Miata Mailing List: April 1994, Message #181
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   From: tom.manson@pobox.com (Tom Manson)
Subject: Jacking at Frame Members
   Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 00:32:08 -0400

Be Very Careful Miateers!
This evening I jacked Mimi up to change oil and rotate tires and decided
to try the points indicated by our friendly chief mechanic at College
Park Mazda (from our tech meeting last weekend).  I jacked with my floor
jack at the normal mounting points and set the first jackstand under
what I understood (from the chief mechanic's indication) to be the frame
member.  I then released the hydraulic pressure from the floor jack to
lower the car onto the jackstand.... AND THE FRAME MEMBER GAVE ABOUT 1/4
INCH!  That is, it CRUSHED by about 1/4 inch.  I immediately jacked the
car back up to avoind any further degradation of the "frame member" and
ended up using the rocker panels as I always have.

I am burned about this, but am not sure whether it was my
misunderstanding of the location, or (as usual) the lacking "expertise"
of the mechanic.  I did notice that there seem to be three sections of
the "frame member" with two overlapping sections on the front and rear
10 inches of its length.  Are these 10 inches the real "frame members?"
Or is this section of the body not at all related to the "frame?"

Andy had mentioned in his posting that the member is not easily seen
with the car on the ground.  Could I have mistaken it for something
else?  As I recall from last weekend's outing, the part of the car
indicated by the mechanic was very obvious (while on the lift), and I
was sure this evening that I had located the exact same spot.  Am I
nuts, or what?

Has anybody else had this experience?

Tom Manson
Manson@fsd.com
Tom.Manson@pobox.com