Jacking Points
Main Jacking points
Four primary jacking points are provided on the car:
- 1 just ahead of the rear-left wheel arch
- 1 just ahead of the rear-right wheel arch
- 1 just behind the front-left wheel arch
- 1 just behind the front-right wheel arch
See Fig 1 Item 'a' for these jacking point locations.
Each body jacking point is fitted with a conical location dowel, which matches up with a hole in the vehicle's wheel changing jack.
Alternative Jacking Points
- Beneath the bolts securing the rear end of the front suspension rafts to the chasis front crossmember (See Fig 1 Item 'b')
- Beneath the rearmost pivot points of the rear suspension wishbones, bearing on the lower edges of the channel section using a suitable spreader plate (See Fig 1 Item 'c')
WARNING: On the S2-model Elan, ONLY the front jacking points (See Fig 1 Item 'a') should be used.
CAUTION: Do NOT use a jack beneath any other part of the vehicle, especially:
- Do NOT jack beneath the engine bay underframe;
- Do NOT jack beneath the rear suspension lower wishbone. Damage and/or distortion can be caused to either of these components due to incorrect jacking.
HINT: The standard outer jack points consist of a large 3/4 inch bolt under the body edge. The Lotus jack supplied in the trunk/boot has a cut-out area to fit nicely around this bolt. If you try to use a regular floor-jack to lift the car you will find it will not fit the area properly and you risk cracking the fiberglass around the jack point. A clever way around this problem is to place a 3/4 inch or larger 'socket' between the jack and jack point so it connects the two properly. Just be sure you do not need the socket you use at the jack for the job you are doing!
Clarification: Even though Lotus supplied the jack to fit around the 3/4 inch bolt it is also fine to jack directly on that bolt, see the forum
