Hey gang! I know this has been discussed a few times on here, and the general consensus is that you need a stand with considerable beef, but is the extended bell section of a 51-53 Chrysler Hemi block strong enough to support a fully assembled motor with a four finger stand head? Would supporting an engine by the bellhousing only put undo strain on the engine block? I plan to support the front of the motor when the engine is being stored, but not necessarily while working on it. I'm a fairly intelligent person, but just looking at the physics of attaching this thing seems to border on "bad idea" territory, and I wanted to see if anybody had an opinion.
Mine is hung from the bellhousing with extra support on the motor mounts, it is complete and when I hung it, it stayed on the stand hanging only from the rear a couple of days while I was builduing the front supports. But I made a 10mm disc that replace the 4 fingers and bolts the complete bellhousing. It's for long term storage, but I'm confident to be able to work on it hanging only from the rear, not with just the 4 fingers though. I'll see if I have pictures of it if you want.
When one considers the consequences of a failure of the block, hanging it from only the bell housing seems an unnecessary risk.....especially when weighed against the simplicity of supporting the front of the engine. What does a builder gain by the one end only method? Ray
You mean that the block could fail even if the block is bolted all around the bell housing including the bottom half, not just the 4 fingers? Or are you answering to Casey about hanging it with only 4 bolts?
Answering Casey about the four bolts. Your proposed method of full circle attachment should be fine. The typical 'fingers' on engine stands would, in my opinion, compound the risk of something going wrong. I like the idea of a 'disc' or flat plate with 360* support. Ray
Ray, I don't disagree with you, which is why I posed the question. Though, the reason one would "want" to support the engine from the rear only, is because I've never seen a "rotisserie" engine stand, and I want to be able to spin the motor and work on the bottom end, not just stare at it. The disc method seems to be a good compromise, but boy, it's still a long and heavy lever...
Gotta have the lower half of the bell housing bolted on, then it's not much different than any other engine on a stand except of course, it weighs A LOT! Done it many times.
Casey, I am in agreement with you too....that's why I advocated a front support. As for rotating the engine for bottom end work, most of that will be done before the heads are attached and THEY are where the massive weight resides. A Chrysler Hemi short block (especially the "short tail"version) isn't much bigger than a small block Chevy. So, the extra support is most important during final assembly and if stored that way. Also, modifying an engine stand for a front support, and making a fixture to attach to the front of the engine isn't all that difficult. Engine stands are not, in my opinion, all that expensive to buy or build and I have a few in my shop. Taking two of them to fashion a rotisserie type stand would be pretty easy. I'll be "putting my money where my mouth is" pretty soon as I have a couple of hemis waiting for assembly. I solved this dilemma with a Buick straight eight (now THERE is weight/leverage) by making a fixture that mounted to the side of the engine. It attaches to the pan rail and the side of the block were there are threaded "bosses" for the engine mounts ('49 up models). The fixture has a tube welded on that slips into the engine stand for mounting and rotation, but the engine just sits transverse instead of lengthwise. Ford dealers had a similar mounting arrangement for flathead V8s, only the fixture attached to the exhaust port studs. Ray
Ok, so support the front of the motor until the heads are off. And then spin away...that sounds reasonable. So what's the consensus on the bellhousing plate. Is 3/8" plate sufficient? 1/2" better? 1/4" wall tubing where it will attach to the stand? Obviously I would center bore the plate so that the tubing could be welded to it on both sides. But would any additional gusseting be required? I don't want to toss a 2,000 lb rated stand head in favor of something inferior, just because I think more bolts is better.
I use a 360 degree plate fixtured to a rotisserie. It is roughly 1/2" thick and has 1/2" gussets. It is drilled for Chevy's and hemi's. The base is 2.5" pipe in an "H" pattern. I have used the stand for complete hemi's sometimes with a blower and an injector. These were always aluminum engines but they were complete. I also use the rotesserie for my flatheads but mount them from the exhaust side. If you are somehow forced to use one of the POS finger stands block the front up with a 4" X 4"!
Gene, Any way you can snap a pic or two of your 360° plate portion of the stand? I'd love to see what you did.
Will do. I have a flattie block on it right now. Send me an "E" mail with your E address I am @ [email protected] or [email protected]
I raced Joe Pisano and Keith Black hemi's for 20 years (maybe a little more). I did all of my major "fixturing" on this engine stand. Generally these were solid blocks and solid heads with 1471 superchargers and great big injectors...very heavy! g
Yes i am familiar with after market aluminum hemi engines. just not long bellhousing blocks which is what this guy asked about