Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area The Engine Shop Engines, on engine stands

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.