Engine Stand for X1/9 1300?

Thanks for the tips Jeff. I did pick up a half dozen of the heavy duty C channel lock thingies along with a couple lifting slings.

And since a half ton is a 1000 lbs I should have no trouble with the full arm extension picking up the lump.

In the assembly the two steel plate side braces lined up about 1" short of the upper holes! Took me awhile to figure out that they needed to be bolted up 1st before the main vertical angled post was bolted to the base. The braces definitely like to be under tension like a suspension bridge I guess.
 
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
Just for Karl, some quick pics of the wooden engine/trans dolly I threw together.

First I need to make excuses. I have zero woodworking skills. This was entirely made from scrap wood and a old beat up, sagging Harbor Freight furniture dolly. No plans were made, no measurements were taken, and things morphed as it went along. I just held things next to each other, eyed it, then cut. I followed what others did with a wood "box" structure to set the engine in. Attached it to a narrowed, large size dolly (wanted it to fit in between the legs of my hoist). And added a support at the far end for the trans. I did not have proper wood screws when I started so I used a few drywall screws to hold things in place until I could get real screws. The other concept of making a engine/trans rack to mount onto my motorcycle jack is still my primary plan, so this was a quick and dirty exercise to learn from.

After making the basic structure I realized I had not allowed enough clearance for the differential under the trans. I wanted to keep the stand as low as possible (to clear under the car for removals/installs), but that put the diff lower than one of the dolly's frame rails. So I cut a big notch in it and reinforced the frame rail from below:
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The whole thing easily fits in between the cherry picker's legs. I kept the rear end wider for greater stability:
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All of the original dolly structure was reused. The end pieces that the wheels attach to were flipped under the longer side rails for more clearance. One end piece was narrowed and the wheels relocated. And the box pieces were added on top, secured with longer screws from underneath. If you made the box another 2" taller, then the diff would be above the frame rail and no notch would be needed. But this would also make the whole thing taller.

With a engine and trans sitting on it:
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The "box" section supports the engine so it can be used to move around just an engine without a trans, or both together. It feels quite stable with the low height and wide rear stance.

Unfortunately I also learned something else in the process of making this. During the test fitting of the engine/trans and stand, I had it connected to the hoist with chains - one attached to the clutch slave mount on the top of the trans. The engine block has no crank, pistons/rods, flywheel, pulleys, alternator, water pump, starter, and the entire head is removed, so the total weight is significantly lighter than a normal unit. But the cast aluminum mount on the trans broke off:
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Fortunately it was less than a foot off the ground when this happened and nothing was under it to get damaged. If this had happened with the engine higher in the air, or while in the engine bay, lots of damage would have resulted to both the engine and the car. NEVER use the clutch slave mount to secure the engine/trans to a hoist/cherry picker. The cast aluminum case is not strong enough.
 
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Yikes, and to think I had used this method to support that end of the assembly. I wonder if yours had been damaged in the past and had a stress crack in it.
 
I wonder if yours had been damaged in the past and had a stress crack in it.
This one may have been a faulty casting to begin with. Or as you say, it might have been stressed sometime in its past. It did not have any obvious signs of being bent, cracked, or otherwise damaged. But who knows. Given the offset weight of the complete powertrain unit, there is some off axis tension on the chains wherever they connect to it. That might have been a factor. However this would be the same for anyone using this attachment point.

Regardless, it was very close to being a very tragic event. As it was the trans case is totalled. And as mentioned, this was with a bare block and no head/accessories. Imagine if a fully assembled eng/trans did this while you were removing it from the car, up on tall stands. At the very least the car would have been knocked off the stands as the whole powertrain violently swung to the still connected side (on the hoist). Likely much more damage - including the car, the engine/trans, and me.
 
Nicely done, clean and simple not something that needs to be too fancy.

Bummer about the trans housing, that was pretty whacked and crazy.
 
clean and simple not something that needs to be too fancy
Thanks. If I were to do another one there are a few things I'd do different - learning from my experience. Or as Sterling Archer says: "It isn't a mistake so long as you learn something from it".
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But like I said, I wasn't trying too hard with this because I intend to do a completely different one with the bike lift jack. I'll use metal for that. More along the lines of the picture/diagram Don posted, but attached to the top of the jack.
What I really need to make is some sort of stand to store 3 or 4 transmissions or a couple of engines on, also on rollers to make them portable.


Bummer about the trans housing, that was pretty whacked and crazy.
The thing that was pretty whacked was the inside of my pants. :oops:
I have since installed the head so I could utilize the solid anchor brackets I made earlier (in a previous post). They worked great. The engine hung perfectly and was very stable; no swaying and swinging about like with chains, very easy to control. Also made it easier to maneuver the cherry picker without all that pendulum action working against you. Seemed easier to connect as well (I always end up fighting the excess chains dangling about).
 
I am going to use this thread to share my engine cart project. I have a need to store an engine for a long time (until it's time to work on that project), and wish to be able to start it from time to time. I made a minimal solution that features:

1. High load casters for easy movement,
2. Starter motor mounting bracket for starting the engine without the transmission,
3. Bumpers in engine mounts for vibration suppression,
4. Radiator mount so the engine can go through a full temperature cycle when started.
5. Belt solution that does not need an alternator in place.

I was able to quickly build and assemble this cart and the starter motor bracket that I modeled by the transaxle bell housing cover plate works well. Overall, the vibration suppression turned out excellent, and the engine runs beautifully smooth on this cart.

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As far as the ability to run the engine with no alternator but with the water pump working, it was sufficient to find a shorter belt that can be just stretch fitted (metric belt part # 15290 available from Dayco/Goodyear/...). The radiator mounts could have been prettier but I was improvising there with the material I had in the garage.

To fit a X1/9 engine instead of the Yugo engine, the only two things that would have to be adapted are:

1. Engine mount at the timing side: As far as I recall, X1/9 has a mount with a horizontally positioned bolt through a rubber element. It should be easy enough to delete my M12 rubber mount and adapt the cart for the X1/9 engine mount.
2. Starter motor mounting bracket: As far as I recall, Yugo and X1/9 starters are not identical. The spacing and angles between the three M8 starter mounting bolts may be different (I am not familiar with X1/9 starters).
Note: water pump belt should still work for X1/9 engines that have the larger V-belt pulley on the crankshaft (part # 4405925) and the larger size water pump pulley. A different belt would be needed for other combinations, although a fully loaded engine with alternator or other auxiliaries could be mounted on this cart without issues.

Vuk
 
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I am going to use this thread to share my engine cart project. I have a need to store an engine for a long time (until it's time to work on that project), and wish to be able to start it from time to time. I made a minimal solution that features:

1. High load casters for easy movement,
2. Starter motor mounting bracket for starting the engine without the transmission,
3. Bumpers in engine mounts for vibration suppression,
4. Radiator mount so the engine can go through a full temperature cycle when started.
5. Belt solution that does not need an alternator in place.

I was able to quickly build and assemble this cart and the starter motor bracket that I modeled by the transaxle bell housing cover plate works well. Overall, the vibration suppression turned out excellent, and the engine runs beautifully smooth on this cart.

View attachment 68264View attachment 68263View attachment 68265
View attachment 68280View attachment 68281View attachment 68282View attachment 68283View attachment 68284View attachment 68285View attachment 68286


As far as the ability to run the engine with no alternator but with the water pump working, it was sufficient to find a shorter belt that can be just stretch fitted (metric belt part # 15290 available from Dayco/Goodyear/...). The radiator mounts could have been prettier but I was improvising there with the material I had in the garage.

To fit a X1/9 engine instead of the Yugo engine, the only two things that would have to be adapted are:

1. Engine mount at the timing side: As far as I recall, X1/9 has a mount with a horizontally positioned bolt through a rubber element. It should be easy enough to delete my M12 rubber mount and adapt the cart for the X1/9 engine mount.
2. Starter motor mounting bracket: As far as I recall, Yugo and X1/9 starters are not identical. The spacing and angles between the three M8 starter mounting bolts may be different (I am not familiar with X1/9 starters).
Note: water pump belt should still work for X1/9 engines that have the larger V-belt pulley on the crankshaft (part # 4405925) and the larger size water pump pulley. A different belt would be needed for other combinations, although a fully loaded engine with alternator or other auxiliaries could be mounted on this cart without issues.

Vuk
Great job. Nice simple design but with some excellent features. Such as the starter mount so no transmission is required to start the engine, and the rubber isolators for the engine mounting points. A lot in a small package, that won't take up any more space than necessary. ;)
 
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Here's what I made for my X engine. Allows the gearbox to remain attached. Cheap-o Harbor Freight furniture dolly and some scrap lumber.
 

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We've used just about everything. Harbor freight four wheel dollies for engines that are sitting for an extended period of time. Harbor Freight engine stand for engines being worked on. Home made jobbies for others.
 
When the late @7982X shipped me a 1500, he made a cradle for the engine that was mounted to the bottom of the shipping crate. I removed it and used it as an engine stand. The first mod I made was to accomodate the transaxle so I could do a compression test.

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The next mod was to make room for the headers so I could use it as an engine test stand and start the motor.

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After I got the 1500 finished off and in the car, I mounted wheels and a caster on it and now use it as a cart for my dead 1300 which is now parked in a corner of the basement.

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