Jaguar Repair: Jacking up an e type, permently, practice thanks

Question

front sub frame  
front sub frame 2   QUESTION: Howard,

  I want to jack up the front of my 73 e type to replace the oil filter.  There's nothing in my manual about the best way to do this but I found an article that said to strap a 2 inch piece of wood - I guess a 2 X 4 to the front sub frame and jack against that.  The sub frame is behind the radiator and looks like an inverted U-channel, see photos.  Article said the wood could be zap strapped permanently for this purpose and if it's the length of the subframe, the stands can be placed under it at each end, with the floor jack in the middle.  Sounds logical to me - thought I'd ask what you think or is this standard practice ??

   Thanks,

   Steve

ANSWER: Hi Steve,

If you want to use a floor jack in the center of the sub frame I would use a piece of 4x4 or a piece of 2x6.

The jack points for wheel changing are lugs in the center one each side under the doors except for the 2x2 which has 4 lugs one in front of each rear wheel and one behind each front wheel. No good for oil and filter changing though.

I think the car is too low to attach a 2x4 permently to the sub frame and I don't think a 2x4 is strong enough anyway.

Never work under a car with a floor jack ever. The tortion bar suspension at the front will support the car well on jack stands after you jack it up with a piece of 4x4 or even a piece of 2x6 will work. But I would not trust a 2x4. A 2x4 will give too much and put too much strain on the center of the cross member.

Howard

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jack and stands  

jack and stands2   QUESTION: Howard,

 I couldn't get very much under the cross member since it's all so low so I'm afraid I took a chance with a thinner piece of wood, but I don't think anything got bent.  I attached 2 photos of my setup.  I'm thinking of building some drive on ramps to park the e-type on all the time so I have easier access to the underside.  I used synthetic oil - Mobil-1 15w50, without any additive - I know your story of STP and Castrol !  Another topic - I did the wheel alignment on my TR7 using the plastic bags sprayed with WD-40 on the inside under the tires which worked great and made it easy to adjust the tie rods with the weight on the tires.  I used some doweling to measure.  I think I have it in factory spec of about 1/16 toe in.

 Thanks again Howard,

 Steve.

Answer
Hi Steve,

That looks good in your photos. It just needs the load spread out a little. Glad to hear the plastic with the WD-40 worked ok. I worked in several shops where we din't have the turn tables used in front end shops so the plastic sheets works.

Howard