sanjuro

How about a picture of the hoist setup? I need to do this for my garage too.

Congrats on the house!

black_EM1

Tomorrow would be great! Before 3, that is. If not, I'm free during the week after about 8.

LoudMusic

So, here's the thing about hoists and the S2000. Unlike something like, say, a Jeep Wrangler top which I've also built a hoist for, the S2000 top doesn't have any good way to "latch onto" the top while it's still fully resting on the vehicle. With a Wrangler top you can fully attach the hoist to the top without having to do any manual lifting or shifting. The S2000 has no good way to "grab onto" the top without first manually lifting it and scooting straps or bars or hooks under the rear glass. This process can be cumbersome, annoying, and potentially damage the top and vehicle.

The good news is, it IS possible to build a hoist that allows a solo person to remove and replace the top on the car. I'm told it's possible to do-so without a hoist, but I'm not that brave - the damn thing cost me about three grand, and it's sitting on a car that's still worth over 20K. I don't want to damage either one

I was lucky enough to have a garage with a high ceiling that allows the top to raise ABOVE the ceiling. At my previous house in Washington I had to back the car in so that when the top was lifted it would clear the raised door. The Jeep was the same way. Fortunately they both raised high enough that I could then pull the vehicles straight in.

I love the extra storage cabinets the previous owner put in the garage but I couldn't get both vehicles in and open the S2000 driver door, so I took cabinet doors off and now I can! It also gave me an easy access place to put the winch.

I'd love to arrange a bbq and hoist inspection / instructional for an upcoming weekend, but until then here's some pics.

http://imgur.com/a/LqIpq#0

Car with top clearly above garage door.



Three-point harness with padding under the top.



Ceiling hardware / pulleys.



Winch in the cabinet.



I feel kind of defensive of my obviously under-engineered build, but the top hasn't fallen down for over a month, and hopefully I only operate the thing twice a year - mostly it's storage.

sanjuro

That setup looks pretty amazing to me. I have super high ceilings in my garage too. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and explain it.

LoudMusic

Yep for sure!