By Kiyoshi Hamai

Chapman Report – February 1980

Recently I have been confronted by a few members regarding jacking up the rear of an Elan. Inspection of the underside of the rear of an Elan shows very few likely places for a floor jack or any jack at all. The problem is simple, preferably the car should be lifted on the frame, but the exhaust system is cradled directly under the main center section of the chassis. This creates an obstacle in placing the jack without either crushing the exhaust pipe or removing the exhaust system. This is where some real Lotus engineering is required. You will need some scrap lumber; 2x4 roughly 9-10 inches long and 2 ea 1x3 roughly 3 inches long and a hammer and a half dozen nails. With your bet eye-ball ability nail one each of the 1x3’s on each top end of the 2x4, see illustration. Now by placing this marvelous piece of engineering atop the cradle of the floor jack you can raise your Elan without the fear of a car tumbling down or breaking the exhaust system. This great insight is not new as I’m sure that there a great number of versions of this engineering marvel.