Welding in jacking points or reinforcing existing tabs on s13?

[Black R]

Hi,

Like most everyone who has an s13, my jacking points are crushed and bent.
This even makes my front fenders bend where they contact the front jacking tabs.

I saw this thread:

http://zilvia.net/f/motorsports-skilled-driving/304168-full-race-r14-2010-modified-mag-tuner-shootout.html

They welded in 4 new jacking points and I really liked that.

A local fabricator buddy suggested that it'd be easier and cheaper to just weld in reinforcements to the ares where the existing jacking tabs are.
This would be about half the cost.

Another friend of mine is really into old vw's and mentioned to me that some vw guys weld a piece of angle iron on that entire side of the car - from jacking tab to jacking tab, front to rear.
I think he said they do this for looks?
But it would make things very easy when I go to jack up the car...
I could hit it with my floorjack anywhere on the side - and this would better distribute the weight and possibly add some rigidity to the chassis.

Thoughts?

[SoSideways]

A single piece of angle iron from jacking point to jacking point on the entire side of the car?

Wow can you say weight ADDITION?

Reinforcing the jacking area should be enough.

The car isn't THAT heavy, we're not talking about jacking up an old Chevy Bel Air or something here.

[BeerBringer]

On my to-do-list is the Koguchi jacking point:



Saves me from driving up on wood blocks to jack the car.

[Black R]

Is it some kind of bolt in frame rail / ladder bar reinforcement?

I have aero to install, so that's why I liked the way fullrace did it.

I'll just reinforce the jacking tabs for now though...

[AceInHole]

All I know is: those LCA's are spiffy looking.

[Bubba]

Wish I had a PC. I can't tell what is additional or what is stock on the bottom of that car aside from the obvious parts but it sure is sexy. My car is beat up so I don't know what it is supposed to look like. LoL

[KA240SX808]

Looks like kind of a neat Idear but what about the event where you go off track or something just so happens to catch those? Do they rip off? Do they bent and put a dent in the floor board? Seems a tad dangerous IMO were something to happen where it would catch something while @ speed.

[Colorado S14]

Plenty of other stuff to hit that would be worse. He also uses them to mount underbody aero so that shields them a bit too.

[Matt93SE]

I've had a lower tie bar on my maxima for years and the only time I hit anything hard enough to do any damage, it just bent the bar. I cut it off with a sawzall and installed another one. slipped right on, so I know it didn't bend the chassis.


On my car, I use the frame rail thingy under the car to jack the car up, not that pinch weld. With my aluminum harbor freight jack, I just run the jack in until the thumbscrew for the jack handle is right by the fender. I line it up with the door/fender seam. then it's 3-4 pumps and both wheels are off the ground on that side of the car.

[McCoy]

On my car, I use the frame rail thingy under the car to jack the car up, not that pinch weld. With my aluminum harbor freight jack, I just run the jack in until the thumbscrew for the jack handle is right by the fender. I line it up with the door/fender seam. then it's 3-4 pumps and both wheels are off the ground on that side of the car.

^^^ What he said... been doing it this way since I purchased the car and have had zero problems. Best part is that you can access both wheels on one side with this method.

[Matt93SE]

I also use the plate from the front down tube on the roll cage for a jacking plate. it's just inside the factory pinch weld (toward the middle of the car). But most of you guys don't have that option.

[Black R]

On my car, I use the frame rail thingy under the car to jack the car up, not that pinch weld. With my aluminum harbor freight jack, I just run the jack in until the thumbscrew for the jack handle is right by the fender. I line it up with the door/fender seam. then it's 3-4 pumps and both wheels are off the ground on that side of the car.

On my car, those are starting to deform also... It's had a rough life prior to me.

Sosideways, I don't think it would add 10 lbs total to run angle iron all the way down, stitched in 1" sections. It would make a very easy way to jack up the whole side of the car from the side. Unnecessary? Yup.

[Tower240sx]

You could Dimple Die stamp the piece the whole way down...wouldn't hurt chassis rigidity either

[AceInHole]

I use the rear diff and front radiator support. Requires splitter removal for the front, though.

If I'm too lazy to pop the splitter off (4 bolts), it's blocks of wood so I can get a jack under the front section of framerail.

[CodyAce]

Is it some kind of bolt in frame rail / ladder bar reinforcement?.

There was at one point...in fact I even had a set of the frame ladder bars here at the shop that I've simply NEVER put on the car...maybe this winter I'll finally get around to doing that as it would make for a great jacking point.

That, or I will be making jack blocks...odd that this came up as I recently was at a friends house and he just had a set welded into his civic...really neat setup!