Finding the jacking points on an NB with body cladding

Mar 08, 2008 5 Replies

I've always felt the silver-gray body cladding on my 2003 Shinsen edition looked nice, but it's apparently going to be a bit of a hindrance to jacking the car up. For one thing, it seems unlikely I'm going to be able to use Lanny's trick of lifting one whole side with a jack and a grooved 2x4, which would have been nice. But forget that for now, I just want to make sure of where the jack points are. After some dirty groping along the underside (can I still call her Classy GGG?), here is where I think they are (this is an NB, FWIW):



Rear: If you drop a line straight down from the keyhole, it's just a hair rearward of that on the pinch seam, but forward from the rear edge of the door. Front: Just forward of the forward edge of the door. This one I'm less sure about because besides the twin notches I think I was feeling some other stuff too.



While I'm at it, my current plan to jack up one side of the car is to lift at each jacking point, then reach under the car to place a jack stand on the subframe, roughly what looks like several inches inward (toward the centerline of the car) from each jacking point. I got this idea after perusing the pics at

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thinking about what my options were. Am I good so far?



Thanks Eric



The subframes carry the suspension. The places you describe are just boxed sections of the floorpan, probably not strong enough to support the car without risking damage. You could jack the front crossmember to lift the front, place two jackstands at the front rocker panel jacking points, then jack the differential and place two more stands in the rear.

You won't find the jacking points by feel--you gotta grovel and use your eyeballs.

Gotcha. If Rich says they're safe, I'm sure they are.

Here he is suggesting "groveling" again, hmmmmmm you gotta wonder 'what's that all about?" ;-)

cd

99BBB

Only for 37 years. The secret to a long, successful marriage: give in early and often. Groveling isn't strictly necessary...but it couldn't hurt.

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