The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216 Center of Gravity for engine stand head mount?

Mornin' guys, seems like I’ve seen this discussion here before but been lookin’ since last night and taint been able to find it.
I’m going to hang my 216 short block w/o the cylinder head on my engine stand with the bell housing on it. The pattern for the trans mount holes is much smaller than that of the bell housing to block pattern. My engine stand arms won’t work with that small of a pattern so I’ll be making another set of arms this afternoon.
Has anyone nailed down the CG for a 216 short block??? Betting it just a couple inches above the crank with the flywheel and clutch installed.
And how bout with the head on it, that’s gotta move it way up maybe another six or eight inches no?
DG

Bolt something straight on the back of it and stand it on end on that, put a 1/4" rod under it and roll it till you find the tipping point. Add the head and repeat.
Then you'd know the CG both ways.

Grigg

Good thinking Grigg, amazing how far a little bit of common sense can take you.
Now that I've got the bellhousing on the back that will be easy to do.
Thanks for the idea.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I'd suggest getting a welding shop to cut out a donut-shaped piece of 1/2" steel plate about 18" in diameter, with about a 6" hole in the center for crankshaft and rear main bearing cap clearance. Drill one set of holes spaced for the back of the block bolts, and another set for the transmission-mounting holes at the back of the bellhousing. Out near the edge of the plate, drill some holes to attach the arms from the engine stand, spaced so the engine will balance well when rotating the head of the stand. The same adapter plate can be used with the bellhousing on or off. Just be careful with the bellhousing attached, as it makes the engine assembly front-heavy.
Jerry

Fullsize inline 6s get quite long with a clutch housing to mount in an engine stand from the rear face.
I've thought I might someday try to work out a mount for the stand that would let me mount the inline from the side instead of the end.This would give better access to both ends of the assembly and the load would be moved in nearer the "backbone" of the stand.Probably the stand should be a 4 wheeled instead of tricycle for increased stability.
My thoughts for this was sparked by a picture of a HEAVY duty engine stand made by,I believe OTC for diesels like the N series Cummins and Cat 3300 type,over 2500 lbs.It even had a geared rotator for ease of positioning.
It seems this mounting concept could be scaled down for our inlines.

The sideways approach for "safely" mounting a six to a stand was described in the "Tech Tips" of the Sept/Oct 2003 issue of the 12 Port News by Ron Sneddon. He fabricated an adapter plate to mount the engine sideways, to keep the cg near the rear wheels. Ron also describes a method for finding the cg of the block assembly.
As I recall, both Ron's and Sam Welch's version of the stand were for the 250/292 sixes, not real Stovebolt engines. It's not obvious haw to easily mount a 216 sideways.

Hoyt

I’m not worried about the stand going over, it’s four legged and quite solid, I over built it many years ago.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/129180608/large
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/129180609/large
The thing that I worry about most is hanging the weight on the back of the bell housing rather than on the block itself. Hope I don’t crack the bell housing!!!!
I’m adding extra tapped holes to the existing arms and shortening them up an inch or so.
DG

Yepper it do hang way out there with the bell housing on.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/135685974/large
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/135685978/large
But it feels quite stable when I rolled it over, and the weight is pretty evenly balanced at about 2“ above the crankshaft CL.
DG

my engine stand wouldn't work "upright" I had to put it so the mount was"sideways, and the arms are all this way and that. But it did fit eventually, what does center of gravity have to do with this?

If you put the CG of the short block on the CL of the head it's easere to rotate the engine while working on it. If you're tip heavy or bottom heavy it will tend to flop over when you loosen or pull the pin on the head.
Not sure what all this "upright" and "sideways" talk is about. I've never used or seen this typr of engine stand used any other way than mounted to the back of the block.

DG

On flat head Fords with the cast on bell housings we run an extra two straps from the rear intake bolt holes to holes in the top of the mount plate. One could do the same from the rear head bolt holes on a Chevy 6. Takes much strain off the bell housing.

Here's the idea for mounting an engine sideways
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/OTC-1750A/?rtype=10

That's an 8V71 Detroit shown, but they make or made adapters for all sorts of engines to mount them from the side of the block, (with the big engine stand as shown) and if you want to you could figure your own adapters on a smaller scale.

Grigg

Hey Grigg, that's a real bargain, only $5,300 plus the shipping. That's more than my yearly allowance since I've retired.
I can't see where that would offer any advantage over the rear mount???
DG

On a long and heavy engine its more stable and kinder to the engine.
Can you imagine a 6-71 detroit or perhaps a big KT Cummins hung on a stand from one end?... a whole lot of leverage.

Might not be necessary or what you were thinking for just a stovebolt but sure wouldn't hurt.

Kind of reminds me of the V-12 Rolls Royce engine mounts. They were very long engines so they used sort of a saddle that the engine set in but the mount was cantilevered off the fire wall.
If I were gonna do a LOT of work on something as long as this on a regular basis , I think I would make up a frame for the engine to sit in that would mount to the stand instead of the standard head.
But hey, I think we’re getting really carried away here, I mean, it‘s just an old Stovebolt that’s gonna be shoved back into place in a week or so. And it’s hangin’ just like thousands of others have in the past without any problems. I’m sure I’m not the first one to mount off the trans pattern on the bell housing.
DG