....on an aluminum intake? it scares me. i've got a weiand stealth. seams like a lot of weight on the aluminum threads. whats your thoughts.
lifting plates make my *** pucker on a iron intake... but thats a personal thing. never tried one on a aluminum intake. might be OK... then again a ****ed up intake aint so much OK is it. . . i know myself lifting a motor out of a car on two head bolts or a alternator bolt and a bell bolt never worries me, but im nuts so
my buddies used one to lift my sbc out of my car while i was at work seemed to work fine it was holding the motor off the ground when i got to the shop... matt
yea, me too. i'm not worried about the intake as much as the engine crashing to the ground or worse yet crashing down on the car. i just painted my engine up for my 57 chevy and i was thinking this thing would help keep from scratching it. and wanted everyones thoughts.
matt, thanks for your input. do you have anymore pics of your 57? i've got a white 2 door sedan i'm going to put white walls on. i can't find any pics of "hot rod" 57's with wide whites.
I usually use a piece of chain and a couple of bolts into the ends of the heads or the exhaust bolts. Cheaper than buying a lifting plate, IMO
I've used a similar one, and on an aluminum Weiand too...pucker factor was pretty high, but in the end, I didn't have any problems. This was just for a short period of time while swapping out my engine side motor-mounts (engine was freshly painted and I was worried about messing it up). Otherwise, I prefer the chain method. Bryan
I have used em a lot. Never had an issue. I have lifted small and big blocks with the lift plates. There is a bit of a pucker factor everytime.. EVILT
I have used these several times with small block and big block chevys, all had aluminum intakes. Just make sure bolts are tight on all 4 carb bolt mount holes!
The numbers say there shouldn't be a problem, good studs being something like 50,000 or 70,000 PSI tensil over four studs at 5/16 dia. But I agree with the pucker factor, I've never wanted to test it.
Seen a Desoto hemi block picked up by a fan belt through the distributor hole!! Definately a colon clencher... I prefer hardened bolt in the head bolt holes or front and rear holes myself. I've also put the short block in my desoto first and then installed the heads. watching the cherry picker flex as the motor was over the fender when I removed it was just too stressfull.
hardened bolts won`t bend though...they`ll just snap....rather use something that has some give in it...
I seen one used on the speed chanel on a 69 camaro not only did they have the engine they had the trany and subframe hangin on it i could not believe it. I have used them before no problem.
Your numbers are different than mine! First the calculated stud diameter would really be closer to a 1/4" (root diameter of your 5/16" dia stud/bolt). Granted that bolt will still lift a ton - problem is it's not the bolt that scares me - it's those darned aluminum threads. I sure hope that aluminum casting is RIGHT. I know - guys do it all the time - just won't be me!!!!
In my race car days........I used a a HD fannnbelt to remove my BBC from the car MANY times.........never really worried - I was more concerned about getting the engine out a.s.a.p.. I actually ran a Holley strip dominator intake & would run the belt under the plenum & hooked it onto the engine hoist. PACO
Marlan Davis did an ****ysis for Hot Rod Magazine a few years ago and showed there was a large safety factor. I don't remember the numbers though. Since I read that, I worry a little less.
i used one of those to pull the engine and ****** out of my 57, didn't scare me for a second. i've heard to not use them on air-gap intakes.
you guys find more reasons to lose sleep! divide the engine weight by four. count how many theads deep the bolts go in the manifold. then figure how much weight is on each thread of the aluminum manifold. take it to lab and have a thread tested to breaking point blah, blah if you don't trust it don't use it. every engine I've seen dropped was caused by a hardened bolt thru a chain with to much side pull. the scariest engine I ever pulled was a straight eight buick with a dynafow attached with a 1/4 ton come along,had a 6 foot pipe on the handle so I wouldn't be close when that ****er snapped, it didn't and I still pucker thinking about it! had a friend that used to pull flathead 6's and 8's with a ring welded to an old spark plug.
I've used lifting plates on aluminum with a SBC and a 700r4 bolted to it lots of times. Never had a problem.
just used one yesterday to put a sb ford with all the accesories attached including the a/c, alt, brackets, etc. and with the c4 a/t attached in my buddies 29 sedan ( aluminum manifold). third time we've done this. we use them every day at work in the shop. no problem.
i asked the machine shop the same question when i was putting the engine back in. i told them its a complete engine full of oil with a cast iron bellhousing, a clutch/pressure plate, & a 4 speed hanging off of that if these 4 little bolts in an aluminum intake will hold everything & they just laughed & said theyve lifted hundreds upon hundreds of engines with those plates even letting them hang over night. --- so i got 4 hard bolts as long as the intake would hold & it was fine.
an Old Mustang parts supplier catalog did a test with the intake fastened to a table and was able to get over 5000lbs pull b4 the plate distorted and still did not brake or give way. Ed ke6bnl
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