Whats the best engine stand for my 8ba. Any advice would be helpful. This is my first post so I hope I got it right.
I have two 8CMs, 1 is on a reinforced the upright on a Habor Frieght El-Cheapo engine stand, works great. My Spare I aquired an old steel shopping cart, chopped off the basket. The Flattie sets in the bottom just find and can roll at around, or store it under the bench.
The harbor freight will work. With the 8ba you can bolt up to the block its alot better then the earlier flathead blocks. You can also make a bracket that will bolt to your exhaust ports. There have been tons of post on this -do a search on this subject and you'll have alot answers,answered. BS
If you want an engine side plate - bolts to the exhaust ports - you can order them ready to go. They fit a standard engine stand. Check here >> http://www.flatheadjack.com/tools/tools.html
The regular old engine stand shown by pigpen will work fine, BUT I would recommend that you get one with 4 casters so that it is really stable and won't tip over.
A must do, I found out the hard way. Thank god the block was empty and I was wearing steal toed boots!!! Need new boots though. Make absolutly sure that it is stable before you try to work on it!!! Just my 2 cents.
Agreed! Mine has only three. I'm very careful and also wear steel toed shoes. No problems yet. I've been using the same one for about 15 years. pigpen
Front Engined Rail . Seriously though I have the remains of a shopping trolley for moving engines around on and you can tear one down almost completely on it.
Is there some reason to use a 3 wheeled stand that I don't know about? I've got an old one but have found it to be unstable at times. I like the work height and the ability to rotate the work. I've got some old piano dollies for moving engines around. Just set an old tire down first.
Harbor Freight makes sells an inexpensive 4 wheel engine stand that allows you to rotate the engine. Plus when you are rebuilding a really heavy engine , there is no way that you can support the entire engine weight with just the bell housing bolts. The 4 wheel stand allows you to add vertical supports to the engine at the front after placing a 4 x 4 across the 2 long legs that extend forward. The only advantage to using a 3 wheel engine stand is that it gives the illusion of taking up less floor space. IMO a 3 wheel engine stand is an accident waiting to happen. Why would you take short cuts on safety and have several thousand $$$ of engine land on the floor or your foot? Ever have an engine stand wheel hit a little piece of debris on the garage floor while rolling it? And yes, shopping trolleys work fine, until you take a chunk out of one wheel. Then it's "clumpety, clumpety, clump". I have a 354 Chebby sitting on a shopping trolley and it's a bear to move. Wheels are too small and weak.Also have a 354 Hemi on a 4 wheel Harbor freight stand and an 8BA on a homemade 4 wheel stand.
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