I built a couple of test stands (like you, out of leftovers) over the years. For me they are great not only for doing the cam break-in but also doing the initial dial in on the carbs and ignition. When the engine goes into the car, you know it's going to start and not leak......especially when you are installing an engine in a car with a fresh paint job, anything that minimizes the time spend working over the fenders is a good thing

Someone recently had a thread asking how to keep motivated on a long term project.......believe me there is nothing like hearing the engine that will eventually go into go into the car to run on occasion to make you want to keep working on it.

They also great if you have an engine you want to sell so the potential customer can hear it run see oil pressure temp etc.

The first stand I built was made to hold just about anything, which means it was fairly long so a bellhousing and flywheel could be used for engine like Ford and Mopars where the starter bolts to the bell housing.


Besides basic gauges and switches it was permanently wired with both Ford and Mopar ignition modules and an electric fuel pump. For a throttle I ended up using a modified motorcycle throttle........that was neat, but every time I'd fire up an engine I kept thing I should build a trike


Here is a vid of that stand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxDIiVoeDg&t=8s


The HEMI for the 37 Dodge ended up sitting on that stand for far longer than I ever anticipated (darn near 10 years). But at least I could fire it up about every 6 months or so and bring it up to operating temp and keep the seals lubricated and keep the carbs from drying out.

Because my other stand was taken up with the HEMI for so long I ended up building a Chevrolet specific (Big/Small block) stand. This ended up being quite a bit shorter because I didn't need to take up room for a bellhousing as the starter bolts to the block.

It worked out really well especially since the little 283 that's on it in the video got changed from Tri-power to a single 4 barrel before the engine whet into the 87 Ram 50.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2a8j3GsYNY


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