ColoradoBill

I'm going to change the starter this w/e, and I'm wondering how to get the car up high enough to do this (or work on the exhaust.). I have stands, and a floor jack by the way.
Last w/e I was under there checking the wires (prelude to ordering a new starter) and had a hell of a time. I had to jack it up, put the stands under, then put the jack on a pile of newspaper (it was the only thing I had!) to jack up higher.

Do you guys use 2x8s, concrete, or what to move the jack up higher?

I'm spoiled from working under 4x4s, and my old AMX, which on ramps was high enough to do anything under. This car (my 951) is so low it's a whole different ballgame.

Sorry to ask such a basic question!

Jonathan Martini

Don't use concrete blocks, get a jack with a larger lift if you are having that much trouble.

Try a hydraulic jack made for SUV's. Should be about $30 or so. Most have a pretty large lift. Just make sure your jack stands support a similar lift. Don't throw away your old jack, you might not be able to fit an SUV jack under the car.

I personally don't have that much trouble using a standard hydraulic jack. Mine has a measly 13" lift, but it is enough for me. For some jobs I don't have enough room to use my creeper though.

Good luck with the starter.

I had to take mine off recently and it was quite a pain. Bolts were really tight and I couldn't fit even a short breaker bar in there.

A friend of mine taught me a trick I'm surprised I didn't already know. You can get quite a bit of extra torque by kind of locking two wrenches into one. Just lock the open end of one wrench into the closed end of the other.

After you break those two bolts its the easiest job in the world. You'll spend more time getting the car jacked up and the battery disconnected.

squzzy

before you go buying an suv jack, make sure it will fit under the car fully lowered. i know alot of people have this problem because of a probmlem you mentioned: our cars are so low. when i had to get under my car to play with the fan switch, i just used ramps and my creeper. its farther forward than the starter, but i had enough room on my creeper. good luck.

take care
brian

Brian McCoy

I have a 3ton Michelin jack that goes to something rediculous like 26" - Sams Club special for $40. So long as I pull the 'cup' off the jac, it fits just fine for lifting. I have so much room under the car, it's actually kinda funny.

The 951 sits higher off the ground now than the SUV..

PeteL

I have a craftsman 3 ton jack, fits under the car just fine. Also use 6 ton stands that give me plenty of room to work under the car.
Usually get all four wheels in the air, lets me get anywhere I need to be, and it is rock steady.
Jack one side, place stands, jack other side. If I am going for max height, I do it in two lifts per side.

951sickness

Sounds to me like you have one of those "cheapie/portable" 2 ton jacks you get at Target for $29. If it is please go out buy a bigger jack. Those little ones are scary to say the least, good for a tire change but that is about it. I have the opposite problem, three of my cars are too low for the floor jack to slide under and I have to drive one wheel on a 2x4.

dualblade

[quote]Originally posted by PeteL:
<strong>I have a craftsman 3 ton jack, fits under the car just fine. Also use 6 ton stands that give me plenty of room to work under the car.
Usually get all four wheels in the air, lets me get anywhere I need to be, and it is rock steady.
Jack one side, place stands, jack other side. If I am going for max height, I do it in two lifts per side.</strong><hr></blockquote>

ah, i've got the craftsman 3 ton too. bought it in a kit with 2 jack stands and it works pretty good

Ken

You could try a set of ramps instead. They're perfect for job where you need the car up and the wheels still on. (oil changes, replacing the starter, tightening alternator belt, etc) I use an old pair my father made out of wood. They're much safer than a jack too, and much easier to work with.

You need to be careful with this though. My front spoiler scraped the first couple times using the ramps. To fix that i just put a 1"x6" infront of the ramp. It lifts the front of the car enough not to scrape.

M758

[quote]Originally posted by 951sickness:
<strong>Sounds to me like you have one of those "cheapie/portable" 2 ton jacks you get at Target for $29. If it is please go out buy a bigger jack. Those little ones are scary to say the least, good for a tire change but that is about it. I have the opposite problem, three of my cars are too low for the floor jack to slide under and I have to drive one wheel on a 2x4.</strong><hr></blockquote>


I have used the cheapie portable jacks you speak of for the last 4 years. Personaly I Love them. They are light small and cheap. Between me and my father we have 3 of them. Only 1 has failed. The seals failed on it and it does not lift too high anymore so I bought another one for $30 They are just short enough to get under my race car without using 2x4's.

I thought about a nicer one, but I decied against it since I need to move my jack around quite a bit. Most of the "nicer" jacks are big and heavy and I don't feel like manhandleing them at the track. There are few nice "ligher" weight jacks out there, but $250 seems to pricey to me.

I do tire changes at the track and all major work both engine removal/installation clutch jobs ect. I have never found a problem with these jacks. I have even used them on my SUV when installing a lift. I never get under the car with just a jack. I always use jack stands.

Personally the small $12 jack stands work fine. They are small I typically don't raise the car more than the lowest point on the stand on these in the front and maybe one step in the back.

For my clutch job on my turbo I needed to use multiple jack stages on each side and used a 4x4 block of wood to get the car up still using the small jack. I put the block of wood between the jack pad and the car. The jack was still on the cement floor. Remember that you need to allow space for the jack to roll under the car as it lifts. This why you need to put it on a hard smooth flat surface. I have jacked my car up while in the dirt and have metal plates that I put the jack on to let it roll properly. I even needed to do this once at track when the asphalt paddock to proved to be bit "soft" ...

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by M758:
<strong>Most of the "nicer" jacks are big and heavy and I don't feel like manhandleing them at the track. There are few nice "ligher" weight jacks out there, but $250 seems to pricey to me.</strong><hr></blockquote>

If you have a Harbor Freight near you, visit them regularly.

I strolled into my local HF and found their new aluminum jacks on sale for $129. I picked up three of them. It's super light weight and seems to be quite well made.

Granite 944

Last weekend, I just removed the engine from my 944 na. I must admit that I used large concrete blocks to hold the car up at approx. 29" high.(to bottom of front spoiler). I used a craftsman 3ton jack, 8" by 8" by 16" concrete building blocks (3each corner,$1.69 each) with 2x8's on top of these with smaller 2x4's for a little extra crib up. I staggered block lengths (from corner to corner of car, and I found it to be very stable and comfy. I did have to jack it up in stages in order to keep it from getting to much out of level. I also used some more of these blocks I had under my floor jack to make up the difference there. (3/4" plywood on top of blocks) I did'nt have any problems with this. You have an email coming to show you what my car looks like on blocks right now. (I could'nt figure out how to get picture in this reply) I did'nt buy tall jack stands because I just could'nt see how the contact point of stands would nest in at points under car very well without allowing some movement of car durring jack up. Good luck, and BE SAFE!!

CPTdooberhead

I went hillbilly and used a ditch once

Found it easier to lower myself than to raise the car

BartW

I also bought the SEARS 3 ton jack and it came with free jack stands and a free creeper( it was a special that week) To raise the car beyond a jacks's normal levels, I recommend that you drive the wheels onto some 2x4s, this will raise the car a little and will make it easier for jack to clear, now take a jack with a good reach and place it on top of a 2x8, this will give you more lift or just keep adding boards under it till you get desired lift. I find that it is sturdier to place jack on top of 2x8s than it is to put boards on top of jack.

Dave in Chicago

I like the ramp suggestion above. I use those black plastic Rhino Ramps and can clear the ramp forward and backward.

Jacking these cars is not the easiest. Anytime I can avoid it, I do.

Good Luck,

billybones

FYI, when I went to remove my starter this spring. The bolt that went through had a bad end thread. can not remember if it was the top or bottom bolt. they go opposite ways. It was tight through out the removal. one turn in and 2 out so as not to strip out the thread in the bell housing. Would check the end threads before removal and clean.