Engine stand woes

[lineslinger]

While doing my usual twice a day visit to my finished 427 SO which I have "on display" in my garage I started to notice a disturbing droop on the rotating engine stand to which I had it mounted, ever so slight but each day a little more pronounced.
At first I attributed this sag to the stand acclimating itself to the weight of the motor and figured it would settle in after a bit.
After a few weeks I started getting nervous, the way the engine was hanging just wasn't right. I then started to mesaure from floor to botton of oil pan the distance of drop... it was losing/sagging about an half inch per week. I couldn't find any cracks in the main welds and the main support shaft on the stand appeared solid.
I did a thorough check on the rotation collar and the rotation shaft and it too appeared to be sound.
I've got a lot of time and money invested in this engine project and I finally lost all confidence in the stand, and, explaining the situation to my wife about how I needed my Christmas present NOW I made a panic run up to Sam's and bought one of their two ton collapsable engine hoists, dragged it home and set it up. I hooked up the engine, raised it, detached the engine stand from the motor and lowered it to the cardboard covered floor.
Upon close up inspection of the rotating stand I found a scary fault. The arms that attach between the engine itself and the rotation plate were twisting in a counter clockdise rotation, they are not a solid piece but a rectangular "loop" configuration, it was just a matter of time before the welds on those arms would start to crack and or break. I purchased this stand, rated for a 1000lb. capacity, from Jegs. I plan on sending them pictures and a letter shortly although I don't expect them to make good on the deal, its been a few months since I made the purchase.
Soooooo.......I purchse a new engine cradle from "Stumpy" a fabricator who has advertised here on CC, for $38 bucks, sounds like a pretty good deal.
I told him I needed a set of casters advertised to go with it, well that sent the price up to $86 including shipping. So now I am starting to feel like I should own stock in these two companies and my motor is still resting on it's oil pan on the floor. Ten days later the cradle arrives. I head out to the garage and hoist my engine up off the floor, unpack the new cradle and attach the casters, I check the fit of the mounts on the engine... it won't fit, the base of the cradle legs bang into the Caton "T" pan I used.
So now I make the 40 minute drive up to my favorite scrap metal yard to buy some aluminum stock to make some spacers to get this thing to fit because it won't work with the standard FE motor mounts I have.
Its a two piece cradle, one leg for each side. so I buy a piece of 2 inch by 10 inch aluminum stock for $35 along with 6 three inch grade 8 bolts, $12 for those. I spend the day cutting the aluminum stock down to size, drill it out properly and praise Jesus it all fits. Hoisted the motor up one more time, mounted the spacer blocks and cradle legs and finally I now have my engine off the floor on a solid "platform".
So in the name of keeping my engine off the floor and in a relatively safe stance it only cost me...$60 for 1st engine stand, $86 for engine cradle, $186 for engine hoist, $35 for aluminum stock, $12 for hardened bolts.
A grand total of $379, so...is this just the begining of what I should expect in my quest ot build my Cobra?
If it is I need to redo my budget, I know this is longwinded but at least I feel better knowing that at least a few of you will understand.
Mark

[Dwight]

I think you have it figure out! This is how you build a Cobra kit. You do it two or three times and if you pay someone to do it, then you have to redo it!

Sure is lots of fun. My wife ask me why I worked on something that would make me so mad. I told her that there are times when I get mad but when I finish and it looks good and works the way I want it too, then it feels GREAT! I've spend hundreds of hours redo what someone screwed up or told me wrong. And thousands of dollars. But my Cobra looks good and I've drove it to the Fling and LCS four times.

Dwight

See ya in Ohio in June

[Rick Parker]

Mark I need to have you for a Bolt customer...............

[cobrajeff]

'slinger....

Understand your pain. I re-designed the engine stand that I bought for my display engine. The angle iron
bracket you see to the left in this first picture was not part of the original design:



I also had to cut and modify the motor mount brackets (they didn't match the block), and then upgraded
all of the hardware to more substantial pieces. The end result was worth it, though.



regards,

Jeff

[lineslinger]

They were a panic purchase at Lowes, I have a good fastener shop near by but I was in a tizzy to get my motor off of that stand and I didn't have any grade 8 or 5 bolts the right length so I stopped by Lowes on my way home, paying a premium price when know you can get it a fairer price somewhere else just adds to the aggravation.

[lineslinger]

CobraJeff,
Tell me that second pic isn't your garage.......nice looking powerplant

[gjcomb]

Lineslinger -

I don't have the drooping engine stand problem that you recently had, but I am planning to purchase an engine cradle from Stumpf's Works that is supposed to be designed for a 427 SO that has the wide "T" oil pan (and also can connect the bell housing and transmission together with this cradle.

The part number I was provided is #FE-W which is supposed to fit the engine and transmission together with no problem. I am also adding the casters (HD-PL). The price quoted to me was not what you paid...

Are these the part numbers that Stumpf provided to you?

George

[Commander]

I just use an old tire. Lay the tire down, plop the engine on. Works fine. To transport, just hoist the engine up, throw the tire in the bed, plop the engine back down.

A couple of 4x4's work good too with a couple of 2x4's nailed to the ends to 'box' it out.

You do realize that hanging a finished engine on an engine stand like that (supports from one end) is not a good long-term idea. Think about what that does not only to the stand, but to the engine (crank) itself.

[trularin]

Jeff has a carpeted garage?

Dang, I'd be happy with dry floors. Jeff that is a good pic.

I've had a FE sitting on the stand for almost a year now, hasn't moved, and that's fine with me. Can't seem to find a 390 crank that I can have for free.

Lineslinger, the best stands are the box type that supports the engine by the mount area and stabilize it at the rear with one or two bolts.

[cobrajeff]

No carpet in my garage - that display engine, an all-aluminum 351C, is on display in my
upstairs loft, that I affectionately refer to as the "Carroll Shelby Hall of Fame".



Hundreds of model cars, a ton of literature, magazines and memorabilia, a bunch of pictures
and photo albums, a few trophies, and lots of great memories.

regards,

Jeff

[HI Cobra]

cobrajeff,

Great set up , but I have to ask, how did you get that engine up and in there? Or, more important, how are you going to get it out when the Cobra is ready for it?

[cobrajeff]

....like the 'ol Johnny Cash song...."one piece at a time...."

The block and heads are aluminum - not too heavy one by one. There is no crank, rods, or pistons - the vibration dampner is made out of plastic tubing and fiberglass. Since those pictures were taken, I have had to remove the Webers and put them back on the car. I bought some chrome-plated plastic replica Webers, but have not found time yet to detail and install them on the display engine (busy restoring a '57 'Bird out in the garage).

My car is running fine with a heavy-duty XE Aussie block Cleveland. After spinning the car off-course at MIS a few years back, I've given up on my visions of doing any serious open-track or autocross stuff with the car. Too much time and money invested - would rather keep it in one piece.

Jeff

[lineslinger]

gjcombs
Here is a copy of Stumpys invoice

QTY: ITEM: PRICE:

1 Ford FE Cradle $ 37.00

1 HD-P Casters $ 40.00

Shipping $ 12.48

TOTAL $ 89.48

some pictures of the modifications needed with this oil pan:

[RodgerH]

I had just ordered an FE cradle from "Stumpy" (his real name is Kurt Stumpf) when Mark posted his message about the cradle not clearing his oil pan. I have an Aviad pan and figured I would have the same problem. I contacted Kurt and he said he had a cradle for the wide pans, P/N FE-W, price $52.00. He's now sending me that cradle instead.

Here's a picture Kurt sent me of the FE-W.



Rodger

[lineslinger]

RodgerH,
Good call, I sent a couple of mesages to Kurt via ebay, which is where I found and purchased the stand, I wanted to ask about the T-pan spacing and shipping schedule, got no response.
Either way the stand you have there looks like the one I should have specified when I finalised my ebay purchase. if only I had known he made it.
Oh well, it is a well constructed piece, hope it words out for you

[blykins]

I bought a universal V8 cradle off of Ebay. I paid $.01 for it with $21 shipping. It works fine...clears my Canton and everything.

[Clois Harlan]

That is a couple serious pieces of aluminium. I think I would have gone back to Lowes and bought a block of 4x4 Oak. Looks really good though.


Clois

[Eljaro]

I got this engine stand from Summit. It clears everything and you can turn the engine to work on the bottom too. When finished you can disassemble the stand and stow it away. I had the engine bolted to it for 2 months.

[Dwight]

I've had a 428 on my Summit stand for a year with no problem.

Dwight

[Eljaro]

Dwight,
you had it one year on the stand dirty like that????