Recently bought an 03.

Car is so low my floor jack won't fit under it.

Have a buddy with a race car who put three 2X8's together for his car so that you drive up on one, then two, then three.

Appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks.

 

Do a search for ramps and you'll find lots of guys who have them or have built them.

I bought some plastic rhino ramps from Autozone when I bought the car. If I had to do it again, I would have just built some out of 2X10's or 2X12's.

Here's a good thread about them:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...-your-car.html

I personally would build something similar to this, except with maybe a little bigger final platform and bigger front stop. A small dip at the top would help too to have the tire sit in once it gets to the top. I get paranoid about running the car over the front end of the ramps

 

My Z06 has 4 inches of clearance at the rocker panels. Buy a low profile jack that will go under it. That works for me.
<p>

 

Yes. Just get a low profile jack. Make sure you use jacking pucks or you'll damage the fenders/rocker panels.

 

i got a low profile jack at Harbor Freight and some jack stands. that works fine and no need for big wood ramps that i would have no place to store them

 

click on my avatar and see a couple of pics of jacking the car and painting the calipers

 

$79 on sale which is $60 off the normal price. Sign up and get coupons by email. Lifts from 2.75 inches to 20 inches. Harbor Freight has some great deals from time to time.

 

Wow sounds like I'll have to pick up one of those this weekend. How long is the sale going on?

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/#

Sale ends 5/31

 

For the OP, I too do not have a low-profile jack, just a standard Craftsman 3-Ton floor jack. Since much of what I do on my car requires that I remove the wheels, ramps are insufficient.

Here's what I do:

1. Remove the saddle/cradle from the jack and replace it with a 1/2-3/4"-thick, 6"x6" square piece of MDF or plywood (just resting on the flat platform of the jack under the cradle.) Assuming your rear suspension is stock height (or close to it), this will allow you to position the jack under the rear frame cross-member.
2. Using the preferred jacking point on the rear frame cross-member, raise the rear of the car. This cross-member is aluminum, and has several cast reinforcements that you can see from the rear of the car; it's preferred if you can be positioned under at least one of these reinforcements. The MDF/plywood is only so you don't damage the aluminum.
3. Once the rear is raised, position 2 jack stands outboard of the jack, either positioned on the cross-member or at the pivot of the lower control arms. I put a piece of 2x4 on the top of the jack stands, again, so as not to mar the control arm.
4. Lower the jack and replace the saddle with a jacking puck.
5. With the rear in the air, you will now have enough room on the forward frame rail jacking points (forward of the door) to accommodate your standard jack. Raise the front, one side at a time, utilizing the front suspension cross-member for the jack stands. Be careful that the jackstands ARE NOT positioned such that they come into contact with the cast aluminum oil pan.
7. Depending on the height of your jack and the extent to which you need to raise the front of the car, after both sides of the front are raised and supported, you may find that you can further raise the front of the car by repositioning the jack on the front cross-member between the jackstands, and elevating.
6. Lowering is the reverse.

That's 3 jacking locations to get the entire car off the ground with a standard (not low-profile) floor jack.