• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

MGB Jacking an MGB

Share this page

S

ScotStern

Member
Offline
I am sorry as I know this must have been covered a hundred times but I could not find it in the search section. How do you jack an MGB up and where do you place the jack stands?

I have good quality jack and stands (my brother used to be a car new dealer and he gave me a set from the shop)but I do not really know where to jack it from and, then where to place the stands.

I don't know if you try to do them one at a time or do you do one side or one end (front or back)?

Sorry for the stupid question and thanks for your help.

Scot Stern
1975 &1979 MGB
 
I usually jack it from the center of the front crossmember and put the stands under the frame rails just aft of the upward curves. The back goes up using the center of the diff, stands under the tubes near the ends... Pieces of carpet on the jackstands, and wood in the jack to keep dents, marring and scrapes to a minimum. HTH.
 
When I jack up the front of my B, using the front crossmember (make sure that you're not jacking up under the oil sump), I make sure that two of the jack cup 'edges' hook onto the rear of the crossmember. That'll minimize the possibility of the jack cup slipping off and smashing your rad to bits.
 
Front: I place thje jack dead center of the crossmember, over the hole. Jack stands go unde the spring pans or under the lower arm pivots. I never place them under the crossmember because the car could slip.

Rear: Jack goes under the axle drain plug. Jack stands are placed on the axle housing itself as far out as I can get them. Beware of crushing the brake lines! If I need to work on the rear suspension, I place the jack stands just forward of the front leaf spring mounting points. Use a piece of wood to prevent the jack stands from denting or damaging the chassis.

As a safety feature I always leave the jack in place with light pressure on it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
As a safety feature I always leave the jack in place with light pressure on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif YEP!

Mickey
 
BEat me again, Mickey... I wasn't "detailed" in the first response... oh well.
 
OK, this will probably not get read too much but I thought that I would say it anyway. I own several semi-unique cars.

I have a 1981 Delorean with 12,000 miles on it and every time you ask a question on their forum it starts a thread about 15 different political issues that causes everyone to disagree with each other and get bitter. The advice often times ends with an insult or a disparaging remark about the various vendors. They do try hard but it just seems to go South all to often.

I have a 2001 Prowler with only 1,800 miles on it. A significant amount of the posts on thier forum are about things that are not even slightly Prowler related and a good majority of the remaining ones are about bitches with Chrysler and the parts that they manufactured wrong. If you need help, most of the time you also find a few snide comments go along with it. They try, but they are a bit out of focus.

I own an Allente and most of posts are about Geritol and what it could do for your system and maybe the cars. Not too much information except about laxatives and hearing aids is available. Not their fault, mine for owing a relic.

I own a Corvette and they talk about is speed.....It is sort of a "my dog's better than you dog" environment.

All-in-all, I do appreciate these forums as they are fun to monitor but I do see a tremendous positive difference in the MGB forums.

I own two MGB's and have for a number of years. The people are helpful, understanding, and mindful of those of us who are not professional restorers. An MGB is delightful to own, as you can work on a lot of it yourself, you can afford the parts and the people are very genuine.

Thank you for your assistance, understanding, insightful posts and most of all, your exciting attitude towards this classic automobile. You are long on assistance, respect and understanding and short on snobbery. Something so simple as how to jack the car and then put it on stands seems unimportant. Yet, you try to help and provide detailed descriptions, based upon your knowledge, that save me a potential problem.

Thanks,

Scot Stern
1975 & 1979 MGB
 
Scot; We are a less-than snobbish lot (we DO after all own, drive and love LBC's), rather a bunch *mostly* concerned over keeping the li'l beasties running and in good nick. If you get a "Geritol" comment here it'll likely be in jest, and include a related "emoticon" or two... There's a fairly diverse group with WIDE car experience and you MAY even find some of us have had intimate DeLorean experience! Dave(WhatsThatNoise) has one, and an ELVA... so no worries with regards older or obscure cars. One regular (Banjo) just acquired an old Lump of a Jaguar, MK-VIII. We're "eclectic" around here. Pull up a chair and sit a while! Glad to have ya and hope you enjoy the stay. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Our benefactor and "Fearless Leader", Basil, is the root cause of the way things are run; he's the fella wot deserves the cudos, BTW. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
 
Wow, how do you follow up on such a sincere and complimentary post? MG people are definitely a special breed. I enjoy reading many different MG-related forums online daily and rarely see things get nasty, unlike other forums I frequent.

Owners of modern cars, such as Corvettes, would gladly pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year to get the kind of support for their cars that you can get on this and other MG forums for free. It just doesn't exist in most places. Try asking how to safely jack a Ferarri and see how much abuse and insult it will get you!

Something as simple as jacking a car off the ground may seem trivial, but if not done properly it can kill. That is merely one reason of many why a snobbish attitude is a bad thing and I am grateful that my fellow MG enthusiasts are such good people. And I am grateful to people like Basil who put a lot of their personal time and money into running, moderating and maintaining online forums for the rest of us to share knowledge through.
 
Amen to Steve and Doc, Scot. Glad you're on board. By the way, I've always admired the Allante.

Oh yeah, Doc - don't forget to take your Geritol tonight /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Mickey
 
I hope Basil is looking in on this forum from time to time because postings like this show that BCF is indeed being used and valued as a technical as well as a social resource, something that not that long ago Basil was saying he didn't feel was happening.

Basil I think I speak for all of us here, thanks again for such a great set of Forums and keep the faith with it all.

regards
 
I want a Delorean one day - someone tell me when the market bottoms out on them. (wait that was a few years ago huh?)

I still want one. Very different car - from almost every angle. Last one I looked at (at a used car lot) needed engine work, and they were asking 16,000. Maybe I'll find another after the toyota is paid for. I'd have to finance it.
 
The prices of Deloreans are all over the place. As a general rule you can sometimes find the ones with lower mileage at lower prices! There is a reason....

The Deloreans that have not been driven are rather expensive to maintain. The fuel systems require significant expense to keep them in order on a car that is not driven regularly.

Overall, if the car has been driven and is well maintained then they are reliable and reasonable to keep running. Parts are for the most part readily available, from reliable vendors, at a reasonable price.

A good Delorean can still be purchased for around $16,000 but it will usually need another $5K in upgrades and refurbishment. Before it is over, you will have $25k to $32K in a good driver that shows quite well.

The good news is that if you invest in it, and you need to sell it, you can usually get 100% of your investment back. My understanding is that there are only about 6,000 or so still in existence and, I think it might really be quite a few less, so the prices should continue to climb.

Most of the ones that I have seen are in pretty good exterior cosmetic shape so if you want one they are not to hard to find and they are usually in fairly good condition. You really have to be careful though about the frame as rust is a real problem.

A great car but yet I really enjoy my MGB's every bit as much. They are less complicated and I can work on them myself whereas the Delorean really does require some knowledge, special tools and incredible patience.

Hope this helps....

Scot
 
I've done my share of DeLorean "duty". Had a client (actually our landlord) with one. That was a while ago. Mid-eighties.
 
I watched a DeLorean in the country of Oman over a period of about 4 years rust into the desert, not the body of course.
 
There was a DeLorean for sale here a few years ago at an out-of-the-way used car lot. I wanted it so badly, but 17 year old me making $5 an hour isn't going to be able to shell out the $15k asking price, plus insurance and upkeep.

Anyway, the car was sold to a boy who had graduated a few years ahead of me. The first thing he proceeded to do was...yep, you guessed it...find out what happened in a DeLorean when you hit 88 MILES PER HOUR!

He didn't go back to 1955 and dance with Lea Thompson...rather, he went to jail and bunked with Tiny after he was pulled for doing 88 in a 35. His mother sold the car for pennies on the dollar after that...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, the car was sold to a boy who had graduated a few years ahead of me. The first thing he proceeded to do was...yep, you guessed it...find out what happened in a DeLorean when you hit 88 MILES PER HOUR!

He didn't go back to 1955 and dance with Lea Thompson...rather, he went to jail and bunked with Tiny after he was pulled for doing 88 in a 35. His mother sold the car for pennies on the dollar after that...

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif

Must have forgotten the flux capacitor!

Thanks for the laugh this morning,
Mickey
 
I got to stand within a few feet of a DeLorean that belonged to a guy in a community theater group I was in. I showed up for a rehearsal one night, saw the rear end of it in the parking lot, and briefly thought it looked like a DeLorean. IT WAS! I had never seen one in the flesh.
 
I've seen 4 or 5 "in the flesh", and drove the one at the used car lot. I still want one.

The one at the used car lot had serious (or about to be serious) engine/electrical problems. I offered $9500 and the salesman had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.
 
Back
Top