When I went to put my 89 Si on the lift yesterday I realized that my rear jacking points aren't just gone.... they are completely gone.

What can I use as a rear jacking point for a lift / jack stands?

 

Find the frame rail.

 

Where on the frame rail?

I had a horrible time with my first EF when I tried to jack from the frame rail and it crumpled all the way to the floor... this was on a Florida no-rust-perfect-body 89 Si.

 

That's because it's unibody and doesn't have rails. How's your rear tow hook?

 

Yep.

My toe hook is fine. It's just the rear part of the quarter and the rocker panel under that spot that is gone.

I know where to jack it with a floor jack... but I'm 99.99999% sure I can't put a car on a lift with that rear tow hook

 

can you post a picture? and what about driving it up on some ramps or blocks, you could get either the front or rear in the air. Or if you have access use a trench like the quicky lube shops have.

or i could suggest using a piece of plywood (and some 2X4's for support) to give you a large surface area to jack/support it with and hopefully it will minimise the damage. But be carefull i imagine it will only get worse over time, personaly I would fix it or use ramps.
Maybe I misunderstood you, is it the jack stand location which is rusted, or is it where you lift/jack from?

if you plan on keeping this car for a long time then i would look into repairing the rust, and it seems like the repaired area might be out of veiw meaning it should be cheaper than "cosmetic" body work. just a thought.

 

Jack it up using the rear tow hook, and put the jackstands under the rear crossmember.

I never use the jacking points in the rear.

 

I thought I was clear in my first post, but I guess not.

I have no problem putting the car on jack stands.

I am having a problem getting the car on a LIFT.

The rear jackstand/lift parts that are in front of the rear wheel well on the rocker are GONE.

It looks like someone repaired it, but the piece is riveted on... so there is no way I am jacking it from there.

 

i would do the 2x4 method.

 

On the 'frame rails' or from the front jack point to where the rear jack point should be?

 

the rear jack points, in front of the rear wheel wells. If you can make a decent sized surface area then you can reduce the risk of having the rust cave in.

How bad is it though? If it's really bad i wouldn't risk hoisting the car into the air.

Sorry i misread your post in my first reply.

 

How the heck do you guys jack it up with the rear tow hook? My jack barely raises the wheels off the air before it's a max height. I have much more space if I do it with each side though

 

The proper floor jacks seem to do it ok. I can usually get it high enough to put stands under the rear jack points.

 

Yeah you must have a small jack, maybe the stock scissor jack. Those small jacks (and other mini floor jacks) can compromise your ability to use the correct jack locations. be carefull jacking from the side, as there isn't a jacking point on the side (and yes i'm sure you can get away with it but be carefull).

Taiden forgive me for the silly question, but why do you need to use the lift (which sounds like it could cause problems) when you say you can use a jack and jack stands no problem?

When I brought up 2x4's before I had envisioned using the wood with a jack not a lift but i guess it might help to give the lift a larger surface too.

 

I don't technically "need" to use the lift... but at work I have access to air tools and a 25 ton press. I want to do my suspension bushings, and using a lift + air tools there + having a 25 ton press on hand will make the job 234098230943 times easier.

My other option is to put the car on jackstands, fight with rusty bolts for a few days and then bring all my suspension pieces into work after.

 

It sounds like like your rust is a bigger problem then suspension bushings. Fix that first.

 

The rust is a huge problem, except that my bushings in the front are so destroyed that the lower control arm bolt makes a wonderful clunking noise against the inner diameter of the lower control arm bushing seat.

And also, I bought this car in the Northeast, but I go to school in North Carolina. I'm going to buy a shell when I get to NC. For now the rust is being "contained" and ignored.

 

Okay, I'm bumping this up again to get some more ideas. This time we are talking about jack stands.

Previously I had been putting the jack stands on the lower control arms close to their mounting point (IN THE REAR). I'm about to attack my suspension so obviously this wont work. Can someone (Malgerus) explain where on the 'subframe' I should be aiming these suckers?

And yes, I already use my floor jack on the rear tow hook... so "use the rear tow hook" is the WRONG answer.

 

use the crossmember that the lower control arms are bolted to. it isn't the widest stance but a jackstand at either end will suffice.