I first looked at side mounting my flathead going so far as to fabricate the plate from 3/4 “ flat bar the heavier material was so I could center bolt it to the axle to allow it to be interchanged side to side. I decided in the end it restricted access to one side of the block and went to rear mount. My project when finished will not have a transmission attached so I punched out the lower dowell pins ( just happenen to be tapping size for M12 x 1.75 metric thread so I ended up with 6 bolts available at rear of the block for the engine stand
I would be a bit wary of rotating the side mount single handled , when they take off they take off, at least on a rear mount you can stick a sleeved pipe in the bore to help rotate it ( least before heads go on ) Whats that you say? Wimp , afraid so , least after 70 years still got all my fingers.
At least my side mount plate was not wasted , used to keep headers in alignment when welding.
A couple of photo`s enclosed , my first stand fabricated in the sixties I often wonder about the welding back then but it has had a few Y block and FE series engines on it.
The second shows the current set up , the heavy duty stand is built into the workshop mobile crane with a worm and roller gear set from an early Jeep winch , depends where and how you sling your engine you can use the crane to mount the engine to the stand.
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I am a bit dubious as to the load ratings they give some of this el cheepo , ` some assembly required ` engine stands they sell at Auto parts stores.
Sorry if I hijacked the original thread with this post, it strays a bit.