How far can you tip a car on its side?

[sad-lumina-owner]

I have seen pics of cars being tilted (to do bodywork etc.).

I would like to do this at home in the driveway (with sensible safety precautions in place), to work on the underside.

I can however see serious problems arising due to say the cooling system being tilted and creating air pockets, the oil system not pumping properly, the transmission likewise, and maybe even the brake cylinder getting messed up, to say nothing of the gastank!

So my question is,

(1) how far can you actually tilt a complete car (e.g. 40 degrees?) before causing special problems in how it runs, and

(2) what things must you do before you start (e.g. emptying gastank etc.),

(3) what do you have to do afterward to ensure the car runs properly as before?

Say this is a Chevy sedan.

[2.2 Straight six]

Jack it up, put axle stand under it, work.

I've never had a single issue with jacking a car up at an angle.

[Moppie]

If it tips over, you have gone to far.

[sad-lumina-owner]

Originally Posted by Moppie

If it tips over, you have gone to far.

...the rum, or the car?

[curtis73]

As long as you're not spilling fluids (and not trying to run the car while its tipped) I would say 35-40 degrees is fine. If its a V-engine, I might give it a couple days before restarting it. It doesn't take too much angle to get oil seeping into the cylinders. I parked my station wagon with a 454 on a really steep bank and it started burning oil out the right side.

But don't worry about coolant and air pockets. Make sure the fuel tank isn't dumping, and go for it.

[sad-lumina-owner]

Originally Posted by curtis73

As long as you're not spilling fluids (and not trying to run the car while its tipped) I would say 35-40 degrees is fine. If its a V-engine, I might give it a couple days before restarting it. It doesn't take too much angle to get oil seeping into the cylinders. I parked my station wagon with a 454 on a really steep bank and it started burning oil out the right side.

But don't worry about coolant and air pockets. Make sure the fuel tank isn't dumping, and go for it.

This sounds very interesting:

Since my car has a v6 (sideways, frontwheel drive), I guess I'll start burning oil on one side going up or down steep hills.

Too bad there isn't a 'self-righting' mount for the engine that compensates for pitch, yaw and roll.

[curtis73]

Originally Posted by sad-lumina-owner

This sounds very interesting:

Since my car has a v6 (sideways, frontwheel drive), I guess I'll start burning oil on one side going up or down steep hills.

The kind of hills that produce 30-40 degree slopes aren't somewhere you can drive. If you start climbing 40 degree hills with a FWD car, then you're more of a man than I am

Plus, your V6 is almost certainly a 60* bank angle which means more like 60 degrees would be necessary for the oil to flow up the cylinders.

Too bad there isn't a 'self-righting' mount for the engine that compensates for pitch, yaw and roll.

There is... a motorcycle

[sad-lumina-owner]

Quote:
Too bad there isn't a 'self-righting' mount for the engine that compensates for pitch, yaw and roll.
There is... a motorcycle

Your brilliance here caught me completely offguard. 5 gold stars!

I can only admire your wit from a distance down here in mediocre-land.