engine run stand

[projectPONY]

hello guys, haven't had much time to visit here lately but this forum was the first one I thought of when a question arose.

I'd like to build an engine run stand. while I know that I can purchase one where is the fun in that? besides, the least expensive one that has interested me is almost $900. I figure I can probably build one for a third of that.

anyway, a member of another forum that I frequent came up with his own design and posted it on the forum but leaves a lot of the details out, most importantly the wall thickness of the square tubing he is using. here is a pic of his almost finished product.



my question is this. the stringers that run from the front of the frame to the rear are 40" in his plans but I will be lengthening them to 44". what wall thickness do you guys think the 2"x2" tubing should be? I'm mostly concerned about the strength of the front to rear stringers since I believe these are the ones that will carry all the load being that they will have the verticals that the motor mounts will bolt to. the engine is a Ford 302 that weighs in at about 450-500lbs in full trim.

any help will be highly appreciated.

[Blacksmith]

First of all, I used to work with a lot of 302 and 351 Ford V8s and I think the full ready to run weight is closer to 900 pounds. I think the short block alone goes 450-500 pounds. We ran ours under load (dyno cell and with an outdrive in a water tank) on similar stands. I think the tubing is fine, but I'd add some gussets (triangular braces) at the bottom of each riser to prevent racking.

[projectPONY]

thanks for the response, but I still don't know what the wall thickness of the tubing should be.

[Blacksmith]

Sorry. Looks from the picture if that is 2 x 2 tubing to maybe be .125 inch. That's what our stands were and we mounted up to a 454 GM marine engine with ourdrive (about 1200 pounds) on ours.

[SickSpeedMonte]

What is the intent for the fold-away casters? Are they only supposed to be used to move the cart while empty? I don't see any jacking points so the stand can be lifted to fold them under to move the stand with an engine mounted up. If it is only going to see weight while it is laying flat on the shop floor (as pictured) the wall thickness of those bottom runners probably isn't as critical as you think. I agree with gusseting the corners of the upright supports though, or maybe even triangulating with some angle. I'd make an X out of angle and put it between the two engine mount supports as well.

If you want to move the whole setup with an engine mounted, I'd add some jack pads to lift one side at a time to fold the casters back under, and then definately go with the .125 wall for the bottom runners, as they will see a substantial bending moment.

[Hotfoot]

Those wimpy folding casters don't look like they'll hold up to much shop duty. I assume you'll have a hoist or cherry picker handy, so I'd use that to lift the entire assembly onto a wide-stance crib with 4-6" rollers...easier and safer to roll , because it won't 'trip" over tools and hoses.
I third the motion on triangulating. Lots of twisting force 'gonna be there, and that one in the picture looks to "leggy" to suit me...but be sure you don't triangulate in any way to limit access to any bolts, headers, sensors, etc. on the engine itself.

Engine stands are fun...but I always want to leave the building when the RPM's start climbing! (Its called "fear of Hand Grenades").

[projectPONY]

Sorry guys, I completely forgot about this thread and for some reason I'm not getting my email alerts. Will check into it.

Anyway, what exactly do you guys mean by fold away casters? The casters in the pic are laying on the ground to show that it will have casters, not that that is where they are mounted. If I get a little time today I'll post some pics of what I have so far as I made some changes to this guy's original design.

[Stinky]

.125 is what they build the roll cages on desert racing buggies/trucks out of. The suspension and other stuff is built out of thinner stuff.

IOW, .125 is plenty thick.