From RonStygar_at_aol.com Wed Sep 9 23:53:40 1998
From: RonStygar_at_aol.com
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 02:54:03 EDT
To: dale_at_unofficialbmw.com
Subject: Lets jack up the lowered cars

Using my Sears 1 1/2 ton 20 year old+ floor jack to get my '96 328is and '97 318tis up in the air is no problem. Its ~5" jack pad height is low enough. Someone asked me to
x-brace and short shift their lowered E36. The ~5" jack pad height was not low enough for this car. Michel Potheau recommended a 2 x 6 board ramp (good idea). From this idea, I came up with the following.

The dimensions are not critical. I made mine out of 5/4 (1 1/16") by 12 (11.25) finger jointed cedar which was left over from my home mod. One board was just enough for the above mentioned car. I went with two boards (2 1/8") to cover what may come over in the future. One end of each board is cut at a 45 degree angle. If you assemble the two boards (final result glued and screwed) so that there is a 2 1/8" thick ramp with a 45 degree angle, the car just pushes this combination forward along the floor. If you step the upper board back 3/4" it does the same thing. I found that if you step the upper board back 1 7/8" (as shown in the photo) the car easily climbs up the two boards. The bottom of the board is smooth like my steel floated garage floor. The stop at the end was cut from 3/4" plywood. Plywood won't split like a strip of wood will. Bottom line is that you end up with a pair of one man mini ramps that you do not have to hold or fasten in place. I added a 1/2" (size of the hole) wire screw eye, so that I can hang them on the wall.

RonStygar_at_aol.com FLY BMW
http://www.unofficialbmw.com/ronstygar.html