C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

[Dino L.]

I am designing a new home and would like to double stack 2 C2 corvettes. One on top of the other using a 4 post lift...for those of you that double stack corvettes, what is the minimum clear height I need from concrete slab to ceiling.

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

The minimum height will be a pain in the axx as you will not be able to stand under the car and work on it you will either be bent over of sitting in a rolling chair. If your building new, go for the maximum height

Harry

[Dino L.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Harry exactly, forgot that point...so a C2 is 5 foot tall, and you should lift the car 7 feet to work on it, so clear height should be a minimum 12 or 13'?

[Patrick H.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

I have a 13 tall foot door and 14 foot ceiling in my barn. I can easily do a Corvette on top, but if I put my 1970 Cutlass convertible on top and cycle the top, it gets close.

I'd go at least 12 feet, and if you can squeeze in 13 then go for it. You may want to check with John Hinckley as to how high his is.

Patrick

[James W.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Dino,

Go to www.stingerlifts.com and click on "dimensions" and print the information. Then get the overall height of each of your Corvettes and calculate the overall floor to ceiling height you will need.

Per the NCRS 1953-1972 Corvette Specifications Guide a 1963 to 1967 Corvette overall height is 49.78 inches. If you multiply that by 2 you get 99.56 inches or 8.3 feet. I would then add 6 inches for the ramp height that the top car will sit on which would give you a total floor to ceiling height of 105.56 inches or 8.796 feet or 8 feet, 9-9/16 inches. I have a 10 feet, 6 inches floor to ceiling height in my garage and it works great. If you are interested in a Stinger Lift, give Perry a call, he'll fix you up, I believe they advertise in the Drive Line Magazine also.

Best Regards,

James West
Omaha, NE.

[Guest]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

I am not certain for a C2, but I have had C3's, C4's and C5's stacked in a garage. These cars require a minimum of 8'7" to stack them. When I built a new garage, I built it with 10' ceilings.

[Jean C.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Dino, unless you plan to use a "roll up" type of garage door, remember to allow for the overhead garage door in the up position that may restrict your overall height. A roll up door would be the preferred type in my opinion.
Best regards,
Charlie

[Dino L.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

I have seen garage door openers that are wall mounted but the doors still have the guide tracks on the side, Can anyone recommend a good looking single car garage door manufacturer that makes a roll up design 8' tall, I have landed on a 13' ceiling ht, which would allow double stack or a raised vehicle for underneath repair work. Many great thoughts, that never crossed my mind. thank you all....any other thoughts....concrete thickness the width of the bay etc

[Gary Bishop]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Also, If you have just the roof over the garage. You can build a box in the rafters that the top of the Vettes can go up inside.

[Don 42616]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Pat, What a beatiful garage & colection. Is the Blue vette a C6 or C7? Don

[John H.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

I have a Double-Park lift (www.doublepark.net) and a 12' ceiling, and stacking isn't an issue with that height. I have 18' x 8' sectional doors, and had my garage door guy convert the door in my lift bay to a "high-lift" setup; added a 24" tall dummy section (not visible from the outside) to the existing 8' door to handle the geometry of converting the initial vertical lift with a horizontal opener, and raised the horizontal tracks and the opener and its track. The horizontal tracks are 8" from the ceiling, the opener track is 1" from the ceiling at the door end and 2-1/2" from the ceiling at the opener end (ordinary Lift-Master opener, no special parts). I can open the door all the way with the car at full standing working height with no problem. Converting the door to the "high-lift" configuration took about four hours and cost me a little less than $400.00.

[Joe R.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Hi Dino:

I just built a new garage and had to wrestle with all the issues you have raised. There are several tradeoffs involved among the parameters of ceiling height, door style, and opener style.

It sounds as though you have settled on a pretty high ceiling height of 13 feet. If you use a standard 7 foot high door, I think you will find that the door itself and the tracks are not a problem. In the fully open position, most of the door will still be somewhat parallel to the front wall, with only a slight intrusion into the ceiling space. You can have the tracks installed fairly tight against the ceiling. Since the car is tallest in the center, having your effective ceiling height reduced by a foot or so over the nose or tail of the car will not affect the maximum lift height.

The opener itself presents many tradeoffs. Traditional residential door openers like the Liftmaster 2265 mount on the ceiling in the center over the bay, and may limit your maximum lift height. I'm not even sure whether this type of opener can be used on a 13 foot ceiling if the door height is the standard 7 feet.

The alternative is a "jackshaft" type opener like the Liftmaster LGO that mounts on the wall next to the door.

I have two bays and I plan to have a lift on only one side, so I put a Liftmaster 2265 opener on one side and a Liftmaster LGO on the side where the lift will go. I did this instead of using two LGO openers because I felt that the safety features of the standard residential 2265 opener were superior to the those of the LGO jackshaft opener.

The 2265 will stop and reverse if it encounters an obstruction (such as the hood of your car), but the LGO will just keep lowering the door until the full weight of the door, 400 pounds in my case, is resting on whatever it has hit.

The 2265 comes with a photodetector that mounts on the door frame and will stop the door if the beam is interrupted. You can add the same type of photo detector to the LGO, but it's hard to select one location for the light beam that will detect all possible obstructions. For example, the light beam is usually set just a few inches off the floor, but if the nose or tail of your car is just barely in the path of the door, the light beam will shoot right under it.

For the bay with the LGO opener, I ended up installing the Miller Edge Patriot Model MIR-T1 photo detector that mounts to the lower edge of the door, but the MIR-T1 is a little flakey sometimes due to alignment problems with the light beam. If I had it to do over again, I might just install two or three standard photodetectors at different fixed locations on the door frame, and wire them so that if any beam is interrupted the door will not close.

[Patrick H.]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Left to right:

1971 Bridgehampton Blue coupe
1972 Mille Miglia red convertible
1972 Sunflower Yellow coupe (TF and Bowtie winner)
1992 Bright Aqua Metallic conv 6 speed
2002 Electron Blue conv with 1995 miles (at present)

Patrick

[Lyle24961]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Dino

I have 11'6" ceiling and have no problem with heigth and I have ceiling lights and a 6" I beam with a 4" I beam under it in a X pattern over the lift. I can lift bodys off alone with this setup in no time after they are loose. The best door needs the track near the ceiling and a wall mounted opener. I think the best setup is a shop you can use and get dirty if you do frameoffs and a measuem area for storage of your finished work. A place to store your projects and parts storage would be nice. Everyone has different needs.
Lyle

[Alan Drake]

Re: C2 - garage storage - 4 post lift

Have ceiling at 11' 4 1/2". Using a 2 post lift however. Have GN (tin car) up and C2 under - works great! Can work on C2 without hitting the GN, except tire sometimes.
Stay with wall motor and run tracks up as high as possible. Mine are only at 9' 5" and I must be careful when opening door that it does not take the antena off the C2. Using a 9X9 Garaga Door.
Remember to get a spec on the floor thickness, may be 6" not the standard 4".
I highly recommend that you add 2" blue foam insulation under the floor. Even if you do not heat floor it keeps the cold away - will make a difference. Be sure to check with expert if you do add the insulation.
Have fun.