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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Mounting a 1500 engine on a stand

Hi, all. I've volunteered to help a co-worker get her Spitfire back on the road, and as a result I have a spare 1500 engine out in my garage that I'll be checking out and hopefully refreshing for road use.

I've borrowed an engine stand to facilitate the process, and was planning to mount the engine on it using the bell housing bolt holes in the backplate. But the size of those holes would force the use of 1/4" bolts about 5" long, and that really seems insufficient to me.

So, the question is - have any of you used an engine stand with a 1500 engine, and if so, how did you mount it?

Thanks!

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Gryf,
good on you. and remember a volunteer is worth ten pressed men :0)
Assuming its got standoff's like this one
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/ces-500a-engine-stand

as you said, with long bolts to the backplate but I had the flywheel off. Actually I chopped a length of 10mm stud I had lying around with nyloc's on one end to aid assembly. The main thing is the engine is "clamped" to the frame to ensure the bolts are in tension and not carrying a vertical load e.g. trying to bend

best of...
MGmike
M McAndrew

Thanks Mike, that Machine Mart stand is pretty much a carbon copy of the one I have. It does have the tubular standoffs... so if 10mm studs worked for you, maybe I'll try the same over here.

It also occurred to me that I could grind out four of the backplate holes a little larger to accomodate thicker bolts to the stand, then use backing washers on those holes when bolting up the trans later. I'd really rather not use 1/4" hardware; while it would fit the holes in the backplate, it just looks really incapable of supporting the cantilevered weight of an engine.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Gryf:

I used the backplate and whatever bolts fit (can't remember what size, although I would have guessed larger than 1/4"...) on a four-point Harbor Freight engine stand, worked a treat and have many thousands of miles on the engine since then.

Best, Richard

Richard Reeves

I was worried too - but used 10mm studding and it was fine... had it there for a week. I left the flywheel on and I think I used a piece of dexion angle to stiffen the backplate where I could.

see photo

C L Carter

and with angle

C L Carter

This thread was discussed between 29/01/2013 and 01/02/2013

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