Johnny S Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 The day started off very well. I unboxed my new Harbor-Freight 2000 lb engine stand, assembled it and went over and grabbed one of my L-head engines (otherwise known to my family as "that junk sitting in the way!") with the engine crane, cranked her up in the air a ways....even took a couple photos. This one is a P18 serial numbered engine that I bought from a guy out of an otherwise junked up P18 sedan. Proceeds to remove the bell housing, clutch, flywheel and then go to use the engine stand. Well....I'll be danged if I can find the right angles to hook that thing up. I used longer bolts, shorter bolts, washers, no washers, turned things right side up and right-side down. Twisted, pulled, contorted, cussed, scraped and finally punted. Picked up my toys and went in the house. Engine is even more in the way now.....how about that kids!!! No basketball for you for awhile!! So, is there any magic that you all can share to make this thing line up, hook up, work? It's nothing special....looks like all the rest of them, just a little bigger. I kept almost knocking my little stand over so decided before I crushed my hand, foot, dog, kids that I would get a bigger one. It looks like I'm going to have to make up an adapter plate to give me the right angles to work with. What say ye all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatS.... Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I also had a b!tch of a time bolting my 251 to my stand. I'll take a pic of the set-up for you and post it tomorrow. Even with it bolted up, I have a 2X6 slab holding up some weight on the front, just to give me peace of mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merle Coggins Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 I borrowed this stand from a co-worker. With the block sitting on the bench, I took the adaptor out of the stand to bolt it up to the block. This is much easier than trying to suspend the engine from a hoist and bolt it up to the stand with it all together and not exactly sitting straight. Even so I had to flip, twist, turn, and readjust the arms in every way I could think of to get it to bolt up to the block. Then lift the block off the bench, with a crane, and slide the adapter bracket into the stand. Maybe it'll be as simple as drilling an extra hole or two in the bracket to get a different angle with the arms. Good Luck, Merle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Douglas Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Take a look here to sort of see mine...James http://www.dacoglu.com/block.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey beard Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 GentZ, These flatties weigh about 600 pounds, whole bunches more than a SBC. It was good you opted for the 2000 lb Harbor Freight model. Their cheaper jobbies will NOT stand up to one of these. For many years my bread was earned in a vocational automotive high school shop. I learned early on that the hookup of block to engine stand mandrel was something I had to do personally if I wanted the engines to be safe for the kids to rotate and work around. Merle's suggestion for approaching the job is the only way to go. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 My mount looks very similar to the way don mounted his. The upper one use the hangers with the tube bolted between the engine and the stand with the bolts going through. the bottom ones the opposit way with the tubes bolted to the engine and the flat arms bolted to the stand. I hung my engine from an I beam in the garage with a come along. then lifted the stand to the engine, once everything was secure, I lowered the whole assembly to the floor . my stand was the 1000 pounder from harbor freight. I'm sure you can puzzel it out with the above hints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normspeed Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Merle nailed this procedure. Attach the plate to the motor, then worry about hoisting the motor up to mate with the stand. My setup was a lot like the others. This is my original 218 waiting for a future rebuild. I used a flat steel piece from Home Depot, drilled to line up with the upper left and outer upper right bolts. Wrapped with some tape it gives me a handle for rotating the motor. Other than that, lotsa washers and some real long bolts did it. Harbor Freight 1,000 lb stand has handled 2 flatheads and a hemi so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny S Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yep....4420. Goes together easy. Great construction. Heavier than H. Built just about like my engine crane only scaled down a little and of course no hydraulics. This gives me some good ideas. Thanks much. But, if somebody has any more please post away. I never feel bad if I know too much! I always feel bad when I know to little and know I know too little. Which was this afternoon. Less so now. Anyone ever build or try to build an oversized adapter plate? That looks like it would make this easy....a piece of heavy duty angle iron bolted and drilled. It looks like we are forced to use the small holes in the casting where the bell housing bolts to the lower end of the block. That makes me nervous that I'm going to snap off one of those flanged edges of the block WHEN I screw up....which happens all the time. Me and Mr. Murphy are buddies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny S Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Don, in your last two photos....what are the top two bolts attached to .... if anything? I failed spatial perception in about every class I had that wanted me to fold and unfold theoretical boxes....any time there was a question like: "What will this look like if you twist it 90 degree, invert the flaps and rotate the entire unit 3.25 turns?"........not a clue here....failed. It looks like you are using all four legs...successfully I might add....I like that.....gives me hope. I don't think I see any extra flat steel in there anywhere? And, it looks like you are attached to the top two bolt holes used by the bellhousing and the two lower outside ones....with nuts on each of the lower two. Am I close? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny S Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 So, if I'm seeing your photos right it looks like you are actually only using three of the arms for attachment points....yes? Or did I fail that one too? You've taken the flat bar steel...drilled three holes....one for the upper right arm of the engine stand, one for the upper right hole on the block and one for the lower left hole. Then you've used the lower right arm to support that lower right corner of the block? The lower left one uses the arm on the engine stand and passes through the flat bar steel into the lower left bellhousing hole....with a nut on the back side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm's Coupe Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 As mentioned, if you follow Merle's set up, it's easy to hook it up. I did mine the same way when I rebuilt the engine. Only thing different was we left the engine hooked to the hoist and sat it down on the floor. Then, removed the arms from the the stand and hooked it up to the engine. Then we lifted the engine up and onto the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Normspeed Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Yup. It will make more sense to you when you get the plate and some bolts and nuts and washers and experiment with it before messing around with the actual stand part. Just leave the four silver pivot bolts a little loose so you can move the arms to different angles. When you have it figgered out, snug down everything, hoist the motor up and fit the flange assembly to the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 Don, in your last two photos....what are the top two bolts attached to .... if anything? I failed spatial perception in about every class I had that wanted me to fold and unfold theoretical boxes....any time there was a question like: "What will this look like if you twist it 90 degree, invert the flaps and rotate the entire unit 3.25 turns?"........not a clue here....failed. It looks like you are using all four legs...successfully I might add....I like that.....gives me hope. I don't think I see any extra flat steel in there anywhere? And, it looks like you are attached to the top two bolt holes used by the bellhousing and the two lower outside ones....with nuts on each of the lower two. Am I close? The top 2 bolts are simply stored where I can find them. They do not support anything. Key element is to have everything tight. This eliminates any shear stress. Tight bolts will hold a lot of weight. Loose bolts will break as if cut with a pair of sissors if there is any movement. Personally I do not like to use engine stands as they are at a very uncomfortable work height for me. I found it much easier to flop the engine around on the workbench as required for assembly. If anyone has an interest in this P-15 engine core (218) and this engine stand let me know as I could use the extra room in my garage. This is a pick up only item in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DutchEdwin Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 If you use the engine stand, rather then on a bench, it is a lot easier to keep the engine clean. You can top it over in a few seconds. However the point of gravity is not even with the turning point of the stand. So in my case with a heavier V8 engine, when full assembled I will use a crane attached to it when I top it over, just for safety. Just wonder why they built those stands like that. It's easy to engineer it right with the point of gravity about inline with the turning axle of the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grey beard Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 IMHO - The whole point of using an engine stand to rebuild a unit is not to just "hold" the thing, but to allow you to flip it over to work on both top and bottom of the thing. The really difficult thing about hanging an engine on a stand is not hanging it - it's getting it on there in a balanced fashion so it will be safe when it is rotated. If you cannot turn it over and work on both sides when you install pistons, bearings, etc., then don't use a stand. I have built or supervised the building of several hundred engines. One spring, at the end of the second semester at the small college where I taught, I asked the maintenance department to send a truck to the lab to clean out some scrap. We literally filled a 2-ton single axle dump truck with junk small block Chevy blocks that were not rebuildable. Now how many of these things must you go through just to have that many rejects? Over time, I have found that the best way to rebuild an engine is on a work bench. I lay the block bottom side up, install first the cam, so you can get your hand in there to guide it into the berings, and then the mains and the crankshaft. Once you're happy with bearing clearances and end play, install the timing components - gears or chain and double check the timing marks after a few hand revolutions of the crank. Then I pick the unit up by the front crank pulley with the hoise and sit the assembly vertically on its butt end, on top of two short pieces of 2 x 6 scrap lumber. This allows the crank to still turn. Even a large block V8 can still be moved around on the bench to get at all the holes when installing pistons. You're not lifting the block - just slidiing it around a bit to get to each cylinder in turn. With the block in this pisition, it is easy to feed piston assemblies in, one at a time and get the bearing clearances checked and torqued.If you have a flat metal tray of the sort used under vehicles to catch drips, it's good to sit the engine in one of these on the bench with your scrap lumber. Then during piston/ring assembly, when you install these parts using oil, the mess stays in one place instead of dropping to the floor beneath an engine stand. I guess the bes benefit for me is that I so seldom use an engine stand today, that I don't want to have to store it or trip over it all the rest of the time when I don't need it. I've gotten comfortable building them on a bench, and it works for me. Once the pan is on and buttoned up, just turn the unit upside down onto the pan and install the head(s). I ususally wait to torque these until the assembly is in the frame and bolted down. If you're Daddy Warbuci$ and cost is no object, there are engine stands made with hydraulic compohents to raise and lower the entire assemblies up from the floor and to any comfortable work height. We had a few of these for larger Cummins and Cat diesel blocks. They are very nice, and tend to spoil a fellow . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.