Getting my car a bit higher

[eljefino]

If you set this up for "just barely enough" clearance you may want a jackstand under, say, your center crossmember, to catch the car if a tire blows out. Set it up with the saddle 1/2 inch under "whatever" so it won't make a mark but could bear weight if needed. IDK if vettes have crossmembers but you get my idea.

otherwise I love the idea of the car sitting on its suspension exactly the way it would be parked on the street or driving 100mph.

Build your ramps as described. It's healthy to have a sense of self-preservation, dotting the i's and crossing the t's before going to work.

 

[oilboy123]

I use a block of of 2x4 on my jack pad. I then put a small block of hardwood 3/4 high by 1 1/2 wide by 2-3 inches long. It fits the body seam notch very well. Of course you wood have to put the jack stand under the crossmember if jacking at the body seam.

I put the small block of wood on top the 2x4 and it fits right in the body seam.
I even use the small hardwood piece on the jack stands to protect the body seam

A lot of times I will jack up the vehicle with the crossmember and then put the jack stand on the body seam area. I will also jack the rear of the car near the body seam notch. I just use the 2x4 wood pad near the body seem notch. I then leave enough room to put the jack stand in the notch with the wood between the jack stand and body notch.
.

I use the 2x4 block for general jacking up under the body to protect from marring. I have never had any body seam metal bend or be deformed.

 

[Mr Nice]

Here are some ramps built by a Corvette owner.


http://www.cadquest.com/pictures/ramps.htm

 

[swalve]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Interesting... Ive heard bad stories regarding jack stands (cheap ones, of course), but the biggest problem is that on newer cars, which are cladded in plastic even to underneath, with limited options for supporting the car, I hate to put the weight on something that isnt really designed to take the brunt of it.


I've always though that myself. Unless they are really pro jackstands, I've always thought they seemed flimsy.

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Lifts at the shop hve a much bigger contacting pad. Ive seen too many situations where the pinch welded (I think thats what it is called) line between the body and the floorboards, usually where the OEM jack contacts the car, has been crushed or ruined because a hydraulic jack was used and impaled or damaged it. Ditto for jack stands, the contacting patch is so small that misplacement can really do harm.


I've had it on my list for a while to make an adapter that will fit between my hydraulic jack and that pinchweld on the car. And for the other car that has a sort of centering pin welded onto the body to fit in the trunk jack.

Now I'm going to make some ramp helpers, maybe get a sheet or too of 5/8 exterior plywood and progressively sandwich a few layers of it so my old-[censored] ramps don't scrape the bottom of my car.

 

[swalve]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Here are some ramps built by a Corvette owner.


http://www.cadquest.com/pictures/ramps.htm




Sweet! Terrifying, but cool.

 

[Shannow]

They look just like the 3x12 ones that I use for my beemer...they won't topple, that's for sure.