Finally found the time to open the box 5 weeks after delivery (!!) so I thought I would do a write up. I also changed the subject heading in case someone in the future looks this up. I hope I haven't broken a forum rule - if I have, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
She arrived in a rather heavy box and pallet 2 days after purchase.
And here's what comes in the box.
One see-saw, one long handle, a purpose made box for a mains drill, a tonne of sections to extend the width and a plethora of other bits. But all fully built so no Messing about.
It's a very high quality finish and a solid / heavy bit of kit that is very well thought out. There are wheels at one end such that you can lift one end and drag rather than having to lift the whole thing. There are four other wheels that allow you to slide her under the car. And that is where the fun began!!
While she clears the sills, the chassis rails were in the way and lower than that is my very low slung exhaust (hoping to fix that soon with a better fitting Sean exhaust).
So out came my fence post ramps and some other small bits for the rear wheels - which next time around will be the same length as the front ones. You can see why in the photos.
I think my 260 is lowered so here is the height to the top of the wheel arch for those who know what it should be.
Out of the box, the width is adjustable to a max of 775mm which is spot on for the chassis rails. On that note, I went for the width adjustable version to future proof for whatever car I may be working on. But if you only plan to use on a Z then the non-adjustable version will be just fine and £100 cheaper.
I was very unsure / undecided about lifting on the chassis rails but I couldn't think of a better place for the widest possible load distribution. The sills seem awfully thin to do that with.
Being a giant scissor jack, the handle takes a fair bit of turning but I didn't fancy using my Makita with the 4Ah battery on the lowest setting for too long as it was straining it a little. But once the front wheels lifted off, the weight transferred to the rear and it was easy, so out came the drill again; especially as typing this, I can feel my shoulder muscles like I've been to the gym (but it's not hard to turn, just lots of turns)!
My courage ran out before the adjustment for height had maxed out. The pictures really don't show how scary it looks in the flesh or how high up the front of the car is.
Where I had positioned the lift was such that I could not seesaw the car unless I put my entire weight on it (which I didn't). But it shows you how far back the centre of weight distribution is on an S30.
I do think I need to invest in some taller - MUCH taller - axle stands. I did hook the two I have under the front wheels just in case she did decide to see-saw but I didn't feel unsafe at all and goading it, I couldn't get it to move with the stands where they were.
Sitting - yes sitting(!!) - under the car I was giggling like a child, excited by the possibilities afforded by my new toy! I was genuinely thinking there is absolutely nothing that I can't do now!!! And a very good discovery was that the way the lift is designed, it doesn't get in the way of things in the centre tunnel. OK you won't be doing a gearbox job with it, but for all other things like drive shafts, handbrake adjustment, transmission fluid / slave cyl / speedo drive / switch changes etc etc it's perfect!!!
This was just a test run so I didn't do anything except tighten a couple of sump nuts to fix an oil leak and reconnected my reverse light switch wires that I couldn't get to previously. I need those taller stands before I get properly busy under the car.
Coming back down was a piece of cake for the Makita, making it super quick. I wouldn't recommend using a non-geared mains drill as you will burn it out. The battery ones have huge ratios in their gearboxes.
Having a a garage that the PO built in the 70s for his mini, means I need to be all Ikea with space utilisation. So I built a "runway" that will eventually be bolted into the floor when I finish fine tuning it. In case you are wondering, the wooden planks sitting on top of each other are screwed together.
And with lift resting below the car.
In short this is one of the best tools I've ever bought. It's gonna make any job a doddle / a pleasure to do.
Next up, I need to experiment with different positions to get the rear off and seesaw with all four wheels off the ground.
An interesting fact I learned, depending on which bit of the literature you read the max load is either 1500 or 1600 Kg, however, if you have two wheels on the floor you can lift a car heavier than that - which means I can use it on the heavy ass Audis if needed.
Would I recommend this lift? Any day!!!!!! A great investment if like me you can't have a post lift but want to properly get under the car.