Engine Test Stand Recommendations

[kev2015]

Members - I'm looking to purchase an engine test stand to use in a high school auto class setting. A stand with adjustability and gauges up front is the ideal pick. There are a lot of brands out there, and I'm looking for what you would suggest as your top pick.
Thanks!!

 

[sberry]

Put a want add on the list.

 

[joe_padavano]

I've wanted one for a while, but couldn't justify the prices due to my sporadic use. I just ordered this one earlier today. Due to be delivered early next week. $240 with free shipping is hard to beat.

 

[raddksn]

This sound like the perfect opportunity for a class project

 

[sberry]

That price is hard to beat.

 

[Schurkey]

Cheap price = ****** Chinese gauges. Potentially sub-standard construction, and potentially sub-standard safety. Do you really want that in a high-school setting?

The run-stand pictured in post #3 has no radiator, no battery, and no visible wire harness. How does that work?

What worked for me may or may not work for you. I built a gauge-and-radiator cart that can be pushed up to an engine held securely and safely on it's own dedicated stand. It has switchgear on the "dashboard", (the dashboard swings away from the cart on a hinge so the operator is in front of, but off to the side of the engine and cannot reach the flywheel, exhaust, or the engine-driven fan) carries a battery on one leg, and a fuel jug on the other. There's a radiator overflow bottle on the side. Wire harness for battery-power ignition, or ballast-resistor ignition, and of course the standard coolant temperature, oil pressure, tachometer, battery cables, starter solenoid wires, etc--everything for the engine to run except a way to physically support the engine. The gauge-and-radiator cart can be folded-up for storage when not in use. In my case, I use the engine assembly stand. I can build the engine and fire it up without unbolting the block. This works for most GM engines, but not for Ford or Chryslers which bolt the starter to the bellhousing. You'd need to have a stand that accommodated a bellhousing for those engines.

 

[DWinTX]

I bought the Larin METS-1 stand shown above for an engine I just finished building a few months ago. Yes the gauges are cheap, but I already had a mechanical oil pressure gauge I wanted to use anyway. Don't really want to trust any electrical gauge on initial start-up. I did use the temp gauge, but verified it with a laser temp gauge and surprisingly it was correct. I used the tach on my timing light for breaking in and timing.

I built an adjustable bracket to hold a radiator out of angle iron and bolted it to the stand, very easy to do if you have access to a welder.

It worked great. Broke in and tuned the engine on it and had no problems. Overall, it's a good value considering the next cheapest one I could find at the time was about 2 grand.

I did replace the casters with better ones though. The little steel ones would have messed up my epoxy floor.

Whether it's good enough for a high school setting would be up to the teacher. It's not as strong as the 2K units (they are really nice) and may not stand up to constant use. I guess it depends on their budget too. If you can get the better one I'd probably do it.

 

[DWinTX]

Also, Schurkey's point about the Ford and Chrysler engines is a good one. Some auto transmissions don't even have a separate bellhousing.

I bolted up the transmission and made a trans mount to add to the stand:

 

[joe_padavano]

The run-stand pictured in post #3 has no radiator, no battery, and no visible wire harness. How does that work?

Wow! I never realized I need COOLING and BATTERY for the engine to run...

I mean, heck, buying battery cables and a couple of wires to the starter and distributor is definitely a deal breaker. And mounting an old radiator that I have lying around is just impossible.

I agree about the Chinesium gauges. This is a consistent comment in the reviews. Guess I'll have to dig into the box of old SW gauges in the barn.

 

[rburke65]

Joe p.....What did you think was going to turn over the engine? Or cool it? Yes, always some issues we initially don't see or realize. Pretty obvious with the 20/20 hind sight, but that why we all contribute.

 

[joe_padavano]

Joe p.....What did you think was going to turn over the engine? Or cool it?

Apparently the [SARCASM] [/SARCASM] HTML tags still aren't working...

 

[jarhead]

any updates?

 

[AZFairlane]

https://www.easy-run.net

 

[motofool33]

https://www.easy-run.net

man those are pricey for what little you get.

 

[mikegt4]

When I was in HS we had about a dozen engines on stands in the autoshop. Open flywheels, fans, exhausts and hot radiators. How times have changed.

 

[Throbbin Rods]

Man, times have changed. When I was in auto shop in high school we had engine stands welded out of heavy wall pipe. You wouldn't have dented one of those with a sledge!

 

[redmondjp]

Man, times have changed. When I was in auto shop in high school we had engine stands welded out of heavy wall pipe. You wouldn't have dented one of those with a sledge!

Same here - in my high school, the welding shop would weld up the frame and mounts, and then in auto shop we would install the engine, gauges, wiring, hoses, radiator and fuel tanks, and controls. None of it was hard to do.

I set up a small-block Chevy engine, as well as an early 1980s GM V6 diesel engine (brand new - was a donation from GM) on test stands. It was a lot of fun actually. Does nobody do this type of thing any longer?

 

[srr]

My stand is about 20 years old, I've tested numerous SBC, Pontiac, Buick and last but not least my first BBC. I have a separate set of exhaust pipes bent up for each engine with manifolds and the mufflers just slip on and off.