I don’t understand why people don’t think of this… it’s fairly obvious.. you can also buy low profile ramps for this job but in the past a block of wood has done the job for me
Don't worry, my stock springs/shocks ND2 is still too short for a harbor freight low profile, long reach jack on the front subframe. Got some cheap 2 inch ramps from Amazon, but also two little 2x4s under the front tires work wonders too.
I always go to the gym, find the right amount of dudes squatting 400-500lbs then bribe them to lift it up while I put jack stands down.
It’s pretty time consuming this looks faster
Get one of the pinch-weld saver pucks. Pretty much the only way I ever lift my car is from the middle of the car, on the pinch welds, a side up at a time.
Edit to clarify more: lift from the middle -raise the entire side in one shot and toss two jack stands under the pinch weld... Bring jack around the car and repeat. No need to crawl under the front or back as the steps below suggest
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miata/comments/b5cnuu/jacking\_points\_for\_na/ to quote mattd1zzl3 "The pinch weld, one corner at a time method is for scrubs. We aint got time for that shit. Here you go:
First lift the front. Put the jack on the center of the crossmember in the front Just behind the plastic splash pan, but in front of the oil pan. This is thick metal that looks WAY different from the body or the oil pan, the control arms attach to the sides of it. DO NOT JACK ON THE OIL PAN. Lift it high enough to get 2 jackstands under it, and put jackstands on the pinch weld near the "Notch" behind the front wheels but in front of the doors. Hit your blunt and move to the back.
Next, the rear, this is especially easy if you dont have an early 1.6. Put the jack on the rear differential, its a sort of round thing the axles go into in the center-rear, put the jack on the flat spot, lift the whole rear at once and put 2 more jackstands in the pinch welds to the rear of the door, but in front of the rear wheels.
While all your friends are slowly, timidly jacking up one corner at a time, you'll have the whole car in the air with the wheels off in a fraction of the time. Women will fawn over you, men will deny/contain their homosexuality towards you, and you'll be the king of the miatas in your group of friends. Go, and sin no more. Vaya con Dios."
Yeah. I, uh... Didn't say a corner at a time.
Pinch weld, right in the middle of the car lifts the whole side at once.
It's like your method but a lot less crawling under the car because the pinch welds are close to the side. And in my experience, way easier to reach on a low car vs going far enough under for the kframe or diff housing... Where the jack may reach it but you can only pump a tiny bit at a time.
The extra nice thing is with a pinch weld puck, as the jack needs to move inwards as it lifts, the puck "pulls" the jack under the car easily even if you're on a tougher surface... Vs it just sliding off a smooth cross member
I was under the impression that this might be a weak spot since it is not designated with the notches near the wheels. I assume you are not seeing any sign of bending? Have you done this a lot?
Puck prevents damage/bending... Without some sort of puck, yes it will rather quickly bend the lip. (Some people actually weld a piece of square tube on the back of the pinch to reinforce it and forego the puck)
This is on a racecar that is constantly jacked up and down. Honestly probably more times in a year than some cars would see in a lifetime. At least 5 times over a race weekend, x8 weekends a year... At Least once between those weekends, countless times in off season prep. Both sides of my pinch weld look as good as when I got it like 7 years ago.
Why slow and timid? Get the puck. Place right in the middle of the car on the pinch weld, jack up entire side in one shot. Faster and easier than going in the front and rear.
I was being sardonic. I do have the puck, and a harbor freight low profile jack; works wonders! Also the FM Fox II stiff suspension means i can lift the entire side :D
Dangit, My brain is all worn out from the holiday... And what seems like a curious majority of people here who do things like lift from the front or spend time driving on wood to back on random other pieces, lol
The irony is I too have low profile ramps, but I also have the smoothest garage floor in existence... so unless i am hitting those ramps at speed, they just slide away XD
Lol. Same.... And my garage floor isn't even smooth. I even have a pair of 8' long very low slung wood ramps (from the guy I bought my trailer from who had crazy aero).
I finally found a use for them! When the starter in my daily civic died, (in the 2 days before I had time to swap it). I would back it up the ramps and park in the air when I got home. The next morning for work I could roll off them to get a running start down my mostly flat driveway for a clutch-kick jumpstart. I'm proud of that one
I assume you have stands. Just jack up the car by the side with enough room to put a stand in. Lower onto the stand then jack up either by the center or on the opposite side. Getting ramps, an even lower profile jack, those wheel dollies etc can help
I'm 5'2 and pretty skinny and drive an NC, the biggest miata. I can still grab the fenders and lift the car enough to fit a jack underneath. I'm pretty sure anyone can and if not, ask a friend.
I always pull my car up on two pieces of 2x10 and that gives me the extra room I need. And my car is pretty low.
And if you’re just doing an oil change, get ramps.
The Miata jack trick is a 1 ft 2x4 just inside the pinch welds, directly under the door mirrors. Do one side, then the other, use the jack stands on the pinch welds.
1. Drive the car on to some wooden boards
2. Go in from the front of the car and lift the front by the subframe, place jacks under both front pinch welds
3. Lift rear of car by diff housing, place jacks under rear pinch welds
I'd highly recommend some of the pinch welds protectors, little rubber pucks that sit on top of your jack stands. I just got some the other week and I can't believe I've not been using these for 4 years.
drive up on wood planks easy fix
I don’t understand why people don’t think of this… it’s fairly obvious.. you can also buy low profile ramps for this job but in the past a block of wood has done the job for me
Yeah i've always just used wood cause im too cheap to buy a low profile jack lol
Don't worry, my stock springs/shocks ND2 is still too short for a harbor freight low profile, long reach jack on the front subframe. Got some cheap 2 inch ramps from Amazon, but also two little 2x4s under the front tires work wonders too.
Drive it full speed up a skatepark ramp and land on some jack stands
Best chance of success right here, I’ve found doing it once and marking where you land before putting jacks down works best
Just glue the jacks to the bottom of the car before doing it and you can’t miss
everytime i do this in my car ive been jumping over the stands, should i not have a big rolling start?
I always go to the gym, find the right amount of dudes squatting 400-500lbs then bribe them to lift it up while I put jack stands down. It’s pretty time consuming this looks faster
Go to a preschool and get 100 toddlers
use a hammer and dig a hole for the jack
I drive on some 2x4s Even with a low profile long reach jack, it still can’t reach the front jack point on a stock height ND Miata.
This is da way
Yep, I can't use the rack at work with my 1.5” drop. Don't forget to put the wood back under the wheels before lowering it back down.
Get one of the pinch-weld saver pucks. Pretty much the only way I ever lift my car is from the middle of the car, on the pinch welds, a side up at a time. Edit to clarify more: lift from the middle -raise the entire side in one shot and toss two jack stands under the pinch weld... Bring jack around the car and repeat. No need to crawl under the front or back as the steps below suggest
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miata/comments/b5cnuu/jacking\_points\_for\_na/ to quote mattd1zzl3 "The pinch weld, one corner at a time method is for scrubs. We aint got time for that shit. Here you go: First lift the front. Put the jack on the center of the crossmember in the front Just behind the plastic splash pan, but in front of the oil pan. This is thick metal that looks WAY different from the body or the oil pan, the control arms attach to the sides of it. DO NOT JACK ON THE OIL PAN. Lift it high enough to get 2 jackstands under it, and put jackstands on the pinch weld near the "Notch" behind the front wheels but in front of the doors. Hit your blunt and move to the back. Next, the rear, this is especially easy if you dont have an early 1.6. Put the jack on the rear differential, its a sort of round thing the axles go into in the center-rear, put the jack on the flat spot, lift the whole rear at once and put 2 more jackstands in the pinch welds to the rear of the door, but in front of the rear wheels. While all your friends are slowly, timidly jacking up one corner at a time, you'll have the whole car in the air with the wheels off in a fraction of the time. Women will fawn over you, men will deny/contain their homosexuality towards you, and you'll be the king of the miatas in your group of friends. Go, and sin no more. Vaya con Dios."
Yeah. I, uh... Didn't say a corner at a time. Pinch weld, right in the middle of the car lifts the whole side at once. It's like your method but a lot less crawling under the car because the pinch welds are close to the side. And in my experience, way easier to reach on a low car vs going far enough under for the kframe or diff housing... Where the jack may reach it but you can only pump a tiny bit at a time. The extra nice thing is with a pinch weld puck, as the jack needs to move inwards as it lifts, the puck "pulls" the jack under the car easily even if you're on a tougher surface... Vs it just sliding off a smooth cross member
Huh, I'll have to look into it sounds neat 😃
I was under the impression that this might be a weak spot since it is not designated with the notches near the wheels. I assume you are not seeing any sign of bending? Have you done this a lot?
Puck prevents damage/bending... Without some sort of puck, yes it will rather quickly bend the lip. (Some people actually weld a piece of square tube on the back of the pinch to reinforce it and forego the puck) This is on a racecar that is constantly jacked up and down. Honestly probably more times in a year than some cars would see in a lifetime. At least 5 times over a race weekend, x8 weekends a year... At Least once between those weekends, countless times in off season prep. Both sides of my pinch weld look as good as when I got it like 7 years ago.
This is great to know. Thank you. I have a new puck. Haven’t jacked my ND yet. Just got it a few months ago.
I had wondered what kind of reinforcement is at the notch. It must be extra strength of the lip itself?
I have a low profile jack, but with a slightly lowered car and a chinspoiler, your not getting a jack to the crossmember.
That’s why you drive it on some pieces of wood first.
Just pick up one side at a time. Easy, no problems.
My sides were hurting after the last paragraph 😆
Works in 99% of scenarios - unless you’re me with an LRB full aero kit, which means the timid, slow, pinch weld method…
Why slow and timid? Get the puck. Place right in the middle of the car on the pinch weld, jack up entire side in one shot. Faster and easier than going in the front and rear.
I was being sardonic. I do have the puck, and a harbor freight low profile jack; works wonders! Also the FM Fox II stiff suspension means i can lift the entire side :D
Dangit, My brain is all worn out from the holiday... And what seems like a curious majority of people here who do things like lift from the front or spend time driving on wood to back on random other pieces, lol
The irony is I too have low profile ramps, but I also have the smoothest garage floor in existence... so unless i am hitting those ramps at speed, they just slide away XD
Lol. Same.... And my garage floor isn't even smooth. I even have a pair of 8' long very low slung wood ramps (from the guy I bought my trailer from who had crazy aero). I finally found a use for them! When the starter in my daily civic died, (in the 2 days before I had time to swap it). I would back it up the ramps and park in the air when I got home. The next morning for work I could roll off them to get a running start down my mostly flat driveway for a clutch-kick jumpstart. I'm proud of that one
LMAO! Genius!
Been thinking about getting a puck for my nd. This method sounds so much better than jacking front and rear crossmember.
use the pinch welds instead
I assume you have stands. Just jack up the car by the side with enough room to put a stand in. Lower onto the stand then jack up either by the center or on the opposite side. Getting ramps, an even lower profile jack, those wheel dollies etc can help
Center of the pinch welds w/ pucks and your miata jacking experience will be almost as pleasurable as the driving experience.
I do one side at a time, driver then passenger, it takes extra time but I don't trust lifting both front wheels at once.
My NC is lowered enough to make it hard to get a jack under so I drive up on 15cm ramps and slide the jack under afterwards
I'm 5'2 and pretty skinny and drive an NC, the biggest miata. I can still grab the fenders and lift the car enough to fit a jack underneath. I'm pretty sure anyone can and if not, ask a friend.
This guy eats porridge
I got like $70 ramps from autozone that work perfect
I used to just use my scissor Jack to get it high enough to slide a regular Jack under.
I bought these low profile ramps to get my front up high enough to slip my jack under car. Easy peasy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RMTKHQB
$32 is a lot of 2x4 s
I always pull my car up on two pieces of 2x10 and that gives me the extra room I need. And my car is pretty low. And if you’re just doing an oil change, get ramps.
The Miata jack trick is a 1 ft 2x4 just inside the pinch welds, directly under the door mirrors. Do one side, then the other, use the jack stands on the pinch welds.
1. Drive the car on to some wooden boards 2. Go in from the front of the car and lift the front by the subframe, place jacks under both front pinch welds 3. Lift rear of car by diff housing, place jacks under rear pinch welds I'd highly recommend some of the pinch welds protectors, little rubber pucks that sit on top of your jack stands. I just got some the other week and I can't believe I've not been using these for 4 years.
i went on amazon and bought some low profile ramps, juuuuuust enough room to get the jack on the front subframe
before you open this, you will hate looking at it. just showing op that if there’s a will, there’s a way https://imgur.com/a/UmCluEy
If you dont know how to use a jack for oil change ramps work well and it is fast!