While doing my usual twice a day visit to my finished 427 SO which I have "on display" in my garage I started to notice a disturbing droop on the rotating engine stand to which I had it mounted, ever so slight but each day a little more pronounced.
At first I attributed this sag to the stand acclimating itself to the weight of the motor and figured it would settle in after a bit.
After a few weeks I started getting nervous, the way the engine was hanging just wasn't right. I then started to mesaure from floor to botton of
oil pan the distance of drop... it was losing/sagging about an half inch per week. I couldn't find any cracks in the main welds and the main support shaft on the stand appeared solid.
I did a thorough check on the rotation collar and the rotation shaft and it too appeared to be sound.
I've got a lot of time and money invested in this engine project and I finally lost all confidence in the stand, and, explaining the situation to my wife about how I needed my Christmas present NOW I made a panic run up to Sam's and bought one of their two ton collapsable engine hoists, dragged it home and set it up. I hooked up the engine, raised it, detached the engine stand from the motor and lowered it to the cardboard covered floor.
Upon close up inspection of the rotating stand I found a scary fault. The arms that attach between the engine itself and the rotation plate were
twisting in a counter clockdise rotation, they are not a solid piece but a rectangular "loop" configuration, it was just a matter of time before the welds on those arms would start to crack and or break. I purchased this stand, rated for a 1000lb. capacity, from Jegs. I plan on sending them pictures and a letter shortly although I don't expect them to make good on the deal, its been a few months since I made the purchase.
Soooooo.......I purchse a new engine cradle from "Stumpy" a fabricator who has advertised here on CC, for $38 bucks, sounds like a pretty good deal.
I told him I needed a set of casters advertised to go with it, well that sent the price up to $86 including shipping. So now I am starting to feel like I should own stock in these two companies and my motor is still resting on it's
oil pan on the floor. Ten days later the cradle arrives. I head out to the garage and hoist my engine up off the floor, unpack the new cradle and attach the casters, I check the fit of the mounts on the engine... it won't fit, the base of the cradle legs bang into the Caton "T" pan I used.
So now I make the 40 minute drive up to my favorite scrap metal yard to buy some aluminum stock to make some spacers to get this thing to fit because it won't work with the standard FE motor mounts I have.
Its a two piece cradle, one leg for each side. so I buy a piece of 2 inch by 10 inch aluminum stock for $35 along with 6 three inch grade 8 bolts, $12 for those. I spend the day cutting the aluminum stock down to size, drill it out properly and praise Jesus it all fits. Hoisted the motor up one more time, mounted the spacer blocks and cradle legs and finally I now have my engine off the floor on a solid "platform".
So in the name of keeping my engine off the floor and in a relatively safe stance it only cost me...$60 for 1st engine stand, $86 for engine cradle, $186 for engine hoist, $35 for aluminum stock, $12 for hardened bolts.
A grand total of $379, so...is this just the begining of what I should expect in my quest ot build my Cobra?
If it is I need to redo my budget, I know this is longwinded but at least I feel better knowing that at least a few of you will understand.
Mark
Engine stand woes
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