Jasonty

I took my vette into the shop, and I saw the mechanic open up both doors, then he proceeded to lift the car up on the lift. I went out into the shop, and I asked him why he had my doors open with the car in the air, and he said that it was so the fiberglass body could flex. He said if you lift a Corvette, or any fiberglass car with the doors closed, it could crack the body because of too much stress. Is this true? I haven't heard of this before, so I wanted to check. If it is true, does the same apply to when I lift the vehicle up with a floor jack? TIA folks...

James

I have always heard that you should leave the doors closed so that the body does not flex.
The doors add support.
Always heard never to open the doors when the car is jacked up.

chevyjeff

I always close the doors and hood if possible when lifting a vette. I dont want mine to flex. FLEX=STRESS CRACKS= :banghead:

77Dream

This is true, sorta. If there is not much gap between the front edge of the door and the back edge of the front fender then you want to open the doors prior to lifting and not shut them until it has been lowered.

If you have a big enough gap then you can leave the doors closed when jacking, just dont open them until its back on the ground. So the biggist thing is dont open or close your doors when its in the air.

P.S. If you want to see the damage that can be cuased by not taking the precautions then I can take a closeup picture when I get home. :nonod:

Fevre

I leave my door open before jacking and putting on stand in case I need to get in it, once it up in the air the might not open. And as stated don't try to close the door if it is open before jacking/lifting. BTW even worse with a vert.

wcsinx

True to a point ... it kinda depends on the condition of the car though. I can jack my C3 up anywhere on the frame, and it doesn't flex in the slightest. I can open and close the doors just fine. But then again I know of another C3 buddy whose doors will actually jam shut if he forgets to open them prior to jacking.

redwingvette

At the very least the windows need to be rolled down . I have heard of others that say to remove the T-tops too but I never have. If my doors are closed when I lift it I can tell they are shifting by looking at the gaps. My car has some pretty big gaps to begin with.

Van Steel

We always open everything, doors, hood, t-tops. Vettes weight ratio is 51% front 49% rear.When you lift the car in the air, the front sags and so does the rear. If the doors are close your putting a lot of tension on the door strickers. When you close your door but not all the way you will notice that it clicks once an if you push harder the door will shut all the way. Put it on that 1st click and you'll be OK. Just pop the hood. You don't need to raise it all the way up. For the t-tops we just release the latch and let the sit there. Becareful that they are in place when you relatch them. On th C1's you should leave the doors closed but spread the lift legs out as far as possible. On the C3's, they sag and you can actuall see the car flex as it lifts. Just look at the door jams and you can see it. I would recommend opening everything.

Bobchad

Maybe it's different when the car is jacked up or on stands, but isn't the car up in the air when it is sitting on it's four wheels? Four wheels, four jack stands, whats the difference other than the stress is in a slightly different point.

My doors, windows, t-tops, hood all work exactly the same with no changes in dimensions from being on it's wheels vs. jackstands.

DJ Dep

Open left door, close right window, crack left window 1/16 inch, close cover before striking, do not put head or arms out of window, shake before openning. I think that covers it :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dep
No no no I don't smoke it no more...I'm tired of waking up on the floor.

Fevre

Just think about where the jack stand is as compared to where the a-arms are, the eng is inside the box when on the wheels and outside when up in the air. So is goes from apply down force inside the box to upply up force from outside the box. Try putting a 2x4 on a set of sawhorses with a heavy weight inbetween them but close to one of the horses, then move the horses in so the weight is outside the sawhorses.

DJ Dep

I jack my Vette right in the middle and BOTH wheels come off the ground. Lots of creaking but no cracking (yet) :D

Dep

Fevre

:nono:
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Don't tell anyone but I do it too. :)

Van Steel

Maybe it's different when the car is jacked up or on stands, but isn't the car up in the air when it is sitting on it's four wheels? Four wheels, four jack stands, whats the difference other than the stress is in a slightly different point
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Have you ever noticed when you jack up the car, especially in the rear, that the tires fold in. You putting tension on all the suspension parts when it's off the ground.

yellow 72

I never lift or raise my car unless the ambient temperarure is between 68 and 72 degrees, the barometor is rising, the humidity is less than 50%, it's not monday or wednesday, it's not after 1:47AM, and I have my lucky rabbits foot in my right rear pocket :crazy:

IMO if your car flexes enough to break stuff when lifted, it's got other issues........

USA SHARK

I hope it doesn't hurt it too bad when it's sitting on jacks for an extended period of time. Mine looks like it was carjacked and left on the side of the road! :smash:

I put it up on 4 jacks to clean and paint, while at the same time completely re-do the front suspension and power steering. Well, of course after I got everything off and started to clean, I hit a financial snag and couldn't order the parts right away. That was 2 months ago.

The good news is I finally was able to order the parts, some of which arrived today. I hope to have it put back together over the next 2 weeks. Needless to say, the car looks pretty good underneath now since I haven't had anything better to do. :D

Once I finish the suspension and power steering, all I have left to do is the complete interior, complete exterior and of course some engine modifications..... Jeez, I'm almost done! :rofl:

74 vert

I usually leave my doors closed and try to work on one side of the car at a time. I recently had work done on the car, visited the shop, the car was on four jack stands, two in front the back wheels and two located behind the front wheels near the door fender split line. Anyway, the gap between the door and fender about freaked me out.:eek: That's life in the vert lane. :lolg:

Dk Met Grn 80 L82

I have always been told to open the doors, hood, and tops. I generally open all but the tops. So far no cracking issues.

Bob Jenkins

I always open the doors and hood before jacking the car up... :cheers:

Bad-79

Nonsense That is only true for uni-body cars like Camaro's The corvette has a full frame like a pick-up truck. If your Vette frame flexs than to have real problems. In my area that is called "Vette Rot"