I put this here because I thought it would get more views. Are there any other recommended points where I can set the car on jackstands. I have stands but the cradles on them wont work on the recommended factory undercar railsI have looked for stands that have a flatter surface but cant seem to find any.

I need to get the car up on stands next week because I am installing headers and test pipes. Thanks in advance for any advice on the jack stands. I did use the search but didn't find any advice on alternate jack stand areas.

 

i've been wondering this myself.........

and a good jack point for a floorjack?

 

Jacking up your Z HOW-TO

I got this from the 350z motoring forums. They have a lot of good DIY guides.

I bought a set of the 1200series rhino ramps from walmart for $30. These are the wider sets of rhino ramps compared to the 8000series. Will want the 1200series for tires that are larger than 225. If your car is lowered or has a different bumper it might not work without hitting the ramps. You can also buy one of those lower floorjacks used for lowered cars. Since my floorjack can't reach under the front jackpoint, I use the rhino ramps, then use the floorjack, put the jackstands under the front two jackpoints, then use the floorjack to put under the rear diff and put the other two jackstands on the rear. I usually leave the rhino ramps in place, and then use the floorjack under another part of the car (front, rear, etc..) depending which part of the car I'm working on just for safety precaution.

I've seen a friend's jackstand bend and break under load of his civic hatchback(~2200lbs) before, so I'm very cautious about working on cars.

If you have the jackstands that have the U shape at the top it should fit right at the rubber points where the jackpoints are. There should be a bump and the U part should fit around it and will hold it just fine.

Some other people use the stock floor jack that comes with the car to raise the car and then put the jackstands under the car, but I've had several instances with stock floorjacks being pretty unsafe. Don't know much about the 350z floorjack since I've never used it, but had others slip while working on the car. Once I was changing a tire on my mom's mercedes since she blew a tire and just as I was finishing up tightening the lugnuts the floorjack slipped and the rear end fell. Good thing I was pretty much finished with changing the rim/tire.

 

I'm curious how your friend's civic broke the stands. They do have a certain weight limit. Did he have proper ones for his car? I would think they would be adequate as long as the car is within the limit and the stands are in good working condition.

 

This thread, post #3.

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ght=jackstands

The "Garage Jack Points" on the pic from the manual are where you use a floor jack.

For the jackstands on the front, use the frame rail, located about where the lift pads are located in the pic of the Z underbody in the link (the deep "U" type jackstands fit over the frame rail perfectly). For the rear, I had 3-ton jackstands with shallow "U" cradles, so I didnt have this problem. I just used the shallow cradle with the rear "safety stand point." This did not damage the rail at all.

I did not find jack points in the rear of the car where you can use the deep "U" jackstands. Unless others have a clever location, you might want to do what guy121 suggested, and use some ramps to get the rear up and then just jack the front up with a floor jack and use your deep jackstands on the frame rails mentioned above there.

 

I made "adapters" similar to those shown in post #3 referenced above out of hard rubber blocks. I bought some rubber that was 1" thick and cut it into 2"x2" squares then cut a 1/4" wide groove half way through the block. The groove fits over the ridge under the car where the two sections are welded together. I can put either my floor jack or jack stands under those rubber pads with no damage or scratching.

 

Dave,
Where'd you pick up the rubber blocks?

 

I got some huge chunks from an industrial supply place here in town.

 

I read somewhere a guy bought a couple of hockey pucks and put grooves in them, I am thinking of trying that.