[az968]

There's a company called Porken that makes a jacking system called "liftbars". Here's the web site.

 

http://liftbars.com/

 

I know some people with Caymans, 911s and 928s that use them and like them a lot. Very simple system that makes it much easier to jack up and support a car. It uses the original jack points, You jack up one side at a time, slide the jack stands under the bar and you're done.

 

I have been talking with the owner, Ken, who lives in Portland (thus the company name), about  bars for the 968.  Not available but he can produce them with just a couple of orders.

 

Cost would be $234 for a set, plus shipping.

 

He would like to see a 968 to get exact measurements and make sure the bars will clear the lower body skirts. I've sent him pics and measurements from my car but seeing a car would be best way to get measurements.

 

Is there someone in the Portland area that would be willing to meet with him? His email is info@liftbars.com

 

If he can design bars for the 968, is there any interest in placing a group order?

 

FYI, I have no incentive to make this happen, other than it looks like a good product for our cars.

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[MCL968]

Thanks Bob for looking into this!

 

We have several Portland folks on here, perhaps one of them could help out.

 

I think this is a great idea, one of the most nerve-wracking parts of working on my 968 is getting it up in the air. These would go a long way towards making that process less stressful.

 

A concern I have is the jacking points on these cars are weak, and some have "bent" to some degree and may not conform to the specs of a new vehicle. I know my right-rear point has moved a fair amount, so I would have to re-align the jacking point to get it to fit the bar, unless the bar has some adjust-ability built in. 

 

Matt

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[MLB]

Definitely interested

Expensive but about 1/3 the price of jackpoint jackstands

Love the idea, especially if the bars mesh with the typical jackstand, which otherwise doesnt really fit any surface, IMHO.

Then u just leave the bars in place and raise or lower a side at a time, resetting jackstand height to suit.

Should work fine as long as front to back weight is distributed about evenly at jack points. (Or u just have to locate the balance point to jack from)


This is also my biggest pain point regarding work in the garage with limited space


Thanks, hope they will offer for 968 at same price point...

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[az968]

Jack stands will sit just below the existing jacking points under the ends of the bar, There's a marked section on the bar where standard jack stands would go. The lift would be positioned at a marked point about midway on the bar so even lift.  If its not perfect, would be simple to find the right mid-point and mark the bar.

 

He quoted me the $234 for a set, plus shipping, that will be the price for all the bars starting June 1st, He told me steel prices have gone up.

 

I jacked up a friends Cayman yesterday, easiest lift I've ever done. No crawling around under the car looking for the right place to put my jack and moving it around many times to get it up high enough to work under the car. And the jack stands are at the jacking points so easy to work with.

 

Bars seem very solid.  Easy storage, slide them under the work bench or stand them up in a corner.

 

Wish I'd had a set last year when it did the suspension and brakes.....

 

Matt, the bars aren't adjustible so would need to pretty close conformance with specs.  The "posts" are smaller than the holds on the jack points so there is some flexibility, but not a lot.

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[MLB]

The 968 model has been described as pretty much hand-built in Zuffenhausen. Others on this forum have reported measurable differences between cars in some cases.

So i wonder if 1-size-fits-all will really work for the 968?

Would like to talk to MFR, but email link on webpage doesnt work?


I think a forum survey would be beneficial here

Ask members to report on a specific distance thats easy to describe clearly and to measure ? What say u?

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[az968]

Try to email Ken at info@liftbars.com

 

I know the bars aren't adjustable, he sent me specs from the WSM that showed the distance between jack points and it was spot on for my car.

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[MLB]

Ok thats good news, thanks

I will look for that in WSM, never noticed it before

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[pdxmike]

Hey, those are really cool! 

 

I assume we're talking Portland Oregon not Maine? Sadly my car is decommissioned for at least a few more weeks. Long story that involves a clutch job turning into a 2+ month body shop adventure. 

 

Did he say how long he would need the car to do the measurements? Like just a few minutes to snap a ruler? 

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[az968]

Hi, pdxmike. He lives in Portlandia :-). He just wants to take a couple measurements, doesn't need to see the car any longer than that. Maybe it's not too far from him now, I don't know where he lives there. Do you want to email Ken and discuss? Info@liftbars.com


Sorry to hear about the clutch job gone wrong. Bet there's a sad story there.

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[MCL968]

A clutch job that results in body work? No question there is a sad story there.

 

Can't wait to hear all about it at the WCG.

 

M-

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[MLB]

FWIW,

Car floor assembly dimension specs (WSM section 50-05 to 50-07) call out the distance between front / rear jack points on each side of the car as 1164 +/- 3.5 mm (dimension P7 to P8 in diagram).

To the best of my ability, lying on the floor with a mirror, flexible tape measure and some gooey tape, I get exactly that on my car. On both sides. YMMV.

Would be interesting to hear what other owners measure for their cars.

 

BTW, the WSM spec converts to 45.83 inches, or about 45 and 13/16 inches.

 

(And of course, the measurement is center to center of the respective jackpoint holes, so that makes it a little tricky to measure, but there you go)

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[az968]

Right, 45 - 13/16 is the spec that showed on the picture Ken sent me also.  I measured from rear of front jackpoint hole to rear of rear jackpoint hole.  I didn't have anyone to hold the tape for me. Didn't think about using tape to hold the tape measure in place. Captain Oblivious here.

 

FYI, that's what I measured also.

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[pdxmike]

Good info. I'm guessing the fabricator would want to see the actual jack points in addition to the measurements to make sure the end pieces will fit the same as on the 928, 964, etc., and also to make sure the cladding won't create a clearance problem. Interesting that he makes them for the 928 but not the 944 as I would have guessed the market would be 10x greater. Then again 928 owners probably spend 10x as much time under their cars so its probably a wash...   

 

I am really impressed with this product and anything like this that makes lifting a car easier/safer is worth the small investment. I have an email out to Ken to see if we could come up with a tentative time to meet in June. Last word from the bodyshop was that my car would be done in 2 weeks, which means probably about 4-6.    The story is that the shop doing the clutch dropped the hood on a bunch of tools on the cam cover. Weak original hood struts (of course at the time I had a replacement set in my wish list cart at Pelican). They sent it to their body guy who tried to bang it out, but when it was done they weren't happy. Too stretched. So they sourced and freighted a replacement hood from out east. I'm actually pretty cool with it as they're obviously taking care of it on their dime, I trust that it's being done right, and I've been able to give the 914 some road time as a result. 

 

Will update when I get word from Ken and when I have a firmer idea on when I can make it out. 

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[az968]

Ken told me the 944 jack points weren't compatible for his design so he couldn't produce them, they are square holes rather than oval. The 968 has a different design, which I find interesting.


Very good the shop is doing right by you with the hood repair. What a bummer.

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[Ernie]

These certainly could come in handy for those of us that don't have access to a lift.

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[pdxmike]

As an interim update: I've been back and forth with Ken over the past 2 weeks. I'm not sure what the issue is but it takes him a l-o-n-g time to respond to my emails. The dude is literally like 2 miles from me. Will update if/when we finally have a chance to get him under the car. 

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[Ihoe]

I have Ken’s liftbars for the 928 and they are indeed a great product. I would have liked to have it for my 968 as well.

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[MCL968]

While we are waiting for Ken to decide if he wants to make bars for the 968, I thought I would share a solution I came up with last week.

 

I always hated putting a jack stand under the jacking points on my 968. The metal-to-metal contact was prone to slipping (which bent one of my jacking points a while back) and seemingly unsafe.

 

So, I was thinking I needed something made of hard rubber, about an inch thick, and about 3" across. Then it hit me! A Hockey Puck!

 

A quick trip to the local sporting goods store, a stop at the hardware store for some washers and a couple of bolts, et voila! the solution was in hand.

 

I used a 3/8" carriage bolt with the edges of the square ground down so it would fit inside the washers, a stack of 10 washers to create the "pin" to locate the top of the puck directly under the jacking point, and three 1 1/2 fender washers to keep the bottom of the puck centered on the jack stand. Bolt everything together, cut off the excess thread from the bolt, and away you go.

 

If you have jack stands with flat top, you can create a flat bottom by using a 3/8" T- nut rather than the fender washers and nut.

 

The puck conformed nicely to the top of the jack stand and created a non-slip interface which spread the load out over the entire jacking point, rather than just where the tips of the jack stand meet the jacking point. Car was very secure and slip free the entire time I worked on the brakes and struts.

 

       

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[Kim]

If you had the pucks signed by Crosby it would be even better and would perhaps result in orders from Canadians!

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[pdxmike]

Met up with Ken yesterday. Sounds like its been a busy summer for him. He had made a mock-up for the jackpoints based on the 928 which fit perfectly. My car has a little deformation if the front jack points but we still got good measurements.


Hes welding a prototype - will update when we have a chance to fit it to my car.

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