I've been eyeing a quickjack for a long time. Good to see some alternate options.
Challenge is going to be getting something that handles my range in the fleet.
Currently: Expedition Max, Explorer & a MG Midget.
Explorer will be giving way for the R57 once we get the title stuff finalized & can get it on the road again.

 

Mine is a 6000 lb capacity, that should handle anything you name there, You might have to make or purchase adapters to match your jack points.

 

The Expedition Max has a GVW of 7,300 to 7,550 lbs, so a scissor lift like what we have been describing above is not going to do it for you, you're gonna need a bigger bo...uh lift. I think you're going to be looking at a four-post lift if your garage has the clearance. A two-post lift will do the job, but you'll need to ensure your garage floor is strong enough; it's typical for an at-home installation that a two-post lift will need to have some foundation work done first.

Prices vary wildly between brands, even though most of the consumer-level home garage car lifts that I've seen are all made by just a couple of Chinese manufacturers, and all of them rely upon the same suppliers and fabricators. U.S. trade restrictions and tariffs have also played hell with importing heavy equipment like these lifts from China. If you are looking for an American lift manufacturer/fabricator your choices are better lifts, albeit more expensive. Mohawk Lifts would likely be the gold standard of American-made automotive lifts; Challenger and BendPak are also well regarded, though their product lines are a mix of foreign and domestic providers. My 6000 lb scissor lift shown earlier in this thread is made by BendPak, and I've been very pleased with it. It had no problems dealing with the Ford Flex, which is a near-twin to your Ford Explorer.

 

Correct on the paving blocks - the MINI will clear the lift without the blocks, but just barely, and only before dinner. We're talking clearance of no more than a gnat's eyelash here.

It is possible to drain the oil through the opening hole in the skid plate just below the drain pan plug, but I've never tried it. With the car up on the lift it only takes a few minutes to unbolt and drop the skid plate, so access isn't an issue. It takes a few more minutes to put it back on, only because the two big mounting bolts and spacers on the aft end of the plate are a bit more fussy to line up. I place the skid plate on a work table under the Coupe and lower the car down onto the plate. Easy peasy.

 

I finished my physical safety lock. I now have 4 positions available. There is a 1" solid bar coming down from the scissor mechanism that goes 1/2 way down inside a 1.5" box tube with 4 holes drilled through it for a bolt to maintain the different heights. I still have to drill the max height hole. It is attached to the frame below with a cut out 3" X 4" box tube that you have to fenagle to get it on there


Started dismantling Azul Jesus. Got it 80% of the way there this PM. I am calling it deja vu de blue



Below is the only structural damage. The rest was bolt on stuff.


I might be able to straighten it. If not, drill out the spot welds on it and the donor, out with the old, in with the new, have my nephew spot weld it in.

 

That looks like it can be pulled straight, just be careful that you don't pull it off the lift! The good news is that the repair, however it's done, won't be visible after reassembly.

 

Looks robust enough. That's a smart mod to the lift.

 

It works well. The stock (all the way up) lock out had the vehicle too high to work on comfortably. I have it right now where the front bumper is about belt buckle high. Just right.

 

BTW, not pictured are the front and rear bumper covers.

 

Started reassembling my Coupe. Ran into a SNAFU, the right side intercooler pipe is different on the Roadster. The sensor is much lower on the pipe and the angles are different. realoem.com states same part #

I replaced the driver side seat belt. It had the crash indicator lit up. As I understand it you can pay someone $60 to reset it but, I had another from the donor. If I never have to tear that section apart again, it will be too soon. I was trying to be gentle to not brake stuff but man what a bugger.


In order to get everything apart to replace the seat belt, I had to remove the facia on the rear drivers side window. 4 of the plastic tabs and 7 of those dog eared metal ******* things.



I was able to straighten the front mount with a pipe wrench/crescent wrench/cold chisel. I got it really close to straight.

 

It looks like you did a damn fine job in straightening out that mount; I don't think you'll have any issues when you have to restore the front carrier assembly. But perhaps what is more impressive was the fact that you were able to remove the rear drivers side window fascia without breaking any of the many fiddly bits. And that window looks a lot bigger without all the plastic trim around the window.

 

I feel like an idiot! The right side pipe is the same. I took off the rubber hose on the bottom of the donor and on the top of my Coupe so it was upside down. It didn't help that my wife's sister was visiting and her husband was here "helping". Sorry he is more of a distractor than a helper as he is a chatter box (and an engineer who we all know, those that can't do, design). I like him, just if you are trying to concentrate, he isn't the man to have around.

Now I am bummed. I wanted to have the radiator/AC/intercooler mounted yesterday. I won't be doing anything till Thursday now as I have military from today through Wednesday.

 

Yah... that isn't the F word I was thinking while taking the dang thing off! BTW, I typed asterisks 7 times rather than the word. Didn't want any admins giving me grief.

Well being that it is up and accessible, I am going to do the suspension upgrades while I am in there. I have been wanting Koni reds for a while now, and I am thinking front and rear sway bars also. I figure why not, its only $$$ and a little more time.

I don't think I mentioned, my body guy doesn't do whole car sprays anymore. Too much work and can't find help to complete the jobs he has already. After talking with my Brother and his Son, I have decided my car is going to practice safe sex... I am wrapping that rascal. My Nephew does vinyl wrapping for work and states we can do it. Before I do, I want to have the car matching so I will spray the donor parts myself. I used to work in a body shop long ago and think I can do it. This will be my first two stage process (base/clear) ever. Been doing a lot of research in the evenings. Thursday evening through ? (till complete), I will be preparing the donor parts for paint. Hoping to spray everything the 1st weekend of June, give it good cure time then wrap it mid to late June. Only downfall to it is, dang that is another month with no Mini wheel time.

 

BTW, GVW is gross vehicle weight rating not the actual weight. Basically, it has a 2000 lb carrying capacity. Curb weight is 5544 to 5793 so a 6000 lb lift would do it. As I never like to test the max limits of anything, I would recommend upsizing the lift capacity a bit.

 

Dad blang it, you're right of course. I should have said "curb weight" dontcha know. That being said, I'd also recommend not lifting the Ford Expedition with a full tank of gas. 23 gallons would work out to about 138 lbs extra weight, assuming one gallon of gas weighs about six pounds. Diesel is about 7 lbs/gallon, mostly.

 

I don't think that is nearly enough cure time. That's assuming that you will want to remove the wrap at some time without removing a lot of paint with it. I'd feel more comfortable with at least two months for a tight cure and having all of the volatiles baked out of the new paint.

 

Right you are Sir. Did a quick Google Search on 2 step paint. Old school 3 weeks was good 2 go, in particular with June heat. Guess I will have to do a good job so I can drive it while waiting for the paint to "fully" cure. Dang clear coat!

 

Yeah, we don't have a garage, so driveway work is what I'm limited to for now.
Likely, if I get one of these 'portable' style lifts, it'll be for the R57 & the Midget.
Will have to just break out the floor jack/ramp & jackstands when the Max needs to be off the ground.

 

They just about need concrete floor in order to move them on the steel rollers. Also, it is much heavier than I thought. Did some research on my unit, shipping weight was 950 lbs.

 

Also, the floor surface any scissor lift would be on must be dead level as well as being strong enough to bear the weight.

 

My floor is cracked and not level on the non-rolling end. I did make a metal shim to level it so it would have sturdy contact with the pavement.

I stripped the stripes off the donor hood. Man, they were stuck on there good and left a nasty residue, glad I am painting it. I got it all cleaned off with a lot of elbow grease, goo gone and thinner. Tonight is taking all the clip on parts off the Aero panels and bumpers to prep them for paint. There are some dings in the some of the stuff so this weekend will be using the proper filler to get them looking smooth prior to paint.

While I was away for my military training, instead of watching TV in the evening, I was Youtubing all kind of videos on repairing plastic bumpers, painting with base/clear etc. etc. Thankfully, you can fast forward through at least 50% of the video where the personality thinks I care what they have to say. It is kind of like when using recipe sites, I wish they had a "skip to recipe" for the videos.

 

Heh. The video equivalent of TLDR.

 

Took all the clip plastic off the Aero Pieces. Didn't bust any of the clips, one was broke already. A lot of cleaning to do before I can start any scuffing. I also have some scratch repair to fix in both front and rear bumpers and passenger side runner. All the small black pieces are currently soaking in an OxyClean bath.


Curious if anyone knows, on the front bumper what these diamond/honeycomb is supposed to look like? The black plastic in front of it was trashed.

 

BTW, is this stock? It was on the bottom of the front bumper.

 

Just about finished bolting on all the front stuff, less the body panels. Radiator/intercooler/AC are in, the top U brace, and plumbing hooked back up for intake and coolant.

Spent some time today doing a lens repair on the headlights/fog lights and one of the lights in the rear bumper.

Also mounted the donor car passenger side fender. Wanted to check gap/alignment. Not bad at all. The picture looks like the gap is larger mid door but it isn't. Must have been the angle of the camera.


Tomorrow, I start the plastic repair/scuffing.