Engine Stand, easy question to answer

[NMVair]

Dennis, I agree 100%.
But.
Now my friends call me a snob.
But Corvairs are supposed to be fun .
I mean we're like 55 years after the fact.
So, fun, right?
I don't want my stand to be adequate, either. I want it to be right.
....and when I put a snap-on in my hand it just feels right!
I don't own any fine China but I've held them. It ain't right!
It's supposed to be fun.
So what about honey dooooos? use the right- good tools and then it's fun.
By the way, I buy Anerican tools that are sometimes 70 years old and they still work great.
If you can't afford good tools, save up! ....and make honey doooos fun.

[Frank DuVal]

Only 70 years old? That's new stuff around here....

I am NOT cutting and rewelding a Snap-On, Wright, Mac or Matco wrench to get to a hidden fastener. That's what the less expensive wrenches are for.

[NMVair]

My dad used to tell me when snap on wrenches break they burry them deep in the ground. I don't know if it's true but it stuck with me.
Seriously, I have tools older than 70 years. And they're still serviceable.
Love 'em!
So I bought the engine stand. I took it to the sand blaster. I'm going to throw a coat of paint on it and replace the Bolts. Call it good. I'm still not sure about its use for a corvair engine but I will have a good looking stand for the garage/club house.
What color should I paint it?
Orange and black are my go to colors.

[Frank DuVal]

Warranty returns are probably just smelted back down and made into new wrenches. Why waste money?

[NMVair]

So what do Dave Motohead's engine stand adapters look like?

[Lane66Monza]

Dp you mean his engine cradles? His engine stand is the original GM vair engine stand. It is shown in his post here on previos page.

This is his cradle mounted on a HF 800 lb transmission jack. Shown on page 1 of this discussion.

[NMVair]

That's pretty awesome actually.

But I thought he made some sort of adapter for a traditional engine stand.

[Lane66Monza]

If this is the one you mean, ypou can get one made yourself with 1/4" steel welded to a pipe that fits your engine stand. Just have to remember that your engine has to assembled to mount it to this adapter plate. If you run the engine, use a flex plate, sacrificial torque convertor and starter. Ensure starter is properly aligned fore and aft with flex plate.

Too much movement of the engine for me. I just put it on my test stand after I configure the bell housing and components in it.

Use a regular engine stand to bolt an assemble engine case onto it the bell housing mount holes, so you can move it around. That way you can rotate it to whatever postion you desire. Building on a table restricts the work that can be done to the top and sides.

corvair parts 228.jpg (69.09 KiB) Viewed 151 times

[RexJohnson]

Why would it not work to use a manual bellhousing with clutch parts? I believe that the diff where the starter mounts to it is 1/2" thick so just make sure that the starter is that far away from the bellhousing.

[American Mel]

As you already know, it would work.
I have an engine (with clutch assembly) sitting on my bench right now, with a half inch of washers holding the starter in place and it works fine for firing her up.

[Dennis66]

I did the same thing for test firing my engine while sitting on it's dolly. Personally, I like the idea of a cut down automatic diff housing, but unless a super cheap deal comes along, I'll keep using the 1/2'' spacers. Dennis

[RexJohnson]

If you want a spacer for the starter the perfect part is a cut down diff case.

[NMVair]

That's what I thought was going on there.