How do you all do it? I've only been to one event, where I discovered that my jack doesn't reach the middle front jack point, so I had to do the front wheels individually, which sucks.

Is there a safe place to jack up one whole side of the car? Or can you drive onto blocks/ramps to make clearance for the jack in order to get the whole front end up at once? Or...?

Thanks.

 

You can safely jack an entire side by jacking on the pinch weld running down both sides of the car. It is not a problem without side skirts, but if you are running the MazdaSpeed side skirts they have cutouts near the front that gives you enough room for the jack without having to worry about hitting them.

 

You're not using a low profile jack? Or if so, you're lowered? I had the same problem. If you use the center to jack one side of the car, you'll also have a nice dent in the undersill there. There's not support there really, it wasn't designed for lifting there. It's also not terribly stable using the silly Mazda jack, but it works. If that bothers you use these http://www.raceramps.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=67 and then you'll be able to get under the front to the center crossmember lift point no problem.

 

I have a Craftsman aluminum jack, which doesn't seem to reach the center crossmember, even on my non-lowered car. Those ramps look pretty nice.

Is the pinchweld just the rail that is usually used by scissor jacks, or is it something further underneath the car?

 

It the same pichweld yes...but if you don't use the two marked areas on it front and rear, you'll collapse the sill some because there is no reinforcement except where you're supposed to jack.

BTW I have the sears aluminium jack too, and you're correct, before I got the Race Ramps, I always had to use the Mazda jack to lift one side a bit to get the jack to the center point.

 

I have found that using a 12" long section of 2x4 between the jack foot and the pinch weld distributes the load across more of the weld and keeps it from collapsing.

This should work fine for a B Stock car with the ubiquitous Harbor Freight race jack.

If you are lowered, take the same size piece of wood and cut a 1/2" wide, 3/4" deep groove down the length of it so that you can fit it over the pinch rail and then get the jack underneath it.

 

Or you could take two 2 x 4s (2 x 6, or whatever), cut a 45 degree bevel on one end and drive the front tires up on that to raise up the car. I know it worked fine on my Miata before I purchased a low profile racing jack. Will take up a lot less space transporting than the ramps.

Steve

 

Hmm, the 12" 2x4 buffer sounds like the cheapest/easiest/most convenient solution, to me, assuming it works. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

 

Suggest you try it in your driveway 1st before you take it to the track. It's not as easy to do as you might imagine, the 2x4 wood tends to not stay put, but if you can make it work....

 

Low profile lightweight jack is worth its weight in gold.

 

Uh... how hard can it be?

1. Place wood on top of jack seat
2. Slide jack under car
3. Align wood with pinch rail
4. Jack car up.

It's really not that hard. I've been doing this (in fact, I've been using the same piece of wood) since I switched to autocrossing Mazdas back in 2001. None of them - not my FD, not my Miata, not my RX-8 - have decent jack points, so I've always used a piece of wood to spread the load on the pinch rail.

 

I'm referring to this, not your suggestion. Actually I like yours.

 

Gotcha!

 

altiain, if you drive any faster.. your gonna tip over. Then you won't have to change tires.

 

Heh, that's funny; my last three cars, in order were FD, Miata, 8. :D My Miata's rails were already destroyed though, so I just destroyed them further

 

I have two beveled 2 x 4s and place the beveled end of each under both front tires. If I drive up on them slowly I have not had a problem with them staying put.

This give enough clearance under the sills to place the jack along the reinforced pinch weld under the side mirror. It will allow you to jack up the entire side of the car.

 

OK, I finally got tired of jamming my floor jack under the car to get at the jacking points, so I'm going to give this a try. But are you guys actually lifting off the thin pinched part at the bottom of the car? Would it be better to lift off the flat part just inside (see marked section in pictures). For reference, I included a shot of the reinforced section where the OEM jack goes. It rests on that reinforced part and does not lift off the thin rail below (very slight clearance).
The only issue I see with lifting off the inside part, is it seems like it might be on a slight angle. I was thinking of putting a grove in the wood block to hold onto the thin rail, but make it so the lifting surface is on the inside part only.

 

You'll f'up your frame that way. That notch in the jack needs to go over the metal rib next to the area where you're trying to lift. That rib provides lifting strength. What you really need to do is quit screwing around and get a proper jack. The OE jack is worthless and unsafe. It's intended for emergency use only.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91039

With a good low profile floor jack you can use the rear jacking point where you are pointing at (but on the metal rib) to lift up both the front and rear wheel at the same time per side. Using the rear point rather than the front will get both wheels up with less jack pumping.

 

i like my low profile jack that i bought from summit alot. i recommend it.

 

i usually have to drive up on blocks. i need a new jack i think.

 

no kit or app. package FTW lol

 

I have the low profile jack, but I've been using it on the rear diff and front x-brace lift points. I can get the jack in there, but it is very difficult to jack it up until you get it a couple of inches up (no room to move the handle up and down).
What I want to do is something like this, and use the LP jack to lift the block (the block would cover 12"+ of the frame at the center).



I was just showing the OE jack to show how it interfaces with the frame. It does not lift on the rib, but on the reinforced section (see arrows on previous picture). There is a small clearance between the bottom of the notch on the OE jack and the rib. I'm worried about folding over the rib, but it looks like most people are lifting on it without problems.

 

You don't need a low profile jack to manage two tires with one jack. Just jack up at the appropriate reinforced jack points on the side with a high enough jack and it'll raise that entire side of the car. You'll be able to get two tires at a time that way. I also have my reinforced points marked with yellow duct tape so it's easier to find them.

I've got the harbor freight 4ton aluminum jack and aside from losing a front wheel (which they have no problem replacing) it's worked fine. And as long as I'm level I can still barely get to the front center jack point but it pushes up against the under tray and I can't get to it if it isn't level. I'm barely lowered on htechs.

 

I do the front together, then I do the rears together. I jack the front up by the subframe in front of the oil pan and the rear by the differential. Since my car is lowered, I have to park it on boards to get the jack under the car. Not exactly a big deal.

I use those two points because I'm not a fan of jacking the car by its body. I prefer to use thicker metal that won't deform or rust in a permanent, irreparable way.

When I put the car on stands I put them under points where subframes or large suspension parts bolt to the car. Again, thicker metal that won't deform in any way.

 

A slit down the center of a hockey puck also works really well. It fits perfectly in the saddle and won't slide off like an oversized piece of wood. Also, you can jack up the whole side of the car very easy using the front or rear jacking point with stiff springs / swaybars, but you need to get some height on the rear jacking point if you have a stock suspension.