How to use an engine stand

Question

This is one thing which I have asked many times on a car forum and never received a satisfactory response for.

I know that the engine block is somehow bolted onto an engine stand like the one pictured below, but I have some specific questions:

• Where do the bolts come from?

  Do I need to buy them separately or can I use the same ones that mate the engine to the transmission bellhousing?

  If I need to buy them what kind of bolts do I need to buy? Are they made of some special material or will regular bolts do?

• Where on the engine block do the bolts screw into?

  Despite extensive research online, I have yet to figure out what part of the engine block is used to attach to the engine stand. Is it the crank snout? Very puzzled by this. Do different engines have different mounting points?

• How does the same engine stand cater for different engines?

  I sometimes see this adapter-esque X-plate, but the bolt holes seem to slide fixed relative to one another.

• How do you operate the rotation mechanism to turn the engine over?

  As you can tell from this question, I've never used an engine stand to date :)

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Answer 1

You will need to either reuse the bolts that attach the gearbox (transmission) to the engine, or if these are the wrong length buy some new bolts with the same thread pitch but at the correct length. You may need some washers too.

As above, the stand will bolt to where the gearbox attaches to the engine. The part of the stand the engine actually bolts to is removable, so it can be attached with the engine on the ground or hanging from the crane. Then use your crane (or a few friends) to slide this part into the rotating assembly on the stand.

One stand will adjust to cater for a range of engines as the arms which attach to the engine are adjustable, but bear in mind the designed weight of the stand. Heavy duty versions are available for big diesels etc...

The whole assembly can be rotated with a handle and locked into position with a pin. More expensive versions have a geared rotation system that can be useful for fine adjustment or for heavy engines.