I was looking at the official Ford shop manual for 62 Fords and it show mounting the FE engine on a work stand that looks like the KR Wilson stand I have for my flatheads and Model A engines except that it has a long extension that supports the opposite side. Like the relatively common ones seen for bangers and flatheads this one mounts to the side of the engine on both sides, presumably to the engine mount bolts. Has anyone seen one of these or even a reproduction that would support and FE on the sides? This ****er is the only roll around stand that I have ever seen that would safely support an FE and allow access to a complete rebuild.
Of course something similar could be fabricated but this looks very similar to a KRW stand and its odd that I have never seen one or even a picture of one.
Consider the customer here. A Ford dealer that has already bought and has the 'factory tools' on hand. An adapter or addition for a current tool makes more sense than a whole separate stand. I'd imagine that these were not common, only sold to the dealers that already had the first one. It was probably replaced with another tool for the newer generations of V8s. That's my wild guess on why they aren't floating around. It appears to make exhaust and core plugs less accessible, and that's a big heavy barge of a stand. It appears very strong, but also expensive for flat rate work.
Found this while looking for pics or catalogs. https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=24650
Keep in mind the flathead was produced until 1953 and the FE came out in 1958 so they may have been more common than we think with only 5 years between the 2.
I have a non-Wilson stand for flatheads that mounts off the exhaust ports. Spins just like your pic, but is more compact. Down side is that it will only fit a Ford flathead. >> Just kidding, that’s not a down side!
I still haven’t seen anything like the picture in the book. I wonder if that sliding brace was some aftermarket piece added to a KRW stand? Then again why would Ford have it in their service manual. Most if not all FE motors are mounted on regular engine stands that bolt to the bellhousing mounts with some people (like me) bracing the front. While it would be easy to fabricate something to adapt to my KRW stand I would have to take the 8AE motor off where its been sitting for the past 8 years waiting for me to work on it. That would be about 10 projects down the list and I will damn sure be dead by then. Makes we wonder why I even started wondering about this damn engine stand.
Well, YOU started it! Considering that is fully dressed and it seems to pick it at the mounts, I wonder if this could be used as a run-in stand.
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