Thread: Project Special K

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You gotta love them BBF engines, except when you start lifting the parts around. I think one of the heads weighs more than a SBC engine complete. Yours looks great, Steve, and you are going to love the torque these babies make.

You mentioned having trouble getting the engine onto the stand by yourself. I learned a little trick years ago that makes it really easy.

1) Pull the pin out of the rotating head part of the stand and remove the head that you bolt to the bellhousing area.

2) Bolt just that head to the backside of the engine, adjust it properly, and tighten up the bolts.

3) Then lift your engine high enough on the engine lift so you can lift up the backside of your engine stand and slide the round portion over the round part of the rotatable head. When you do this the back two wheels of the stand will be suspended in the air. The engine stand will be hanging by the engine lift at an odd angle at this point.

4) Put the pin in to hold the rotating head in the correct position and slowly start to lower the engine lift down. The entire stand will start to ride down on the front one or two wheels (depending on model you have) until the back wheels touch the ground and start to level out. After a little dropping the engine will be resting entirely supported by the engine stand and you can remove the chain that was holding it up.

I wish I had pictures of what I mean, but if you lift the engine high enough you can easily slip the stand onto the head. I have hung quite a few engines all by myself using this method, it beats trying to align the four long bolts into the back of the engine with the head still in place.

Just thought I would pass this along.

Don

Dave -I thought about going with the rpm but wasn't sure how much power I'd want with such an old truck and stock suspension. We'll see, I'm already ocillating towards a 4 bar set up in back.
Tech -Tiva normally hangs with my wife, and Pretzel is my constant companion, he's the dog in my avatar.
Richard - thanks.
Don - what a great idea. If I ever find myself trying to mount the engine to the stand again, I will definately try your system out. Wish I would have thought of that on my own!