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after owning my 71 911s for about a year im still not sure of where the best spot is to jack it and once jacked, where to place the jack stand. i have a pair of jack plates (that fit in the side jacking point). should i jack it there and place the stand elsewhere or vise versa.
what do u all do?
Porsche hasn't been too helpful regarding the many things that could bend when lifting the car. A very popular, method is to lift the rear end using a floor jack under the sump plate (placing something in-between as a cushion).
I've never felt comfortable concentrating about 1400 lbs. onto this small but most expensive piece of car. Even though it's pretty strong, I don't think this engine area was designed for lifting. Instead, I lift one side of the car using a jack pad in the rocker panel. Then I slide a floor jack and a block of wood under the transaxle motor mount, then lift from this point. Jack stands are placed under the outer end of each torsion bar cover. Make sure these stands are heavy duty and tall enough for meaningful work space under the car. Don't use cinder blocks, bricks, wood, kitchen stools, phone books, Tom Clancy novels or other unstable materials to keep the car off your head. With the jack stands in place, shake the car to make sure it's not going anywhere.
Although there's less weight in front, there are vulnerable areas to be aware of. There might be a couple of oil lines and perhaps A/C hoses running along the rocker sills, plus an exposed gas tank and a sheet metal floor that's not designed to support any weight, especially with a strong case of rust.
There's a removeable pan under the front end (4 bolts?) that conceals the front crossmember/steering box. The crossmember is beefy enough to lift the front end were it not for the pan being in the way. To allow a lift from the pan, I installed a piece (or pieces ... I forgot) of flat aluminum stock (approx. 1"wx1/4"hx18"l) to take up the air space between the pan and crossmember. With spacer(s) in place, the pan and crossmember are now as one as far as lifting from underneath. I even painted an arctic white rectangle (paint code unknown) on the pan to indicate the "safe" lifting area. To raise the front, I begin with a scissors jack under the torsion bar end to provide enough height to slide my floor jack and 2x4 directly under the pan/crossmember area. Alternately, a lift from the factory jack point along the rocker sill might do this as well. The front jack stands go under each front torsion bar mount.
I'm sure there are other, less stressful methods to lift the car, but this is what I've been doing. Does anybody see any caveats here?
Regards,
Sherwood Lee