I am adding on to my garage and the new slab will be 9 inches higher than my existing garage floor. I’ll be building a ramp up to the new level and was wondering if anyone here had done something similar before. If so, how long does the ramp need to be to accommodate an E-Type? Obviously if it is too short the bottom will scrape – don’t want that. I know David Langley and others have used wood to create an elevated stand for their cars, but a ramp has to handle the rise without problems so the car can move forward. I hope to build something like the photo below, but it will need to be higher and longer. Anyone know how long?
http://www.doanehoag.com/Forums/Cars/Mazda3/forum/ramp_1.jpg
Perhaps this will help you visualize…
There the front (and rear) is raised about 11". I did not raise the front in one go as there would not have been room to get the jack under the IRS if I had - but I do not think the rear would have had a problem if I had.
Everything behind the tires (i.e. the resonators) kick up at enough of an angle that there would not be contact.
The real concern is probably how the clearance amidships will be as the rear tires near the ramps. The floorboards are the low point but pretty far forward so possibly the critical point are the sills at about 3’ forward of the rear wheels. My sills have a bit more than 8" clearance as the car sits on the floor so clearing a 9" height with the front already that high seems doable.
Jacking the front up 9" might put the body in a position that would allow some precise assessment.
That garage just makes me feel jealous and ashamed. Look at that floor!
Fantastic George, and the cars are nice too.
Alan
Drew, I think I know what you want, but not sure. here what I got: Measure the ground clearance of the mufflers at the center of the wheel base & subtract a half inch for the driver & some margin. Call that “X.” For a 9 inch step, the length of the ramps L=9*(1/2wheelbase)/(2*X). As Lloyd says “See me waving my hands?” This is a good trig problem if you lay it out. So for X=4, L=54 inches. Tom
[quote=“DrewScherz, post:1, topic:349947, full:true”]
Anyone know how long?
Probably a lot longer than you think. And I guess it will want to be removable otherwise it will be in the way most of the time.
Just to give an idea, here’s what I needed to do to get my Miata onto my trailer,and even then it scraped a bit. I think the Miata’s ground clearance is about the same as an E. I’d at least make a mock-up first, just to see.
Thanks everyone. My car is currently up on jack stands with the wheels off so I will measure the clearance when I’ve put it back on the ground, then compute the needed length of the ramp using Tom’s equation. 58 inches sounds about right from what I have seen from ramp suppliers. Yes, the ramps will be removable and I will set them aside when not in use.
Yep, George’s garage looks amazing.
–Drew
Okay, my new garage is almost finished and it is time for me to start planning the ramps to get the car up in there. Unfortunately I have some slightly different measures that what Tom was speculating. The rise I need remains the same 9 inches, but the lowest point under the car are the downpipes and they are only 26 inches from the middle of the front hubs. In that case, would the ramp calculation be:
Rise of ramp in inches = 9
Distance to lowest point from center of front wheels in inches = 26
Distance from floor to lowest point minus .5 inch = 3.5
So length of ramp required = 9*((96-26)/(2*3.5)) which would be 90 inches?
Is my adjustment of the calculation correct since the downpipes are so close to the front of the car?
Thanks for any help,
–Drew
Drew, I looked at this again and got a different answer!. I seem to have overlooked something. So I apologize for misleading you. Let’s start over: Below is a pic of “break over angle”
It is measured at or near the middle of the wheelbase, because lower parts closer to the wheels have more angle & will clear by more than the middle. So measure back 48" from the front hubs to find side EF. The Tangent of angle D = side EF/ 48. (about 4 degrees)
So you need ramps that do not exceed that angle. (very long) But you can shorten them: Start at the top of your 9 inch step. The ramp drops down by 4 degrees for 50-55 inches (more than 1/2 wheelbase) after that the ramp can be steeper, say 8 degrees.
I’ll look at this more tomorrow (need to run.) Tom
For what it’s worth I just did some eyeballing using a 1/18 scale Burago Jaguar model and a box of pencils for the 9" rise. Very unscientific and not really to scale, but it looks like the exhaust will start making contact with the lip of the higher slab at about the rear of the oil pan. You are going to want safety margin so I’d guess your 90" might not be that far off.
You could build a mockup for the cost of a couple of 2X4s. The wheelbase is 6" Nail a piece of word on each end of the 2X4 so that it is the same height above the floor as the lowest part of the car. Put one end of the 2X4 on the higher slab and push it on up that slab until it contact the lip of the slab. That will tell you where the rear wheels need to have started moving up the slab.
See crappy picture below:
Hmm. A test board seems like it would be helpful. I was thinking math would do the trick, but it would help to visualize as well.
My slab is stepped so it is not a single 9 inch rise. See crappy side angle drawing below.
–Drew
John, The mockup board is a great idea.
Drew, I thing I forgot yesterday is that the car is on an angle while on the ramp. (DUH)
Add as much detail as you like to a full size mockup, but make sure you get the ground clearance at the 1/2 wheel base correct. Then put that point on the corner of the upper step & you will see how much you need to raise the rear tire. Then raise it another inch to get a 1/2 inch of clearance. Now my crappy sideways sketch.
I think you will end up with 8 degree ramp that is 64 inches long. (give or take).
Best of luck, Tom
Thanks John and Tom. I’ll do a mock-up first and see what that shows. 64 inches from the 9 inch rise would be a relatively straightforward ramp to make.
–Drew
Here’s something to consider.
My 4 post lift has 35 inch long ramps to raise 5 inches. So I would think doubling that length should still allow the car to clear as the rear wheels climb the ramps.
Or you can get the grinder out and bevel the last 8 inches in the middle of the new floor for clearance.
Doesn’t this section of the list have a tamed rithmetician anymore?
That would be to easy, jaguar ownership should be difficult. 
An update:
I made a mock-up as John and Tom suggested. Since the low point of the exhaust was just under 4 inches, my mock-up was the wheelbase length of 96 inches and had 3.5 inches of board at each end. I then tested the needed rise by adding 2 by 4s when the mock-up came close to “bottoming out.” The resulting rise in boards provided the angle we used to build the ramps. Plenty of room to handle the nine inch rise appeared to be to be ramps that were 74 inches long. We made them 79 inches long and the exhaust cleared by what looked like almost 2 inches.
Thanks for all the pointers and help! The ramps worked great and now my car is in the new garage eager to get ready for the next Oil Leak (BSOL).
Sweet, glad it worked as well as it did.
What kind of flooring is that under the E-type?
John,
It is a 7.5 by 17 foot vinyl mat I got at Costco for around $130. It seems excellent so far. It’s made by a company called BLT: https://www.bltllc.com/
I didn’t see the mat I purchased on their website, but they had a bunch of them in gray or black at my Costco.
–Drew
Thanks. The car looks good sitting on it. Probably easy to clean as well, just drag it out to the driveway and scrub it.
Drew, Your car looks great. & John get the “common sense” award on suggesting a mockup. Tom