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I finally got a chance to put together the Quickjack BL-5000 this past weekend and got some pictures and a video of it in action as well so i figured i'd post it up.

Assembled and ready to be put into action


This is the lift fully extended. There's a lock mechanism as well so in the event the hydraulic pump fails the unit won't collapse completely


A shot from behind. As you can see there's tons of room underneath the car now, plus there's added security that the car is held up securely and won't tip over.


Here's a quick video of the car being lifted and lowered. I confess, the video is sped up 2x. It takes a little over a minute for the lift to reach it's maximum height and a little over half of that to lower the car completely. Despite the slightly slow lift time, it's going to be awesome to be able to lift all four corners in one shot, whether it's for a tire rotation, suspension work, or any work that requires being underneath the car.


Besides the putting together the new jack, i also started working on tearing down the car. I began with the interior. Dirty does not even begin to describe what the inside of the car looked like. Here's the driver's side with the seat removed. Who knows how long this stuff has just been sitting and decaying in the car...nasty!


And here's the trunk...gross!


Luckily with a little bit of vacuuming i was able to clean it up a bit, but i think i'm still going to have to shampoo or steam clean the carpet at some point.


I also finally got around to playing around with the GT2 wing that i picked up. I thought about just buying the GT2 High Mount wing stands, but after finding out it would cost me $750 not including shipping for just the stands, i decided to try to find a way to make use of my GT3 wing stands instead. I did some mock fittings just to see what it would look like. I think i'm going to make some custom plates to make the wing sit a little bit higher than it does with the original wing mounts. I also need to find a way to secure the stands to the trunk since the GT3 stands aren't threaded underneath.

Since replacing my 2003 Camry with a C300 and 335D, I had always planned on taking the cars to the dealers for servicing mainly because i wasn't familiar with German cars and i was a little hesitant to do the work myself. But recently, after thinking about how much it will cost to regularly service these cars at the dealer, I decided i need to just man up and do the work myself. Not only that, i figured i could use the money i would save for a tool for my garage that i've been eyeing for a while, a portable lift! I don't quite have enough space in my garage for a real two post lift, so when i found out that they make smaller portable lifts, i was ecstatic. The lift i'm referring to is the Ranger Quick Lift made by Bendpak, a company that specializes in car lifts. They make two versions, a 3500lb lift and a 5000lb lift. The 3500lb lift would've been more than enough for my 2700lb RX7, but since i wanted to use it for the other cars as well i had to opt for the 5000lb version. I placed my order and a week later, i was called to schedule a day for delivery. Since the shipment was a 260+ lb freight shipment, i had to schedule a work from home day so i would be available to collect the shipment.

Good thing the truck had a lift gate with a hand truck because i would've had a hell of a time trying to get this thing off the truck myself.


This is what the lift looks like. You can see it's two separate lifts linked together so they lift simultaneously. It's designed to be really low profile as well so it can slide underneath lowered cars. I'll have to see if i have enough clearance once i put my bodykit on the car and lower it with my coilovers. Not only that, since they're not fixed in place, once i'm done with it, i can just store it underneath the car so it doesn't take up any additional space in my garage. I'm hoping to get it assembled this weekend so i can test it out on the C300, which is in much need for an oil change.


Since i was going to be home anyway, i also decided to schedule to have someone come pick up my RX7 shell that's been sitting in my driveway for the past two weeks, since i moved my replacement into the garage. Luckily, i found someone on Craigslist who will basically pick up any kind of scrap metal you may have for free, including cars. So in the end, i didn't even have to pay anyone to get rid of the trashed body and i didn't have to take another day off from work to get it done! It's these types of little things in life that really bring a smile to my face.





Seeing the car being hauled away was a huge burden off my shoulders, but at the same time, it was a little saddening. As i was helping the guy get the car onto the flatbed, i distinctly remembered the day i went to go pick up the car in Pennsylvania, which happened to also be a cold overcast day. But that sadness didn't last very long because now that i was back to 4 cars, i could officially start the rebuild!

I also finally get a set of replacement wheels for my TE37s. Since i didn't want to fork over money for another full set, i decided to just pick up two wheels to replace the two that couldn't be fixed. The only problem is, i ended up with a different color wheel!



If you recall, last year when i was debating which wheels to get, the wheels i really wanted but couldn't get were the TE37SL 2012 Limited, so i ended up settling for the RTs. Although i loved the RTs, i still couldn't get over the 2012 Limited, so when i found two SL limited wheels on YAJ in the size i needed, i jumped on them. When they showed up, they were in much better condition than i imagined, so i'm really glad i pulled the trigger. Now i just need to decide whether or not to keep the wheels two different colors or get my RTs refinished to look like the SLs. I think if i can find someone to replicate the SL look with my RTs then most likely i'll go that route. We'll see.

As a side note/rant, i recently found out that RAYS came out with the TE37RT Black Edition!!!! Oh boy was i JEALOUS! i couldn't believe it...well i sort of knew it would happen because they had the CE28RT Black Editions, but i just didn't know when they would release them. Unfortunately, my rebuild budget just isn't big enough to splurge another $3000 for new wheels especially when you consider i got the two SLs for under $1200 shipped. Oh well...

One last thing, remember the RE-Amemiya GT2 wing i won on YAJ last August, well i finally got it 5 months later! It's pretty beat up, but definitely usable with a little bit of TLC. It's basically on my list of CF parts that needs repair which is extremely long at this point. I'll get to it eventually.



Well that's pretty much it as far as updates go. Hopefully i'll be able to work on the car more extensively now that the old shell is gone and i have more room to work with, plus the added bonus of the lift. But there's still a long road ahead and lots of work to be done.