The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Engines, on engine stands

Got off on the engine stand tangent this morning. I've
never fired off an engine outside of the vehicle. One
of the main reasons was I always pictured the engine
torqueing over and dancing around the garage floor.
With the advent of youtube I've seen many clips of
guys running them sitting in the dirt at the junk
yard and on a whole rash of commercial and
homemade test stands.
In almost all of these clips I've seen the throttle
cracked and the engines barely move, always seemed to
me that in the chassis they torque around quite a
bit.
I just watched a video at Easy-Run http://www.easy-run.net/
where they ran a 472 Caddy cracking the throttle and
it sitting as still as if it were bolted into the car.
Guess I've been disillusioned as to the torque of the
internal combustion engine all these years.
Denny Graham
Running at full throttle in Sandwich, IL

I wonder if not having any load on the engine makes a difference?

That is a really nice setup. If a guy did a lot of that kind of work it would be a must have. I can think of a buddy of mine with a junk yard for early iron that could put one of those to use. He could get top dollar for his used engines instead of core prices if he could show perspective buyers that it runs with good vacuum and compression and has no leaks. A great tool and appears very adaptable for various engines. Nice link thanks for sharing.
Steve

$100 worth of square tube, $100 in castors, $50 in gauges.

Would be a nice weekend project.

Denny, the engine has nothing to torque against. Automatic transmissions have some resistance even in park or neutral from the torque converter, same for manual transmissions, the clutches always drag just a little. I have run a number of engines this way a test stand. They always sound really good and rev like wild little small blocks since they have no drag on them.

Its well worth the effort to build a test stand if you do any amount of engine work. Its much easier to tune and test when its right out in the open, plus you can test the coolant system with a radiator mounted. I paint the engines after I run them, its easier to get apart if I have to.

I ran a flathead Ford on a stand just for kicks, it was so smooth running, you could set a water glass in the filter assembly with out falling off. Mostly because it weighed so much and idled so slow, but it was still kinda cool. This engine had the transmission and tail mounted drum parking brake. I put the trans in low and started applying the brake to load the engine down really good, it made for a better tune up since we could adjust the carb under a load.

Joe

Denny,

I made this stand using the plans offered on the Stovebolt Tech Tips page and plan to use it when I start my engine prior to placing it on the chassis.

http://s1262.photobucket.com/user/Raleigh58/library/235%20Engine%20Cradle

Weren't talking about an engine dolly Raleigh, these were "test"
stands where you could sustain a running engine for break-in or
tuning. I've even seen some with a water break attached to the
back end for use as an inexpensive dyno set up.
DG

...denny, did one hanging from a tree with a chain fall. Ran good and smooth till we throttled it and then it wanted to moved a little. I guess the fan was really a propeller!!!

Denny, a lot of car clubs have an "engine trailer" and may loan it to you if you need. Know anyone? If you were close you could use ours, but.....

Understand. Still planning on using this one.

Not really looking for one Alvin, just had a few minutes and got
my curiosity up to see what was out there. I got way to much
stuff as it is. Taint had a chance to work on the trucks for
nearly two years now. Haven't even got settled into the new
place yet and already the barn, barn surround, garage and
basement are so full I gotta walk sideways to get from one side
t'other. Even the deck over the three stalls and new mezzanine
weren't enough to make a dent in the crap that's taking up the
floor space.

DG

Hey Joe. Didn't my Father do some welding for you on a make-shift run stand, fashioned from a earl Chevy truck front-half?

I bought a 350 Oldsmobile engine off a guy who set the engine in a stack of two truck tires with the oil pan neatly tucked inside of the tires. He carefully poured gas into the vent tube of the carb until the float bowl was full and cranked her up, revved it up a little and it never moved. I had seen that guy around a lot prior to that. He was pretty rough around the edges and sketchy looking, but after what he taught me that day, I developed an appreciation of him and learned not to be so quick to judge.

Hey Denny, first let me say Thank You for your website and all of your advise on this website. It has helped me a great deal, As an Oil Field mechanic and shop foreman I started many gas/diesel engines balanced on wood blocks. CATs, Detroit Diesels, Macks, CHEVYs, fords,Budas,Deutzs and etc, We would fire them up, check for leaks, set hi and low idle before sending to the make shift dyno we had. MtneerMike

The one I use regularly is just the front end of a 54 3100 frame. What better 'stand' to use than the cradle it was meant for? Now you have radiator bracket and everything. The engine cradle on my web site would work as well with a few modifications. Its handy when you need it, but its a waste of floor space when you don't. I can totally relate to being VERY suspicious of anything that takes up floor space!

Tks Mike, that seems to be the experience that everyone has had.

That was the nice feature of the Easy-Run test stand, it folds
up. I built my engine lifter which I copied off of an Enerpac
that we had down at work. With it's solid legs, no matter where
I put it those darn legs get in the way. When I made my move
last summer I borrowed another one from a friend so I could
load and unload the truck and trailer by myself at both ends of
the trip. His folded up, resulting in a much smaller footprint
on my barn floor. So that folding feature is really nice and in
my "spare time" I've been tossing the idea around about
modifying mine to do the same.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/142939259

DG

My cousin made a test stand a few years ago with square tubing. He was testing the various amounts of Ethanol in a Chevy 305 engine. We had a gutted TH350 on the tail end of it just for support, a Caprice radiator, and sun pro gauges. We rolled it around on lawn tractor tires. It worked well enough for him to get a Scholarship.

I agree about floor the space issue , my Cherry picker and engine stand take up way too much space as it is. I need to add a 4th stall to my garage to accomidate tools, and a 5th, just to work in, and a 6th for spare parts. Then, I'm sure I'll still run out of room.

I thought about using the front frame half from the 1 ton I'm parting out to make a test stand. Don't know where I'd keep it.

Deve- I'd like a picture of yours if you don't mind.

I made a cheap engine stand from welding up bed (sleep in kind) frame rails for my SBC engines. I hook up a garden hose for cooling. Electric fuel pump with hose for fuel out of a gas can. Battery with cables and a couple of wires for ignition and starter, and screw in a couple manual gauges water and oil. I can fire the engine up and it sits there and runs as smooth as pee on a platter.

I can really appreciate your situation Denny. Same thing here even after 4 years in the new shop and it's over twice the sixe of the old one. I can't understand where all this crap came from. Must be a magic junk Genie running around here. Worst of all we are ready to sell and move again!

I've started big diesel engines sitting on the ground. The thing that causes torque is the rev it fast. As far as a cheap stand even using 2x4s of wood will work, it doesn't have to be steel.