Jack Points?

[Oliver]

My concern with lifting the whole car / one end is a simple one (or maybe i`m simple): Surely if all the major (heavy) mechanical parts are attached to the chassis (subframe), if you use the outer body wheel change jacking points all simultaneously, whay the hell stops the chassis / engine / suspension being torn free and hitting the ground ?

[RayD]

Oliver, you have a point.

If you put the car on a test rig, mounted only on the four jacking points, and violently shook it up and down for 3 weeks, all the important bits might land on the floor.

For normal work it would be best to assume they got it just right with the size and position of the 16 fixings bolts.

I had wondered why people reported an improvement when fitting a rear strut bar. Not thinking it would stiffen the chassis in any way, I thought it might be improving the body/chassis fixing.

To test the theory I checked the gap between the chassis and the underside of the body, adjacent to the ‘strut’ bolt, then jacked the car up to see how the gap increased. On mine it was negligible. It’s possible for those who’ve seen the biggest improvement to have started off with more flex on the joint. In either event I have it in mind to fit an extra bolt in each side…. When I get round to it.

Ray

[Elanlover]

Ray, be sure to throw in a puck or two as well. Bobby's speed pucks work best.

[tigerdog]

hockey pucks with the centre drilled out

I can see I'll have to don the gasmask and steal the ones in my son's equipment bag...