1976 911 Jack height?

MarkL · 10-07-2003, 05:35 AM

I am in the market for a jack for my 911, and was wondering what the minimum height needs to be. I guess I just need to measure the height of the sump plate, but I don't have access to the car right now, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

Rot 911 · 10-07-2003, 06:10 AM

Mark what kind of jack are you looking for? Any of the floor hydraulic jacks will be low enough to fit under your sump plate. If you are thinking of a bottle jack I would not advise buying one as they have too small a diameter lift plate and I would worry about it slipping. If you are talking about something to carry in the car, get a jack pad and a screw type scissors jack. That is if you don't have the factory jack. As for me, I don't even carry the jack or a spare tire in the car, just a can of "fix a flat", a cell phone and a AAA card.

MarkL · 10-07-2003, 06:26 AM

I am talking about a hydraulic floor jack for working under the car, not a bottle jack. After doing some looking around, the minimum heights seem to range from 3 inches to about 6 inches. Is 6 inches going to be too high?

Thanks,
Mark

Rot 911 · 10-07-2003, 06:32 AM

For working under the car here is what I would get: one low clearance floor jack just in case you need to lift from the front torsion bar covers, a big floor jack may not clear your valance/spoiler and for the main floor jack buy the one that has the highest lift you can find as long as it is at least a 2 ton jack. If you ever need to do an engine drop (which I just did last night) you need a jack that can get the rear of the car high enough to have 24 inches of clearance from the bottom of the rear torsion bar covers. When looking at floor jacks see if the lift pad itself is removable or can take a rubber insert. In addition the bigger floor jacks have bigger diameter lift pads. The bigger diameter, the better.

MarkL · 10-07-2003, 09:05 AM

Thanks for the response. I will never be dropping the engine out myself, so I am not that concerned with the maximum height. So what height jack would I need to fit under the front torsion bar covers? All I really need to know is if a standard 5" or 6" min. height jack is low enough, or if I need a special low clearance jack which is only 2" or 3" min. height. I would rather not spend $400.00 on a jack, but if i have to, than I have to!

Mark

jmohn · jmohn's Garage

Get the lowest you can find. With my '78 (at standard "Euro" ride height) I need to run the front wheels up on a couple flat 2x10's to get room for the jack under the front spoiler. My jack is a common, inexpensive 2-1/2 ton floor jack, if I were shopping again I'd get one that has a lower height to the pad. My jack is about 5.5 to 6 inches from the floor to the top of the pad, 4 inches or less would be very desirable.

Jerry M
'78 SC

old_skul · 10-07-2003, 12:14 PM

Let's see...Jack is about my age, so I think that he was probably around 8 or 9 in 1976. I'll say he was about 4' tall.

SweetE · 10-07-2003, 01:36 PM

Checker had an aluminum jack for sale for $139 here in Denver and was set up for lowered cars- looked pretty cool.