Mazda Rotary Club

General => General Technical => Topic started by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 09:37:35 AM

Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 09:37:35 AM
This may sound like a stupid question, but how do you guys with low cars and bodykits jack it up?

I intend on fitting my neons :D  today, and as far as i can see its gonna involve driving up some bricks.

Is this how you guys do it?  a quick response will be appreciated.
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: grinder on May 10, 2004, 09:47:46 AM
use the mazda jack !!

its very low and works well

failing this - i drive mine onto a pile of bricks first :)

just becareful jacking it up - i just put the jack thru the sill on mine - and then found/made another 4 holes - so thats 5 intotal - not impressed

all i was trying to do was check a wheel bearing :(
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 09:55:06 AM
cheers mate, bricks it is!
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 10, 2004, 09:59:56 AM
If you jack up the front-side jack point with the mazda jack, you can get the trolley jack under the rear-side jacking point.  You can then jack to your hearts content without a fear in your heart.

Which neons have you gone for??  I fitted mine on saturday...
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 11:06:42 AM
Ive got a UFO LED kit.  Where did you fix them to the car? Do you have any pics to point me in the right direction?

Cheers
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 10, 2004, 11:13:35 AM
wow - the UFO one!!!  Couldn\'t quite justify the cost (although I went through a lot of internal wrangling!!).  Mine is the 1000 colour one... (varox or something?)

If you pull the rear seats out, you\'ll find a rubber grommet on each side with about 12mm diameter hole.  That leads directly out just above the start of the rear suspension.
The two side ones are butted up against the sills, out of sight (so no ugly lightbulb showing), and feed straight in through there.
The rear one is up inside the bumper , runs over the rear transmission, down to the same hole and up into the cabin.  The front on is behind the splitter, goes into the undertray, zip-tied along the inside of the cable protector, and up through one of the holes into the cabin.  I\'ve taken feeds from the amp power supply and earth, and it all seems to work really well...

No pics I\'m afraid, but 1 warning - when you drill through the floor, it does go straight into the cabin, so the supplied screws may be far too long.  It\'s not double skinned like most cars...
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 11:21:23 AM
Ok, excellent advice bish.

Ive got the rear seats out already, so should be pretty easy.  Im not looking forward to drilling through the rex, what did you do about the screws going into the cabin?
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 10, 2004, 11:31:20 AM
yay - see I can do technical...!!! *grin*

I used shorter screws and put rubber plugs on the inside.  Probably excessive, but if I didn\'t I would injure myself at some point in the future... :rolleyes:

Out of curiousity, what are the fixings like?  The varox ones were terrible - little clips and zip ties!!  I\'ve changed it cos I had no faith in what they supplied...!!  Those UFOs look like some classy gear - are you getting the spots or floods for the interior?
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 11:58:10 AM
the UFO fixings are similar.  

I have got light wire and some other LED neons for th interior, not the spots or floods.

Are you happy with the effect the neons have?  I thought the price of the UFO\'s was excessive too, but they did what i wanted and im stupid :D
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 10, 2004, 12:03:36 PM
I had neons on there before, but they were damaged during the HOOOJ floods last year...

The LEDs look great, and I am pleased with them.  What\'s great is the way people slate them, then see them and are grudgingly won over!  (at least it isn\'t on a nova/scort/323...)

The UFO\'s do look cool, and I think they\'ll be brighter than the Varad tubes I\'ve got.  Was seriously tempted by the floods and spots too tho...

I got the Varads, as they let you set the colour you want, so it\'ll go better with the body colour.
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Andyp on May 10, 2004, 06:18:21 PM
I got these rhino ramps from Halfords. Bout £15 do the job real well as there\'s no way you can get a jack under mine :(

(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.pogmore/ramps.JPG)
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 09:11:51 PM
what are those ramps made of?  they dont look too strong.
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Andyp on May 10, 2004, 09:21:38 PM
heavy duty plastic dude and they can hold up to 8 tonnes according to the packet hehe. Use mine every time I go and have my tyres done, the tyre places loves them :D
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 10, 2004, 09:33:22 PM
excellent, might go look for them myself :)
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: yonner on May 10, 2004, 11:58:33 PM
pics of le neons :cool  plz?
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 11, 2004, 02:12:53 PM
fitting the neons has just got a bit more difficult due to this sheet of meatal i found this morning
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 11, 2004, 02:48:54 PM
SOD THAT DUDE!!!  YOUR WHEELS ARE ON THE WRONG WAY UP!!!!

DO you not have a front splitter the neone can be screwed to the back of...?  (that\'s where mine is...)

also - have you found your 7 a little unstable at speed?  The normal one is used to stabilise the airflow, and get cold air into the engine bay...
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 11, 2004, 02:53:31 PM
its fine at speed, i think the plate underneath helps airflow too.
air into the engine bay also isnt a problem :)
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 12, 2004, 01:15:16 PM
I need help locating the grommet where the back seats should be.  Ive sound deadened the whole area so i can see where the grommet is. does anyone have a picure?
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: Archbish on May 12, 2004, 01:54:44 PM
If you jack up the rear of the car, and look at the suspension of the rear wheel under the rear seats, you should see where the swing arm joins the chassis.  Just behind that join, toward the rear of the car,  is a thin metal plate bolted to the chassis- if you shine a torch between that plate and the chassis of the car, you should seethe grommet (it\'s about 15mm in diameter).  It is at the lowest point of the seat, about 4 - 5 inches in from the side of the seat.  

failing that, pushing a pin through the sound deadening in that area should find it eventually...
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 12, 2004, 06:13:10 PM
Ive brought the wires into the car through a grommet just behind the front seats.  just waiting for night time to test the LED\'s :)
Title: Jacking the car up
Post by: MintyFresh on May 13, 2004, 03:21:09 PM
I have the side LED\'s done, and IMO they look pretty good.  They sit a bit lower than i would have liked, but its the only place suitable for them on the sill.

I think the rear LED bar is too wide to avoid the exhaust, so im not quite sure what im going to do there, and the front is a bit more than a 30 min job.

Im also toying with only have 2, they do look good if you like this sort of thing.