The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Mounting Chevy 235 to engine stand

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions for mounting a Chevy 235 to an engine stand. I attempted this but it seems the engine is too long and heavy it puts alot of stress on the mounting bolts. Is there a mounting bracket or specific engine stand that you use on these inline 6's?

The one's I've seen on a stand use a standard type stand and you take off the tranny case then bolt into the bell housing. It seems to work fine. I did mine that way and it looked a little unsafe but it worked.

OK, it's time to get creative. Last time I went through this I ended up using a combination of the arms that come with the engine stand, plus cut some lengths of pipe and long bolts I had laying around to make it work. By all means use thick wall pipe and good grade 8 bolts. Other trick is to cut a lenth of wood or pipe to shore up the end of the motor, wedge this piece between the end of the stand and front main cap. Or best of all worlds would be to make a plate with the corresponding pattern, engine to bellhousing. If you are a welder and have lots of time you could go the plate route. Last idea I've seen was to build a motor stand plate that catches several bolt holes on the side of the engine and mount it sideways. Whatever you do build it extra strong.

First of all, DON'T use a cheap engine stand! These old engines are heavy! The front leg on the stand should be long enough to extend beyond the front end of the engine when it's bolted up. One of the students in my shop mounted the bellhousing, clutch, etc., and put the engine back on the stand, and it tipped over, hitting him on the foot and breaking a couple of toes. If he had not been wearing heavy work shoes, it would have probably mashed them off. You might need to extend the front support a few inches to be sure the stand is stable enough. Use heavy-duty bolts and spacers strong enough to get a really good hookup at the back end of the engine where the bellhousing attaches, and get them good and tight. When rotating the engine to do bottom-end work, use a handle long enough to control the engine's tendency to flop over as it gets near the center of gravity as you roll it over. Safety first!
Jerry

For what it's worth, I used standard grade 8 bolts to mount my 235 (complete with bellhousing and clutch still installed) to the folding (HD) stand I ordered from the Northern Tools catalogue. Engine has been on that stand three year, moved between farms once and all around the shop and not one problem yet. Spinning the motor is a little scary though ...

John

When I did my 235, I just used the Cheap Harbor Freight stand I had, I wouldn't do it again without some modifications. Although the 235 is close to the same weight as a smallblock (What these stands were designed for) They are much longer so you end up with a lot more weight hanging out there. A buddy of mine who's building a 302 Extended the T Shaped piece that normally has the "Front" wheels out another foot or so and extended the sides of it out wider so it's the same width as the back wheels. It's a lot more stable than it was before, and we've talked about adding a piece to the front to support the front of the motors weight too.
And on rolling them over, WATCH OUT!!! I rolled mine over by myself using an extension to the pipe and about halfway around I still thought I was gonna loose the whole thing.. I was really lucky. I wouldn't roll one over with a standard cart with the narrow front wheels ever again. These engines are really top heavy on these stands.
MONGO

I bought a 1250 lb. stand with a U-shaped base for $70. I really like that big base. The ones with the T-shaped base are a bit scary to me.

When the 261 was installed in the truck, I built a set-up to hold 2 of my 5 old white Mercury outboards. If I had used a longer 2x10, I could put 3 outboards on there. I wouldn't try this with a T-shaped base.

[img]http://www.sandeace.com/48/MotorStand2a.jpg[/img]

They got boats in Montana?,lol.Don't let my neighbor see those Merc's, he's a collector.