Hi Folks, I was considering building my own engine test stand to break in cams, tune, valve adjustment, etc. before installing the engines in cars. It would be complete with a radiator, exhaust, an instrument panel and battery/starter. I go through a few engines a year and it seems like it would be a nice addition to my shop. The only pain I could think of is having to fabricate adapters for different typs of engines, small blocks
289/351, big blocks 429/460, fe 352/390s. Anyone tried this?
Hey Mark, Though I have never seen one of your test stands in action my first thought was to have a look at a good engine stand. They are adjustable, so why couldn't your test stand be adjustable in a similar fashion?
Hi Kate, true, but I'd need to have a bell housing for each type of engine to mount the starter. I'll have to fab. different adapter mounts that bolt to the frame and the engine mounts. I think it'd be more sturdy that way. Plus I want to make the stand in the shape of a cube or rectangular if you know what I mean.
Mark, without any kind of load on the motor, the test stand isn't going to be seeing gobs of torque so (unless you're going to try and flange up some kind of prony brake) I wouldn't get too concerned with cinching this thing down too tight. A couple of adjustable pads for the engine mounts and some kind of height adjustable cross bar to rest the flywheel housing on.
Before I started apprenticing, I worked at an auto wreckers..... After pulling the motor and trans from a unit, we'd test run them on the shop floor to make sure they idled smooth and didn't smoke. For even the big V8s (back then, that meant 409, 413, 430... I keep telling you guys I ain't no spring chicken) we'd have one guy on each valve cover to steady the piece, one guy running the electrics and one guy taking care of gas supply and throttle. If more than two of us was hung over, we might wedge a block of wood under the exhaust manifold, but I don't ever recall one "getting away" on us.
If you have a local vocational college with a mechanics department, you might check what they have. I can't see a school like that being without at least a couple or 3 runable engines.
I think there are several other manufacturers of "portable" test stands for engines so you might do a search. This unit is about $700. It requires the motor to have the appropriate bell housing. But you might take a look at their solution or contact them, they might have ideas or have solved the issue. . Dan
2003 Cobra convertible With some stuff and things
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