Jacking the car is simple and straight forward but is an essential item for doing any maintenance or repair on the car.
Tools needed:
Quick Jack
Floor Jack
Low Jack Stands
Jack Stands
Using a Quick Jack
The spec racer ford is very low to the ground. A quick jack is useful for getting the car up in the air if all you need to do is remove the wheels either to change tyres or service the brakes. The quick jack will lift the car approximately 7 inches off the ground, plenty of height to offload the wheels.
Always jack the front first if lifting the entire car in the air because if you jack the rear you fill force the nose pan down and make it difficult to get the jack under the front.
The quick jack should go over center so it stays up. As an extra safety measure I have seen people put a wheel on the jack to ensure it does not come back up.
Once the car is up in the air you can use low jack stands to support the car. Place jack stands under the frame rail locations not the open areas of the floor pans as you can buckle them.
Using a Floor Jack
To get the car higher up in the air use the quick jack to get it up so that you can then get a floor jack under the frame rails. When the car is higher in the air you can place standard jack stands.
Always place jacks and jack stands under the large frame rails. Good places are in the corners where the side boxes meet the main frame, like in the front near the steering box.
Always be extremely careful before getting under the car to work. Make sure the jack and jack stands are secure, the jack stands can easily slip on the aluminum sheet underbody.
When lowering the car use the low jack stands to rest the car on when removing the floor jack then use the quick jack to remove the low jack stands.
Making Your Own Jack Stands
Low jack stands can be easily fabricated by welding some square tubing. The quick jacks typically raise the car about 7 inches off the ground so you want to make you jack stands between 6-6.5 inches tall. The width between the cars main frame rails is 31 inches so you should make them at least 32 inches wide or make two shorter ones to use on either side. You can just use 1 inch square tubing for the base but will need something stiffer for the long cross bar so it doesn't bend over time. The ones I have seen are 2 x 1 inch rectangular tubing with an 1/8 inch wall thickness.
Other Maintenance Articles
When replacing or refilling the Spec Racer Ford coolant system you need to make sure the all the air is bled out of the system before heading out on track.