[Locker537]

I don't like taking short cuts. Personally, I would either accept that you should drain the oil and do it prior to the valve adjustment or treat this as an experiment and pull the valve covers and see if it makes a big mess.

Worst case scenario, you end up draining the rest of the oil because you are unsure how much you lost and end up putting fresh oil in. Personally, I would drain the oil into a CLEAN container and reuse it, topping off with brand new oil. I would have enough oil on hand for a full oil change in case I dropped something in the oil or tripped on the CLEAN container spilling it everywhere...

After experimenting with different ways to lift a vintage 911 with a jack and support it with jack stands, I've found I prefer one method the most.

1) Jack the rear of the car using the engine as the lift point. I use a hockey puck on the jack lift pad and place it forward of the sump plate.

2) Support the rear of the car by placing jack stands on the rear torsion bar covers. I place a rag between the U-shaped jack stand and the cover to avoid any additional scratching.

3) Jack the front of the car using a 2x4 cut to fit between the forward A-arm mounts placed on the chassis. The 2x4 is to distribute the load and not damage the chassis. Mine is dented from someone using a bottle jack at some point in time.

4) Support the front of the car by placing jack stands on the chassis, directly behind and inboard of the rear wheels. I use small blocks of wood placed on the inside of the seam weld to distribute the load and not further dent the floor.

I was trying to avoid using a jack on the engine case and placing jack stands on the floor for awhile. I instead was using the rocker jack point with a jack tool and trying to place the front jack stands on the A-arm mounts. What I found was jacking from the side made it harder to get the car to a proper working height and felt unsafer as the car would be leaning significantly to one side during the lifting process.

I now use the method I stated above consistently.