flipping an engine

[jjefferson]

Currently in the process of giving the plow truck and her engine some much needed love. And have seemed to have opened a large can of worms.

In interest of time and budget I pulled the engine (57 Belvedere 230) out with the tranny still attached, and made a wooden stand to place the engine on. Couldn’t really see the need to buy a stand especially given that the work is happening under the barn on a crushed stone floor. And I wrongly assumed this was to be a quick valve job.

Well now I see the need. Oh how silly I was thinking I could work on my back under the engine staring up into dripping oil and anti freeze. Have managed to drop every single piece of plastigage that I have cut into the dirt, not to mention the floor is cold.

So has anybody here ever try to roll a complete engine with the tranny. I I was thinking of two slings -one at the front and one at the back and then with a long 2 by 4 try to roll / wedge it over….somehow…maybe... any thoughts.

Thanks

Jim

[old stovebolt]

I would be careful when flipping the engine / trans over that you don't

displace an internal part. I am not familiar with your engine / trans, but I do

know for a fact you can't flip some other drivetrains without parts internally

dropping.

Good luck.

[Big_John]

I suggest you bite the bullet and buy an engine stand. I know you're not going to be able to roll the stand around, but its really the only to safely flip that engine over to work on it.

Harbor Freight has some cheap stands.

[41/53dodges]

cheap is right! i almost broke one with just a stripped 230 on there!

[Jim Saraceno]

If you get the Harbor Frieght stand, don't get the one with the tripod base. I've heard several people say they had problems with that. I got mine from Cummins and I'm sure it is rated for at least 1000 pounds and it has served me well.

I would think it would be worth the effort to remove the tranny. I'm surprised you got the engine out with the tranny still on.

When Don Coatney rebuilt his engine, he set it on top of his work bench. I'm not sure how he did the flips.

[Don Coatney]

I rebuilt my engine on my workbench and flipped it over several times the armstrong way. Remove 4 bolts and drop your transmission to reduce some weight.

[old stovebolt]

nice engine

[jjefferson]

Yes maybe I'll drop the tranny. I might try to roll it 45 degrees to the left and try that. Kind of wedge it and leave it hanging in the chain falls, it would be easier then working upside down.

Should have mentioned that the plow truck is a M37 (with a 57 Belvedere engine) so its pretty strait forward to pull the whole power plant out with the tranny attached. Took me about 3 hours and that's with alot of screwing around.

One of the problems is that the more I look the more I find, I'm sure many of use have been down that path. And for now I am trying real hard to put some blinders on and to avoid seeing some stuff I don't want to see / fix. It is just the plow truck - but its also hard not to fix it and make it right.

Was reminded of this last night - cleaned the engine block and painted it up nice and pretty - then I looked up at the truck with broken windshield glass and no doors or heat. Ah yes I was reminded this is just the plow truck ie tractor with a roof. Then I promptly went back and touched up the paint job. Will we never learn.

Currently trying to find some red plastigage - seems no one in my town (Napa, Carquest, Autozone and even a machine shop) stock it. All they have is the green plastigage. Shame no one works on old stuff anymore.

Jim

[Big_John]

I should always qualify my suggestions about Harbor Freight. Things that support weight have a real capacity of half the weight that Harbor Freight rates them for. If buy something rated for 4 tons you want to put 2 tons of weight on it max. A 1 ton rated engine stand should support a flathead nicely.

The tripod stand is not as stable, but honestly I used a tripod stand for 30+ years building all sorts of engines, mostly 440's but even did the occasional Hemi with no problems. BTW, a full dressed 426 Hemi is a very heavy engine. That said, I recently needed a second stand and my choice was a folding 1 ton HF piece. The only issue was I had to redrill two of the arms to get them closer together to mount the flathead.

While Don has done his engine on a bench, I still have to say that a stand is better and safer. Flipping an engine on a bench might be OK for him to do and I have to say I've done many things like that myself. But.. if you aren't used to moving big heavy stuff like engines, you can hurt yourself or break something pretty easy. You need a good strong bench too.

Nothing against Jim but by asking the question, I assume that the he is not used to doing this or else it would have just been done.

[pflaming]

I flipped mine, but I had a 10 ton winch to the ceiling rafters. I found out one thing, when that block goes over center you will not stop it!!!!!! It goes FAST! Be very careful.

[captden29]

i rebuilt a buick straight eight on one of those rolling flatbed carts like you use at home depot. of course that was back in 1973 when i was younger and stupider, but it worked and the engine was still running strong when i sold the 51 it was in back in 1995. capt den

[garbagestate 44]

I put my 265 on it's side to remove the oil pan. I took a wooden pallet and bolted large casters to it to roll the engine around since space was tight. After I reinstalled the pan, I built a crude box out of a 2x10 that fit around the pan so that when I stood it back up it stayed level.

[BeBop138]

44, I did something similar..........Lee