD-9ST lift.

In general, I'd add up the heights of the 2 cars, the thickness of the ramps that the lifted car sits on, and then give at least 4 or more inches of clearance so that you can raise the lift off the locks when you want to lower it. I'll try to post a picture of mine.

 

[ghnl]

Add up the height of the cars you want to store, add ~ 6" for the height of the ramps plus another 6" -12" for clearance above each car. So if you have two 50" cars: 6" + 50" + 12" + 50" + 12" = 10' 10". If your cars are a little lower &/or you are willing to minimize the clearance between the car's roofs & the lift/ceiling, 10' can work.

 

[ghnl]

Hey! I've got an MGA on my lift, too!
(Ceiling height is 11' 8".)

 

[ghnl]

And P.S. you'll want to have high lift door tracks and a jackshaft opener.

 

[Texas Aggie]

Here is a pic of my stacked Chevy II and MGA in my 10 foot high garage.

 

[Texas Aggie]

Eric - nice to see another MGA owner on here. I looked at your home page and saw that it's your first car. Believe it or not, the Chevy II in my garage is my first car, too.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Yeah. Don't forget where the garage door fits when you're doing your measurements. Replacing the door can be expensive, but sometimes it's the only way.

 

[The Wizard]

Add up the height of the cars you want to store, add ~ 6" for the height of the ramps plus another 6" -12" for clearance above each car. So if you have two 50" cars: 6" + 50" + 12" + 50" + 12" = 10' 10". If your cars are a little lower &/or you are willing to minimize the clearance between the car's roofs & the lift/ceiling, 10' can work.

Exactly. Just do the math and use clearances that you're comfortable with.

My ceiling is 10'4" and works just fine.

 

[3x9RT/SE]

First,welcome to the site Brian.
On your question about height for stacking 2 cars,I have a 10'-0'' ceiling,and found that it is bare bones minimum as far as I'm concerned(for storing one up).I have found with my cars,they range from 55 1/2'' to 56 1/2'' high.The four post I have locks every 4 1/4'',and has to go up about 2 1/2'' to get off the lock.One of the lock points is 55 3/4'',so my car underneath literally clears by 1/4''.The car on top has about 6'' to the ceiling,so to go up to the next lock which would be 60'' bottom of runway,I would only have 2'' or so from the roof of the car to ceiling.Way to close to be doing that.But,in your case,a Corvette is def lower than anything I own,so you should be good,NTM if you find a four post that locks at,lets say 57,58'',would be perfect.
IMO,there is more room under a 2 post lift for storing a car,even with the suspension hanging,because of the meatball of the rear being the lowest point,it will never hang down farther than what the bottom of the runways are anyway.And,ntm,my 2 post locks in 3'' intervals,and only has to go up about 1 1/2'' to unlock,so I can go even higher than my four post can.

 

[brian browning]

Thanks for the input guys, I've never had a lift before and hadn't even thought about the need to lift it higher to clear the locks. I had thought about the doors and will have to do something different there. It would be nice if I could talk Stacy into parking her Z4 under the vette. BUt its 40 years old and kinda leaky. I don't think I'm that good a salesman

The El Camino has been lowered some so its not a really tall vehicle either. I think I can make it work though. I'll post some pics after it's set up, its gonna take a few months though.

Brian

 

[Texas Aggie]

I probably wouldn't want to park a daily driver under the lift (b/c I'm sure I'd hit my head too often getting out of the car) but I wouldn't worry about parking a leaker on top. The drip pans do a good job of containing any leaks. BTW, the big metal "cookie sheet" drip pans they sell at AutoZone fit perfectly between the rails on my BendPak.

 

[budk]

Texas Aggie - what do the cookie sheet pans from Autozone cost? I'm getting a Bend-pak HD-9 and I have a price from them for drip trays (plastic). I thought about getting a local metal shop to fab me some instead, but maybe the Autozone route is the way to go!

I plan on parking my daily driver under the lift.

 

[toolman1967]

I love these Lift questions, I have read all the info on the websites that sell the lifts, but its great to hear from the actual owners. I'm getting ready to pull the trigger myself so I need all the info I can get.

 

[Deschodt]

I've got 10Ft 2 inches and I can fit 2 "low" cars easily. Currently a Porsche 912 and a BMW 2002. 10Ft exactly would IMO be doable, but I'd pay close attention during the first lift and triple check how high you can go, and leave room to allow the unlocking of the lift... If you forgot that bit, you'd be in a pickle... On my top car, I extend the (old style) antenna slightly above the roof line, so if I see the antenna getting close to the ceiling, it's time to stop..

See my post here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57840

As to other things to think of, mainly it's ramps and light. The ramps are heavy and take room, you may want to invest in lightweight ones. Light: the lift KILLS it ! You need to relocate / add light sources or the garage turns into a dark cave...

Yes on high lift garage door kit, no on the new motor: if the door is long enough you can still use the old traditional motor. it may take an extra door panel or 2, your call as to what is cheapest, more doable.

Good news, I finally stopped hitting my head on the lift. Only took 6 months ;-) I recently priced out a garage extension and it came at $40000 (top part would have been a decked terrace), so no doubt a stacking lift is the cheap solution here.

 

[Question]

Corvette........check
Camaro..........check
4 post...........check
10ft ceilings ..check

Got a measuring tape??

 

[holdover]

for drip pan I use an old dropped ceiling 2' X 4' lens that I scored for free. It is shaped like a cookie pan and works great.

 

[Texas Aggie]

Budk - the Autozone pans (p/n 11430) are $10 each. When I ordered my Bendpak from Garage Equipment Supply, they sold me 3 of their plastic pans for $20 (which was a discount from their regular price). The plastic pans covered any leak points from the front of the car, but I got the Autozone metal pan to go under the differential.

 

[Frogday]

I have 10' ceilings and added the higher rails for my garage door. There is enough room even with the opener above the roof of the top car.
If you are worried about the top car leaking, the lifts I bought come with drip trays...I think 4 of them came with the lift.

 

[cyanidecotdpnuts]

As some of the other guys here have stated, they have a variety of lifts at gesusa.com website that will help you determine exactly what you need...I saw the other day they're doing a packaged deal for their d-7s and d-7xs or something that includes 3 drippans already as well as some casters and a bottle jack platform and stuff.....too bad I'm super poor UGH!!

 

[ricksvette]

My garage is 8 feet 5 inches high and I squeeze my lowered 1973 Z/28 and 1974 Corvette in using a Harding Steel lift. It was an expensive deal but it worked. The solid bottom make leaks easier to deal with.

 

[walrus]

I've got 10Ft 2 inches and I can fit 2 "low" cars easily. Currently a Porsche 912 and a BMW 2002. .

I'm not a big BMW fan but 2002s are cool looking cars. More pics of that one would be nice

 

[Deschodt]

I'm not a big BMW fan but 2002s are cool looking cars. More pics of that one would be nice

Me neither. I've had 3, I'm a slow learner, and they all turned out to have **** reliability and high running costs. The 2002 is different, it's older and therefore simpler and reliable, but it's also very costly to fix if not rust free (ha!). IMO It's the poor man's Alfa GT ot GTV (which are slightly prettier and have a nicer sounding engine), which is what I should have bought, but those aren't exactly rust free either.It certainly draws attention and smiles, and expensive bills too....

End of hijack, sorry.

 

[ghnl]

IMO It's the poor man's Alfa GT ot GTV (which are slightly prettier and have a nicer sounding engine)...

You could'a got a V-6...!

 

[EuroVt]

End of hijack, sorry.

I never found my Alfa's (4 cylinder) that expensive to fix. The Fiat's are super easy to fix. If you bring it to a foreign car specialist, all bets are off. As for rust, any car of this vintage was never built with rust prevention in mind.