Jacking up a Coupe

Technical

Jacking up a Coupe

-----Original Message----- From:Art WegweiserSent: Thursday, September 09, 1999 4:44 PM To: Marilyn;JamesChapa@aol.comSubject: Re: Frankencoupe stupid question 3

Marilyn wrote:
The jack points are at the front and rear of the rocker panels, respectively.

This is quite true, but those jacking points are shaped to accommodate the lozenge shaped lifting point of the stock jack that comes with the car and which can be safely used only for the first few years of the car's life. A floor jack will deform that location and the flange or lip of rocker sheet metal that runs alongside it. Use of this location will also quickly reveal any hidden rust weakness in the rockers. Although "rare", such weakness has been known to exist in a few coupes and this is a bad way to find out about it. The crunching sounds are unmistakable. For a floor jack I use the frame rail which is a foot further under the car - padding the jack and spreading the load as much as possible with a two by four or thinner board.

Jack stands are another matter. The car is not lifted by them, just supported if it's to be up for a time or to act as emergency catch should the hydraulic floor jack fail. And fail they might, whether they be from Ames or K Mart at $20 or Griot's at $200. Whatever crushes or breaks if the car comes down is OK as long it is not your cranium or sternum. Those pieces, custom designed and hand crafted for your personal model, are NLA.

Up front there is sturdy angle iron brace or frame piece inboard of the tire and front suspension pieces which can be safely used for the jack stand. Look around for it - just do not put any weight or pressure on suspension or steering parts.

Jacking the the rear is more difficult. One can carefully use another section of angle iron or frame brace that can be seen just forward of the rear wheel suspension stuff for the jack stand. For the floor jack, cishio it well and place it under the bolt and metal plate that is below the rear axle carrier bushing. It's immediately inboard of the "official" rocker panel jacking point depression.

The key to successful survival of jacking is:

(1) Use cushioning pieces of rubber or wood,
(2) Spread the load as much as possible,

(3) Work slowly, make sure everything is lined up and not slipping sideways and keep listening for crunching sounds (OK if wood, not OK if metal).

(4) Never crawl under without a backup support, even if it's as crude as a cement block under your brake disc (still cheaper and little less painful to replace than the aforementioned skeletal components).

(5) If really paranoid, and nobody nearby knows what you are doing or where you are, place a wireless phone or cell phone within reach and remember the number 911. (OK to use this infernal device in proximity of a vehicle as long as one hand, wrist, knee, genitalia or left ta ta is not being used to steer down the highway at speed).

Don't use the differential to jack the car - unless you are planning on purchasing a new diff mount in the near future.

Amen brothers and sisters.

Art Marilyn

At 1:14 PM -0400 9/9/99, JamesChapa@aol.comwrote:

Hey,

In the continuing saga of Frankencoupe, I need to find out exactly where you're supposed to put jack stands. I just put one where it seems most obvious, and the car proceeded to crush (in a heap of rust) down on top of it. Yikes! I don't know if I just *ucked up big time, or this coupe's beauty is mm deep. All I'm trying to do at this point is get the front wheels off the ground, so I can get the brakes loose, so I can roll the f'coupe around.

Any help would be appreciated, uh, ASAP...

Jim