Friday, October 19, 2018

The Engines Last Stand


If you look at the photo above, you'll see various heads for the three engine stands I own. The white one in the back is a universal type for motorcycle engines, the one to the right of it is for a different stand but has plates to hold a Aermacchi/Sprint motor and the gray one to the right of that is for the 900 on yet another stand. The piece in the front left fits the same stand as the Sprint head and is for a VW engine, to the right of that is a rusty piece for holding up an outboard motor. Three engine stands but not one of them equipped for holding up a car engine - specifically a slant six motor.

The white stand is made out of pretty light gauge tubing, I wouldn't want to use it for anything heavy. Either of the other two are plenty strong for a car motor but I'm hoping to work on the 900 motor over the winter, so I don't want to tie that one up. The remaining one doesn't have any casters under it, so if I assemble the engine while it's on the stand I won't be able to move it after I'm done. So it looks like I need to make a head, or alter the one I have, to accommodate the slant six and any other car or truck engine I might need to work on some time in the future. Since the stand only has a single leg coming out the front, make a cross piece on the end of it to stabilize it when I add some casters. I damn sure don't want the thing tipping over when I try to roll the engine into the back of the shop when I get it put together, and just to be on the safe side, I think I'll add a stiffener on the back of the upright for my own piece of mind. That six cylinder is going to stick out there a ways.

I ordered some material to make some arms for the head. I'm going to shop around and see what I've got to make the cross arm on the bottom. The rest of the stand is made out of 2x3 tubing. I don't think I've got any of that lying around but I might have a piece of angle that would work. If not, I'll pick something up locally and then get some casters. I'll rig up some threaded pieces to run down through the tubing legs to raise the stand off the casters when in use so I don't have to chase it around in circles when I'm torqueing down head bolts or main caps. On some rainy day I'll throw the rusty pieces in the photo in the sandblaster, get some paint on them and then hang them up in the big barn.

I got the job for the Missus painted up yesterday. Looks pretty good. I got real lucky and found a paint that was almost a perfect match so I didn't have to repaint the whole thing, just touch up the parts I modified. She's happy - good enough. Cleaned out the truck and delivered a piece of yard furniture for my sister-in-law. Picked away at a couple of other little things as well. I'm feeling pretty ambitious with this beautiful fall weather we're having. It's a good thing - it's not going to last.

5 comments:

Surly said...

Joe has one in his garage. He'll probably let you use it and it won't cost you anything in time.

Shop Teacher Bob said...

I'm going to set one of them up for the slant six. After I get the motor put together it'll be on there for who knows how long. I thought about building a storage stand but since I've got the engine stands, might as well use one of them and then I'll have one if I ever decide to work on something else down the line. At my age, however, I probably shouldn't even consider starting anything else - just finish what I've got.

Rich in Ky said...

I've tried to apply that philosophy to antique radios and old ham radio gear; just finish up what I have. Let's say I'm still working on my sanctification in that area. :-)
...Rich

Shop Teacher Bob said...

Rich: I didn't realize you were into ham radio. I was going to try and get my license last year but didn't get around to it - just one more "someday". In addition to all the wheeled things I own, I've got a big collection of old cameras as well. I definitely need to get to work on downsizing. I didn't need to get the slant six motor right now, but even though the timing was bad the price was good. This project will take the place of the farm truck, so maybe that's a good thing.

Rich in Ky said...

Yeah, a low price is hard to walk away from, at least for me.
Been an amateur radio operator since 1980. Not on the air very much these days, but always kept my license renewed. Had an electronics repair business from 1985-2005. Since then have been working from a shop next door to home, mostly tinkering/repair my own stuff, but occasionally make a dollar or two.