Jacking up a 964?
 

Okay, so the tedious job of strut/spring replacement and upgrade has begun...this brought about some interesting questions in regards to jacking up a 964...

...as I am VERY used to working on an SC, this car seems a little different. I used to put a "jacking pad" into a receiver that was accessed after removing a square shaped black "plug" in the body and jack up the whole side of the car. There were also several exposed areas of the suspension that were usable.

I have noticed a jacking pad just forward of the rear wheels and have been using a floor jack/2x4 piece under that...is there a neat device one can purchase to use in the holes so as to not scratch the car up when utilizing the jack pads and keep the floor jack in place?? In other words, anything better than a piece of 2x4??

I have recently pulled out the engine/trans. in my 964 to facilitate a "Cup" clutch/flywheel upgrade and had no issues w/jacking up the rear...used the jack pads or just put a floor jack w/a piece of 2x4 under the engine.

Okay, so the front end seems a little more difficult...and I fear further difficulty after lowering the car!

Questions:

1) is there a "neat" little tool or device that can be purchased/fabricated to facilitate jacking the front wheels off the ground?

2) what are your methods?

3) is there a "handy" spot in the front that would facilitate jacking BOTH front wheels off the ground at the same time and still be safe/not harmful to vehicle?

***okay, so some of these questions may be answered by my owner's manual, but I thought I'd give you all something to do!***

As I'm sure you all know, the 964 has tray pieces that line the whole bottom of the the car. I have removed the engine piece and left it off. I have been using the mounting points for the A-arms to jack the front end up for now, but only one wheel at a time...again, this may not be possible after lowering the car!?

Let's hear it...your advice, experiences and what not.

Also, if anybody is interested, I will post what I used in the way of springs/struts/swaybars and such, also - how I feel about the performance of the new components. :p :D :cool:

[ 06-06-2001: Message edited by: Jeff Curtis '91 964 ]

I have a floor jack with a removable lifter plate at the end. I had a double ended dowel piece turned on a lathe out of aluminum to adapt the floor jack to the car. One end of the piece fits into the frame of the jack where the jack plate went, the other into the holes for factory jack placement along the side of the car. Using this piece instead of a 2X4 allows the jack to fit under the low car as well as providing solid jack placment. I place the jack at the rear jack point and jack up the whole side of the car then place jackstands under the forward jack point and under the flat ring cast into the rear trailing arm. I lower side then repeat for the other side and viola car is on 4 stands. I don't like jacking the engine, particularly with the design of the engine mounts. Racing teams use solid mounts on a 964 which take jack loads better, but it still bugs me to see them jack the engine/trans.

Good info. Cupcar...thanks...but where is this "forward jacking point" you refer to?

The "double doweled" device you had made is actually something I pictured the other day while looking at the jack pad and floor jack...so this seems to be a good idea?

OK, I know exactly what you're talking about. On pre-964 cars you could easily jack up the whole front by lifting on one of the torsion bar receivers at the front of the car. Then you could place stands behind the front wheel wells. On the 964 and 993 no such convenient point exists that I have found. I am wary of lifting the car on any alloy suspension part.

Jeff, you pretty much have the answer above. I have seen this pad adverised at an atrocious price somewhere. From the picture in the ad, it seemed to look a lot like the pad I had on hand for my 944, so I modified that one: the ears that fit into the hole in the body need to be oblong for the 964. You shove it into the hole, turn 90 deg, and it hangs there waiting for the jack. This worked fine until one day, I accidently left it in place and went for a test drive- was gone when I remembered to look. I then had a dentist friend of mine make one out of Delerin. The overall dia is 2", overall height is a tad less than 2". On one end he turned the od down to 7/8" (~i/2"high), on the other end a turned down section 1-1/4" dia, and 3/4" high. This is not quite as handy as the first tool- you hold it in place with one hand, while guiding the jack, sans lift plate, underneath and it keys into the tool you have made. Dimentions are really not too critical. BTW- I have not figured out how to access the kinds of cars member have on this board- know you have a 964- is it C2 or C4?

I am also still trying to figure out the problem of jacking up a 964 and then replacing the jack with stands. However, as to the 2x4 question, I found that a rubber hockey puck fit snugly in the cup at the end of my floor jack after removing the metal plate. It provides a sturdy cushion for the car while taking up less height than a 2x4.