Hey guys, I'm having a hard time figuring this out. I have 2 3 ton jack stands under the rear subframe and 2 3ton jack stand under the front subframe they are all the same height. When I set the front down everything looked perfect and safe, but when I put the rear down the passenger side is off about a inch. It's just floating. From what I can understand is maybe the frame is twisted? Or maybe the car just needs to settle on to the stands? I've never seen this happen before. What do you guys think? I checked the stands they are all on the same exact height.

 

FLoor and or car is off.
It happens more often than you'd think.

 

car is probably twisted... my car does the same thing, and it's done it on 3 different concrete floors..

 

Ill have to inspect it more to make sure. I dont think its the floor because I worked on multiple cars in this garage and never had such a problem and there no way the concrete floor dips a whole inch. Im leaning more towards the car is twisted or something. I guess ill just go with it one way or another. I already have to much money tied into this project to buy another thirdgen.

 

where are your jack stands exactly? the front sub frames are not symmetrical so i don't think you have an issue

 

The front jackstands are equally placed by the holes in the front SF. The rear is placed where the rear suspension bolts to the SF. Only reason I'm supporting the car from here instead of the rear end is because I'm in the middle of a engine swap and I need to remove the torque arm.

 

i have always found my front jack stands needed to be slightly different heights when used in the locations you are describing. three points make a plane so you probably dont have an issue.

Try putting the rear on the jack stands first, then the front. I bet you will find that the rear sits level and the front jack stands hit one side before the other

 

Id add a set of subframe connectors to your parts list if you haven't already. you'll need access to a drive on lift to put them on so you avoid one side being higher than the other when you weld them on like you're going through now

 

You can also use 4 of the oil change drive on ramps to do SFC install at home. That's what I have done.

Just jack up car and slide the ramps under each tire

 

I have a pair of sfc in storage from my last iroc-z that I never installed. Looks like its time to weld those babies up! Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it!

 

Eh, adjust till it's sitting right. The front subframe rails aren't at the same height side to side, and they don't run flat front to back either, so you move around a little bit and you're off. For the most part these things flex enough that if you're anywhere close it will settle down, so I'm surprised that you got it that far off

 

Good to know, wish I thought of that. Those ramps always scared me, don't seem nearly as secure as a set of quality jack stands but they definitely would work for sfc installs. Might have to go buy 4 of them so I can finally put a set on my car

 

Good jack stands IMHO placed right will always be better, but for years I worked on cars out in a dirt yard and jack stands would sink in the ground more, and would need a plate or sheet of wood under them so I used the drive on ramps a lot then cause they didn't sink in as bad. I never had any trouble or close calls with them. Seemed to work out pretty good.

 

These cars without subframe connectors are as rigid as a noodle. Very surprising it didn't settle onto all four stands. I've totally stripped my z down for paint and it's amazing that these things don't collapsed in on themselves while just sitting there.

Installing sfc with the car sitting on its wheels is the wrong way to do it- too many variables in play. You need to support the vehicle under the main suspension mounting locations. Otherwise you will have just locked in anything wrong the cars suspension settings.

 

I'm assuming that would be at the LCA mounts and up front behind the A arms then? I read a couple threads on here a year or two ago about it stating to have the car sitting on all fours but now I do see the fault in that after digging deeper. Realistically none of these cars are all too straight anymore after all these years but if there is a way to get it as close as possible, it would be what you said. Thanks for the correction.

 

If you have an imbalance if it's only on three of the four stands use whatever you have to use as weight and put it on top of that wheel well.