TheSamba.com :: View topic - Mounting Engine on Engine Stand?

Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:19 am

Hey guys. I just pulled the engine out of the car yesterday.

Stopped at Harbor Freight and picked up the 1000lb stand (was going for the 750lb, but they were out of stock, and the nice woman at the counter offered a coupon to make the 1000lb cheaper than the 750lb, which was cool). Anyway, I've heard that this one is a better choice anyway because it's of the "H" style feet instead of the "T" style.

So, last night, I tried to get the engine onto the mount, but I just can't find a configuration of the four arms on the yoke that let me get all four onto the engine.

However, I've seen multiple people use mounts that only hook into the bottom two studs on the engine. (Glenn's post on engine mounts has a custom yoke that just locks onto the bottom two).

Would it be bad for the engine to mount it on the stand by the bottom two studs only?

Thanks guys!

Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:28 am

Be creative, get a piece of metal, drill holes at each end, make your own 3rd mounting bracket !!!! Easy.

Sun Jul 06, 2014 9:08 am

You will be mounting the engine so that it only supports one side of the engine. I like that to happen on the 3/4 side myself. 1 bolt/nutand one spacer/nut for the bottom engine stud.

Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:38 pm

No issues.....

Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:04 pm

Sounds like you bough one of these engine stands meant for most other engines:

The mounting head for acvw/Porsche engines is different (borrowed from Glenn):

You can find just the heads on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_kw=vw+engine+stand

Here is a whole thread on the subject:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=288599

Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:43 pm

Okay, so, I got my dad involved and we got creative. We didn't feel safe just getting two or three of the mounts onto the engine, especially because the mounts had large flanges that would be riding up against the lip on the back of the crankcase.

We had some scrap lying around, so we took a piece of cardboard and pressed it up against the lip on the back of the engine (between the crank and the flywheel) to make an impression after rubbing some engine oil on the lip.

We cut this lip out, cut four pieces of bar stock (1/8 inch thick, 3 inches wide) to five inches long, and then traced this lip onto one of the shorter edges. This allows the piece to sit against the lip and distribute the forces a little more evenly along the lip, instead of just meeting at one point and having the sheering forces reliant on the friction between the adapter plate and the crankcase.

We cut holes to mount the engine studs through, then cut some holes to facilitate the mount we got from harbor freight, these were about halfway up the adapter plate (2.5 inches in, we first tried right at the opposite edge, but these actually were too large, and were out of the range of the yolk).

This worked a charm. Only problem was the flat part of the bottom studs on the engine, I just took a stack of washers that was tall enough to cover the flat part, and clear the flywheel, and then ground one side of the washers flat so they would fit by the flywheel.

Here's a picture for all interested!

(We discovered we needed two washers between the mount and the adapter to space the mount outwards so the bolts that held the mounts to the yolk plate could clear the flywheel.)

(Here you can see the curvature we ground into the adapter so that it would fit the flange.)

Tue Jul 08, 2014 3:47 am

Buy the yoke from VW Alley, it's well worth it.

You need the right tool for the just, it's like used a slotted screwdriver to remove a Philips screw. It can be done but you risk damage and hurting yourself.

Tue Jul 08, 2014 5:15 am

It is going to be tough to split that case.

I have that same engine gizmo that came with my Hrbor Freight 1000 pound stand.....I put it someplace for the next non-VW engine I work on.

Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:00 am

I also have the 3 arm version at the shop and it provides more support for the case. The last thing you need is for the stand to break off the mounts surface on the case... then its junk.

Yes, it's on the wrong side of the case.

Tue Jul 08, 2014 5:03 pm

if you have scrap metal

you can use all 4 universal arms, and still support the engine by the flange without putting alot of stress on it...and you can actually split the case

having used it for a while, I can say that the good one glen has could certainly be worth it, especially if you start to "build" engines

Tue May 05, 2015 4:52 pm

Well, here's a long needed update for you guys. I didn't want to pay for the expensive one, and I knew my previous solution wasn't very so good.

So, with the generous help of a mechanical engineering friend, we used Solidworks to dimension out the back of the engine, and then to design a bracket to extend the holes outwards.

Here is the first iteration, which was laser cut out of some wood to check for fit. We were almost on this first try.

A few more design iterations before we had something that we were confident about (made a few more tests on the laser cutter first), and a little modification of the design itself. Here's the CAD model.

I bought a relatively cheap steel plate for about 40 dollars from McMaster-Carr and we went and picked it up south of Atlanta since I was impatient. We split the part in two with a "puzzle piece" fitting so that we could fit it onto a smaller piece of metal, which reduced the cost of the raw material from 100 dollars.

A few nervous moments later... and...

What's awesome, is that without planning it, we created a perfect press-fitting between the two halves. The water jet has some conical cutting shape (the beam spreads slightly as it cuts through the metal) which ended up making this perfect. We put the two halves into a clamp and just tightened down, and...

Turned out absolutely perfect.

What's even cooler is the stud that's already in the engine misses the engine mount completely, so there's no problem of the stud hitting the arms or anything.

And here are a few more shots. Hope you like!

Now to start putting this engine back together.....

Tue May 05, 2015 6:49 pm

Hey your ad up on the classifieds, I'll buy one of those!

Nice work!

Tue May 05, 2015 6:55 pm

The only time I've ever used an engine stand was when I accidentally dropped a washer in the pedestal stand hole right after I buttoned up the long block. I like to assemble everything on the ground where I can still move it around (or onto a dolly) by myself.

That said, good job on the yoke adapter. Looks pretty cool. You sure you don't wanna weld those two pieces together though? Not that they're going anywhere after bolting onto the case half, but still...

Good luck with the rebuild.

Wed May 06, 2015 7:31 am

VW_Buggsy wrote: Hey your ad up on the classifieds, I'll buy one of those!

Nice work!

No kidding, since it's CAD/CNC cut just make up about 20 and put them up for sale. I'd be down for one (I'll be welding the joint though)

Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:46 pm

Are you still making those adapters?

Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:57 pm

Does anyone know what the PCD is for the mounting studs and holes
cheers

Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:18 am

KISS

Sun Mar 21, 2021 5:00 am

Sorry but the right tool for the job. Last think you need is the crack the mounting flange on the case.

Sun Mar 21, 2021 5:46 pm

This is what I use.

Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:59 am

Thanks guys. well i just got a standard engine stand, not a VW one. hoping to improvise something with a few pieces of sheetmetal. i agree with Glenn, i do not want to damage the case in any way. so i'm just taking the time to figure something out.