Engine Stand... I dont see how

These are a little hard to see because they did a good job on the repair. And just for the hell of it I uploaded some photos of the engine mount I fab'ed. (as a note, I'm not the one who broke the bellhousing in the first place!).
 

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I don't think the block was ever intended to "hang" from the 59 type cast bell housing. In its in-car position, the engine is supported by mounts at the front of the engine and at the rear of the transmission. The assembly would want to sag at the joining point of the two. This would put tension on the lower portion of the transmission mounting point and pressure on the upper, cast, bell. Hanging it from the bell on an engine stand places the reverse forces on it. The engine stand tries to hold it with fewer bolts unless an adapter is made such as Walt uses.

The 8BA engine doesn't have an attachment point below the block (except for the truck bell and oil pan connection) and is designed to support from the upper bolts. But there are six bolts holding the bell housing instead of the four on an engine stand.
 
I have a complete 59 on a stand now, and if I were to work on one I'd find and old oil pan and use the end only about 6".
I will most likely use the kitchen table as I did when I was a kid. LOL
 
I have an ancient engine stand that has exhaust port mounts ON BOTH SIDES. It's supported on both sides of the block and spins freely with the clamp loosened. Granted you would need to lay the thing on the ground to port the exhaust, or paint the block, but those would be the only times it would need to come off this stand. Well supported for any work you may have to do.
 
I built an exhaust mount that uses all 6 holes. You need to "cross drill" the center holes so the thing will work on both sides. Really wasn't that hard!
 
I've had my '37 21 stud engine on a stand hung by the bellhousing, albeit NOT the original Ford bolts.. but some far longer, thicker bolts that came with the stand itself.. for about 2 years and had no problems at all. It did sag the stand a little though.

I did only a fortnight ago ended up tacking a piece of RHS (square hollow tubing) to the bottom of the stand, with a piece of flat plate maybe 2" x 3" tacked on top that sat underneath against the sump pan for a support. I did feel more comfortable with it like this.

It'll all change when the engine gets torn apart though.. but for now it does the job.

I think if you have good quality grade bolts holding the bellhousing, and a solid support at the front to stop it sagging the stand i'd say it'd be fine.
 
How can you put a support at the front and still spin the motor over? You'd have to make a pretty sophisticated bracket with a pivot on the exact same axis as the engine stand pivot at the rear.

Far easier to fab up an exhaust mount and stop worrying about it.

I suppose the problem is that a universal engine stand with the 4 moveable brackets will bolt up to most bellhousings without a problem, and will bolt to a 59a type bellhousing too. It takes some adaption or fab work to bolt to the exhaust mounts.

I'd rather do the fab work needed than be lazy and risk something breaking.

Mart.
 
The bolts are not what breaks, it's the cast metal in the bellhousing. There are hundreds of people who post about how they have "hung flatheads from the bellhousing for years and never broken one". That's good and I wish them the best of luck and hope they continue to have success with it. I'm an engineer and I wouldn't do it if I had never heard of one breaking. Even a quick look at the thickness of the casting in the area where the bolts mount tells me this is not a good idea. I would guess that because so many get away with it the damage only occurs when something out of the ordinary occurs, such as a block with a flaw in it, or uneven pressure at the bolt locations, etc. I am not about to say every early style block hung from the bellhousing is going to break, that would be silly and false. I am not going to say that even some of them with break, it goes not appear to happen often. But I will say that it has occurred and I am not about to have one of my blocks be the next! Ford and all of the early rebuilders would not have been using the different types of side mounts for the hell of it. Ford engineering knew it was not a good idea and I know it's not a good idea, so why do it? But if you must attempt to prove it can be done, I'm sure it will work out fine 99% time. It's just the engineer in me I guess that says just because I can get away with something most of the time doesn't make it a good idea.
 
40cpe said:
I don't think the block was ever intended to "hang" from the 59 type cast bell housing. In its in-car position, the engine is supported by mounts at the front of the engine and at the rear of the transmission. The assembly would want to sag at the joining point of the two. This would put tension on the lower portion of the transmission mounting point and pressure on the upper, cast, bell. Hanging it from the bell on an engine stand places the reverse forces on it. The engine stand tries to hold it with fewer bolts unless an adapter is made such as Walt uses.

The 8BA engine doesn't have an attachment point below the block (except for the truck bell and oil pan connection) and is designed to support from the upper bolts. But there are six bolts holding the bell housing instead of the four on an engine stand.
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Also, the oil pan helps to support the rear of the engine when it is in a car.

With good blocks getting so hard to find, why tempt fate with it? Doesn't make much sense to me.
 
Ronnie said:
Testing a few more engine stands.

R
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Just proved my point! There are hundreds of folks that will show you a 59a on a conventional engine stand to prove it can be done. And yep it can be done, and has been done and will continue to be done, and very rarely is there any problem. So, does that make it a good idea? Not to me, but apparently to a lot of other people yes.
 
Much of the problem is also the quality of the engine stand. Using a poorly designed $99.00 Horror Freight engine stand,as well as many others.All this only complicates the stress on the engine contact points. Some of the members should take their engine stands and see how much difference there is in being flush when tightened up not on an engine and then setting the head on a steel plate and you would be surprised how out of whack there cheap engine stands really are.You won't find any 99.00 stands used in a quality machine shop.Fabricate a 1/2" steel plate that has the bolt pattern drilled to match the bolt pattern and throw away the original cheap arms.This provides much more surface area for contact.

R
 
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Ronnie said:
Much of the problem is also the quality of the engine stand. Using a poorly designed $99.00 Horror Freight engine stand,as well as many others.All this only complicates the stress on the engine contact points. Some of the members should take their engine stands and see how mush difference there is in being flush when tightened up not on an engine and then setting the head on a steel plate and you would be surprised how out of whack there cheap engine stands really are.You won't find any 99.00 stands used in a quality machine shop.Fabricate a 1/2" steel plate that has the bolt pattern drilled to match the bolt pattern and throw away the original cheap arms.This provides much more surface area for contact.

R
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I agree a plate would distribute the load and help a lot! I happen to like the side mounts, but there are other ways to go about it that's for sure.
 
All we want to do is prevent some of the sad endings that could be eliminated by using a more stable system to get the job done.Most have been brought to the attention of the members.It is now up to them.The plate would probably be beyond the skill level of a lot of members. To have it fabricated up would be an added cost.

R
 
JSeery said:
These are a little hard to see because they did a good job on the repair. And just for the hell of it I uploaded some photos of the engine mount I fab'ed. (as a note, I'm not the one who broke the bellhousing in the first place!).
Click to expand...

Well, I guess this blows away the "old wives tale" theory, or "I have never seen one before" mentality. I didn't really need to see one of these to heed the warnings of others saying not to do this. Why take the risk? Remember....Murphys Law is always at work.
 
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JSeery's pics show how a good hefty piece of angle sets up a perfect 45 degrees - ideal for the exhaust mount bracket. I did something similar myself, just welded up from angle scrap.

Mart.
 
Shadetree said:
I felt the same way but it worked fine. I believe I bought my exhaust port mount from Red's headers. Everyone says absolutely not to use the bell housing as it could break, destroying your block.
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Correction: I bought my mount from Stumpy's not Red's Headers. If I hadn't read another's post I would have never remembered 'Stumpy's'.(CRS)!
 
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