Pics and info please. If there is a thread on it a link to that will work. I tried searching but those three words bring back way to many searches. I want to build something to break motors in on and to keep something that isn't in a car in good running order if needed. Thanks for any advice.
I built several of them when I was teaching High school automechanics. Basically they were a steel table frame without a top that had motor mounts and a small dash board at the back. With a radiator on the front, a battery holder and a small gas tank and an oil and temp gauge we were good to go. On a new engine you want an exhaust that is quiet enough so that you can actually hear any and all noises in the engine when you run it. The cool factor of busting one off the first timewith open pipes soon fades if you can't hear a noise that might cause damage. We had five or six of them on castors and when they weren't being used by students we could roll them in the corner out of the way. When I took the class over we had test engines setting in the front sub frames or frame stubs of cars complete with wheels and tires and they took up a lot of room and the tires were always getting in the way of freely moving around the engine. The one that Big Deuce showed above is a lot nicer than the ones we had but works about the same and takes up about the same floor space.
When I built mine, I had several engines I wanted to test (331 Hemi, Olds Rocket, and a couple of flatheads), so I wanted it to be universal. For the rear mount, I bought a cheap engine stand and cut it down and mounted it on the stand. So far I have been able to bolt the engine directly to it (with the bellhousing bolts) or bolt the bellhousing to it (using the transmision bolts). You have to do some twisting and turning, but so far I have been able to mount every engine I've tried successfully. At this time, the front mounts have been custom for each one because they are quite simple. When I get around to doing one of the flatheads, I think I'm going to permanent mount the flathead mounts, and use Hurst-type adaptors for the other engines. The rear mount was the hard one though. I can include some pictures tomorrow if you'd like to see it.
Nice pics Big Duece the bellhousing is interesting. Is that necessary as opposed to bolting it to the back of the block? It will be used mostly for small block Chevys but I'd like to be able to adapt it to other motors if needed. Thanks for the site mochevy but I'm not looking to spend 2 grand on something
There's a guy on eBay selling a quality set of plans and instructions for an engine run stand, that is collapsible/foldable for storage. It's $8.50, by fishermanruss. I bought a set but haven't built it yet.
sbc, i figgured it'd be a 308 for that hudson. i built one out of 2x12 for a 308 was very basic. i left the tranny on it. this is not a very good picture, but it had the battery on it and i just had a pvc pipe with rad hoses for short run.
Mine is very similar to that, except the control panel is in the front, for two reasons, away from the bellhousing area and exhaust, and much easier "loading" of an engine as one end of the stand is "open". Started with a warehouse cart with HD solid rubber casters, and have another HD flat table about 30" high that's just slightly larger than the castered cart (actually a motorcycle engine assembly table that came from the Indian factory in Gilroy ) that I can set the whole assembly up on to work on it at normal height, 2', then pick up the whole deal with the hoist and set it on the floor to fire up and run.
This is one that I used to run my engine in before putting it in my truck.Just modified the existing engine stand as it was already on rollers and pretty easy to do. Roger
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0802sr_41_48_chevy_rearend_mounting_kit/ We don't need no stinkin' test stands.
wow those are scary. I have an X frame here that I'm going to cut up to make my stand. That will give me engine mounts and strength and I'll put it on casters to move it easy. when not in use I can just leave it outside.
I built this from an old John Deere riding lawn mower. It is wired for HEI or Points and has tested both BBC and SBC engines. It is fully adjustable for testing inline 4's and 6's as well as SBF's Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. In Action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHc8pBYW4cY or still and in Action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHc8pBYW4cY
I built mine out of a Princess Auto engine dolly. Me and my buddies have used this idea about a dozen times and works everytime. Much easier to find the problem on the stand then compared to in the car all hocked up and you have to pull it out again. Thats the 400 in the car and it hasn't come out yet. Just make sure to go over your flywheel bolts and fan bolts cause it's scary when it's running.
Nice thing too is working with headers- I have a used 390 on the stand now, and can gently "bake" my customer's new ceramic coated FPA's, and then break in the cam on his 450cu CJ stroker with my old "stand" crusty headers without overheating his new ones. Got a set from the old sprint car that ran at Calistoga in the old days with High Riser 427- you should have heard that beast come off Turn 4 in the days before mufflers
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