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adding a jack point?


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so my car is pretty low on the coils and I'd like to get a bit lower, but getting the jack under the car to a solid jacking point is a bit of an issue, bad dog sells jacking plates but with no diminsions and no pics of the plates applied it's hard to imagine just how well or even iff they will work, anyone tried thiers? anyone added their own? I considdered replacing the frotn seat mounting crossmsmber with a piece of boxed steel figuring that tied itno the rocker, frame rail, trans tunnel and floor pan might make for a fairly rigid jackpoint but I worry taht these areas are all pretty flimsy on their own and that the force would twist tweak or tear something, anyone got a better idea or experience?

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I added a tube through the rocker with a plate on the inside and outside. I haven't actually used it yet but I have no fear of it not being strong enough. The Bad Dog plate setup is very similar to what the old Frisselle IMSA GTU car had on it. I'm sure it would also be up to the task.

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Guest 280ZForce

anyone have any pics of this setup on their Z? I'm going to have to do the same thing as the car sits too low to jack it up in the back and with exhaust around the back of both control arm mounts, I can't jack up from there anymore either.

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I bought a set of the Bad Dog jack plates when I ordered my subframe connectors but I haven't put them on the car yet. I can tell you that they are pretty beefy and seem up to the task as long as they are welded to the car correctly...but even that I'm not sure exactly how to do since there are no instructions or anything.

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I added a tube through the rocker with a plate on the inside and outside. I haven't actually used it yet but I have no fear of it not being strong enough. The Bad Dog plate setup is very similar to what the old Frisselle IMSA GTU car had on it. I'm sure it would also be up to the task.

 

Jon....Can you post a pic. of your "jack" point?

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I welded a tube through the unibody at at the exact midpoint of the axle centerlines. The balance point has changed from time to time as I constantly modify the car and the resulting weight balance changes become immediatly noticable when the entire car is balanced upon the two steel rods that are inserted into these tubes. At the current time it will hover at exactly 50/50 on this bar (need to start removing something up front to reduce that front-end weight again). Here is what I did:

 

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Because of the straight cage bar immediately behind the seat shoulder (restricting any further movement aft for the seat), I've got mine further forward than most, but the jack tube is just under my knees. Again, this tube could be moved anywhere, It just happened out this way and allowed the tube to go through the OEM holes in the side of the rocker panel interior stamping.

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the bad dog jack plates are designed to weld to your rocker and floor pan. They should be centered front to back along the rocker with the 1/2 ' bar on the inside of the lip thats along the bottom of the rocker and the 1/2" flange is on the outside of the lip. The angled end should contact the floor pan. When weled in place, you can jack the whole side of the car at once.

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Jon is this what your trying to accomplish?! Bad picture but you get the idea..

 

uses jackstands that slide into the holes on the rocker panel.

 

Alot of the WRC cars use these

 

301917927_d502a64037.jpg

That was the initial idea and then I came to my senses and just did one hole on each side. I previously had to lift the front fender to get the jack under the crossmember (actually creased a fender doing that) so since the car will be lower, I decided this would be the way to go, and I'll just jack up one side or the other to change spring perch height or do whatever needs doing.

 

I had not understood what the Bad Dog jacking plate was. I thought it actually notched the rocker so that you could lower the car further and still get the jack underneath. From the pics above, it looks like it just allows you to slide a jack under the side and jack the car up without crushing the pinched sheetmetal area.

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I had not understood what the Bad Dog jacking plate was. I thought it actually notched the rocker so that you could lower the car further and still get the jack underneath. From the pics above, it looks like it just allows you to slide a jack under the side and jack the car up without crushing the pinched sheetmetal area.

 

Yeah, the jackplates have a slot to put onto the pinched sheetmetal on the rocker. They are pretty solid plates and about 6" long so they should distribute the load of the car enough not to cause any warping of the rocker or floorpan.

 

I've seen so many Z's that have dented or bent framerails from people using jackstands on them or using a jack directly on the framerail.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I put the bad dog jacking plates on my 77 280Z and they work very nicely. The only item that I found was that you really need to run a few (3) beads the length of the plates so that your jack has something to grab onto. I had my car fall off of the jack plate because they are nice and flat! Other then that they work very good!

 

HB280ZT

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I'm going to do the holes in the rocker panel for stand mounts, as for jacking pad, I think a piece of flat steel welded to the rocker, or in my case, to where the roll cage will connect to the rocker, will be the perfect spots for a plate to be welded on.

 

Focusthedaybefore001.jpg

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