So I've never jacked the front end of a car before. I made the mistake of looking in the owners manual of where to put the jack. It said and SHOWED to put the Jack on the side within 14 inches of the wheel below the door. The damn thing started bending everything,so I put it down IMMEDIATELY. All I can say now is my driver side door makes an excruciating sound when I open it. I still need to get under it,but I wanna know how to do it PROPERLY. If you're able try to post pics of you showing exactly what points I can use to Jack it up and then also support it. Thanks in advance!

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...-car-lift.html

 

That link just mainly shows the lift points for a arm lift and you can use those for your jack also but that doesn't show jack stand points. I have been paranoid about jacking the car on on side at a time as I have heard you could twist the frame. Here is what I have been doing and maybe someone with more knowledge on this can say if this is the right way. I use a low profile floor jack. I slide it under from the front, angle it so the handle clears the air dam, and lift it from the center of the cross member under the engine. The stands can be placed where shown in the link or under the control arms if you need the suspension loaded. For the rear I use the rear end diff and place the stands either where shown in the pick or under the sway arm brackets on the rear end if I want the suspension loaded. Not sure if this is proper for floor jack and stands but it seems to work.

 

I always lift at the center of the front cross member and on the rear diff where the bolts are for the torque arm. I don't lift off of the rear of the diff where the pan is, because I bent my pan one time and caused a leak.

As for jack stands it depends on what I'm trying to accomplish, but for the front I usually go under the a arms or where the sub-frame bolts to the body behind the wheels. As for the rear it's either under the rear axle or in front of where the control arms bolt to the body.

My IROC has been held two feet off of the ground by jack stands son top of blocks for four months straight and I never had any issues. I would like to mention that my car also has sub-frame connectors and is a hard top. I highly recommend putting sub-frame connectors in any third gen especially if you have t-tops.

 

 

Nice that helps alot seeing the car on its side.

 

Just so I'm clear (I'm quite incompetent on cars,but I gotta start somewhere) the thing in the pic that I've attached is what you're talking about,correct?

 

Put the floor jack pad here, under the middle of the cross member and lift:



Once lifted, put the stands under the A-arm spring pockets towards the outside circumference. You can kind of see it here (not an F-Body but an M-Body van):



Ignore the small bottle jack in the photo. It's there to support the engine because the transmission is removed from the chassis. I'm flushing the cooler lines prior to installing the rebuilt unit.

 

Yep jack under the center of the K member (engine crossmember) and it will lift both front sides up (whole front end)

Then put jackstands under the A arms.

If your jack is too tall or not long enough, you can jack one side of the front up at a time. Do this by jacking under the front "sub frame" rail.

If you look at this link https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...-car-lift.html Post # 11, you will see the 4 green spots added to picture. Look at the green spots on the right side of pic. I know car is on it's side, but you will still know those spots when you see it from under the side of car.

Jack from those green spots in pic, put jackstands under A arms or under the same rail you are jacking on (place with those green spots)

 

Awesome! Thank you guys for helping me out. I've been struggling with this for a couple weeks cause I was a little afraid I'd screw something up.

 

 

You are doing something very smart....asking before doing. There have been numerous threads here about these cars being damaged when lifted in the wrong place.

 

 

The problem is that my car has been lowered in the front, not allowing the jack to fit under the air dam, plus no clearance to pump the jack handle. Can I just go in from the side?

 

Car can slide off the jack if lifting by the k-member, especially the higher you go.
You can lift from the side but cars without a lot of extra bracing will twist and make creaking noises that will make you cringe.

Ramps are your friend.

 

The problem is I have to work on the starter, so cannot drive up on ramps. can I use 2 floor jacks one under each side A-frame and jack each a little at a time?

 

2 floor jacks would work fine. One floor jack moving side to side works too.

 

There are a lot of work-arounds that work.

1) I have a short stack of 1x12 pine boards screwed together like a pyramid, 1.5" works form me at stock ride height.



2) I lift one side of the car with the floor jack under the A-arm at the spring pocket and lower it down onto the boards. There's just enough room between the tire and air deflector and clearance for the jack handle to pump the cylinder.

3) Once that side is on the boards, I move the jack to the center of the K-member, approaching from the front corner of the air dam.

4) Position jack stands under the A-arm spring pockets.

 

THIS.

I jacked my 86 IROC on the k member when I was a junior in high school (1992) and the car slipped off the jack and dented my oil pan. Enough that the crank hit it when I started it, and the car was then towed to a GM dealership to have a new oil pan installed.