Thread: Engine Test Stand

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Does anyone have pictures of an engine test stand that they have built? I want to build one to set a Small Block Chevy on to run it and fool with it. Thanks. perley

Hi Perley. It will be interesting to see what people post, I have been vowing to build a test stand myself. I had one almost done and Hurricane Charlie took the roof off of our old shop so it got tossed out with a lot of other very wet stuff.

A guy I knew actually built one out of lumber. As hokey as that sounds it was amazingly nice. He used 2 x 6's for the main frame, had dolly wheels on it, and used engine plates from Jegs to support the front and rear of the block. He mounted a radiator up front, and built an upright structure at the back that held a tach, oil pressure gauge, and water temp gauge. It had a battery and plastic boat fuel tank (about 3 gallons) mounted on it, plus an ignition switch. When his Brother in Law told me about it I was thinking it was going to be really strange, but when I saw it we all stood around in amazement at the ingenuity. He even painted it black.

His B I L said if he put a driveshaft on it he could drive it around. He had a sbc on it and fired it up for us and it just sat there purring.

Don

Here's mine, I basically thru it together out of some steel I had laying around 25 years ago. It's ugly as sin but works very well. I've lost count of how many differnt engines have been on it mostly SBCs and BBC, but the occasional Ford and Mopar.

It has the basics, tach,oil and temp guage, and I'm using a Harley throttle I can lock the RPMs on (every time I fire a motor, makes we want to built a trike ). The rails extend a bit past the radiator so I can strap a box fan in front in case I don't run a fan on the engine.

Here's a video of it with an running engine, sorry about the sound quality.

6 X 2 Hemi Running - YouTube

and a better picture of the stand with a SBC on it

Thanks for the response Don. I had actually thought of building one of wood, and still haven't given up on it. I just lack the vision to see in my mind what it would look like and all. How is your RPU coming? I've been following along on it and also on Dan's. perley

Thanks Mike P for your input. That hemi didn't seem to shake the stand any! And thanks for the photo of the unit. Looks like a good solid stand to build too. I'll wait a bit to see what other input I get. perley

an old camaro clip works well . you can mount the rad to it and have the trans mount motor mounts already there..

I've seen a few of those Shine. Some folks who sell engines at the swap meets leave the suspension on them and rig a trailer hitch so potential customers can hear them run....basically a run stand/engine trailer.

Mmike that's a nice engine stand. I guess you'd need to have an extra tranny housing, or make some sort of flywheel cover to start it up since the starter mounts there, or could youd leave the housing off?

When I get to putting back together Ole Yellar(1989 Astro van),I will build up on the second sub frame and run test my 383 on that before I put it into the van.I will have that all cleaned up and renewed with all new front end parts.My point is there are tons of those sub frames out there and just by moving the engine mounts with a plate forward 4",you can mount any Chevy engine.






Well i don't know why the pics aren't working.........oh well please just click on the links.

Yeah Gary I had the same problem with pictures.

Steve I could have made it shorted if I was just going to do Chevys, as the starter bolts to the engine on those and several other GM motors, basically just use longer bolts and spacers. I really didn't like the idea of an exposed flywheel though. Like you said for the Mopars and Fords you have to have a bellhousing to bolt the starter to.

Two pictures of a stand I built. Simple framework, radiator, battery box, electric fuel pump and a switch panel with an oil pressure and temp gauge.

Built it from scrap around the shop, added a good aluminum radiator and cranked em over!

Hope this helps

Oh cool. an engine... er.. engine stand show off thread. mine rolls also

T bucket.MOV - YouTube

I ended up building a test stand many years ago as I wanted to run my cam in before putting it in the truck.Didn't actually have a truck at the time to put it in any way as I had yet to decide what I wanted to get.Just modified a regular stand and got a little carried away.Worked well and I would go out in the garge every so often to fire it off,just to hear the whine.