The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest has anyone made a engine dolly for a inline six

i am going to start putting a 292 in my hudson and am thinkn ofmaking a large engine dolly. i want it to be able to handle the 292, bell housing, cllutch, and tranny. the hudson if in the driveway and i want to be able roll the engine/tranny out and in place then pull it back in the garage. i also want to adjust hight and tilt. i was thinking of attaching it to head at manifold location. anyone ever done this? any pictures? thanks, hr

I just use a 4 wheel movers cart and a couple cut 2x4's. The engine pan droped nicely in the middle and the 2x4's stabilized it. Very inexpensive.

i have made a couple of engine cradles but i am wanting something bigger. it will need to support the engine and tranny up off the ground, roll into the engine bay with grill and fenders off, and be able to adjust so i can fab brackets mounts and clutch linkage. to be stable enough i was thinking it would need to be 6' or so long and 4' wide but i'm open to ideas. the only reason i am not using a cherry picker is i want to be able to roll it in and out of my garage every day i work on it. my cherry picker is huge with a coupler for towing on it, also the casters are steel and don't roll super smooth.

From what you are saying it sounds like you need something that will allow you to precisely change the angle of the engine and hold it in place while you fabricate the parts. If so your challenge would be to find a practical way to adjust the height at all four points to allow for an uneven floor as well as the angle of the engine.

If I were faced with this challenge I would solve the adjustment issue by the use of bottle (or scissor) jacks at all four points. The base would have wheels that could be locked and the frame made of angle iron so it could be welded to the jacks.

Excuse me while I whip one up.

cool ideas. please hurry and whip one up, and if you are heading thru spfd, mo in the next couple of days CAN I BORROW IT? hahaha

Good ideas, Woody.

I hope my gantry crane and engine leveler (also using threads as per your suggestion) will be the trick for setting up my LSx motor and trans into my truck to fab motor mounts-- when the time comes.

I want to position it in three axis with about 4 degrees of tilt and tack in motor mounts to the IFS crossmember. With the right distance from radiator, frame mounted master cylinder, etc.

i just made this dolly a couple of weeks ago and it works great. had an idea to add a 3rd 4x4 rail w/ casters and a couple of cross members to facilitae an engine w/ bellhousing and trans. not sure of the dimensions on a 292, but on my 235 i narrowed the risers to about 9" give or take a little as the original plans at 9 1/2' seemed a little wide when i first test fit the engine. raisng, lowering and changing angles might be accomplished by simply shimming the motor as it sitts in the dolly????

hope this was helpful.

big ed

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/engine_dolly.html

I can say from experience that the engine dolly for the 235 will NOT fit the 250/292s! The later engines are not a straight line down the passengers side. Neither will the 250/292s fit a SBC dolly without modification. I've done both, and they are just for moving engines around or storage.

I like Woody's idea, but how will you get the engine/tranny combo over the front cross member without a hoist?

Best wishes,

Les

i have solved the problem!!! i bought a huge cherry picker at a auction last weekend for $60. the boom extends out to 8' and it is not as tall as the other one i have so i can roll it in and out of the garage door. i put new casters on it so it will roll super smooth. i am just waiting on a way to hide the engine sitting inside of the garage while i work on the motor mounts and stuff. if my wife sees it there she is going to think it smells like oil since the engine isn't one i recently rebuilt. maybe a new thread- how to hide a grease covered engine from my wife?