Okay, holidays are over and its time to get to work folks!

I'll be buying an engine stand (rolling) and an engine hoist over the next week or two. Tired of always borrowing. Would appreciate any thoughts on good or bad product lines, particularly good models for our birds, etc.

Nash, I'm not sure of the brand, I'll check tomorrow, but the engine stand I have rotates so you can turn the engine any way you want & is adjustable to accept any engine.

Let me know James. It may be generic but I'd prefer to hear a few comments like yours.

For what you are looking at, I would really suggest to go to a local Harbor Freight store. Stands are under $40 and a hoist, not on sale, is like $140

Look at that...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93840

The engine crane is on sale for $129.00 This is the exact one I have it it works just fine. I would suggest getting the load balancer though. Make sure you heavily grease the jack screw.

The stand is a little more than I remember:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=32916

I second the motion. Harbor freight for both the stand and the hoist. The fold-up hoist fits easily in the back of the truck, and the 1,000 Lb. or 1,250 Lb. engine stands hold fully-built engines with bell-housing, clutch & tranny bolted on.

Avoid the three wheeled engine stands (I have one.) They tend to tip very easily when moving the stand.

the engine hoist is the one from Harbor Freight that Cat posted, it works very good, as far as the stand, I can't find a brand on it & it isn't painted. The one Cat posted looks like it only not as heavy duty. Maybe mine is the 2000 pound version? From the description it sounds the same. If so, it is a good product also.

I have both from Harbor and used them to pull an Olds 455 long block and both held up just fine. Be sure to used hardened steel bolts when bolting the motor to the engine stand. I attempted to use just regular bolts and had one snap...

Be leary of any Chiwanese stand, although that's about all that's available anymore.
Here's some pics of problems I had with deflection with a 400 mounted on a stand from Summit racing. They're all about the ame though.
I ended up making a new center piece, I just didn't trust the POS that came with it.
4 wheel stand and a drip pan from Summit.

Mine did the same when I had the Olds 455 on it, however, I just figured there would be some "give" and trusted the fact that it was rated to hold the weight. The one you made sure looks much nicer and I am sure more likely to hold up...

Nice modification, ho. I've had no problem with mine, but as I already said, it's pretty heavy-duty. So far I've had 2 chevy 350's on it, 1 of them for quite a while.

Harbor Freight. Test out the hoist right away if you buy it from Harbor Freight. A friend of mine bought one and the ram was very slow. They replaced it because he brought it back right away.

Nash, The link to harbor freights engine stand that Catalina posted I see only 1 problem, There should be a brace from the main shaft sticking up to the shaft sticking staight out with the 2 fron wheels to prevent bouncing. I have had a complete pontiac 350 on my stand and it bounced so bad when working on it I was scared of it falling had a complete 1967 chevy 396 big block on it as well and didn't have near the problem like with the pontiac. I wouldn't think a pontiac would weigh more then the chevy but it seemed to. If you give me your email I can send you a picture of the stand I have now and have no problems with bouncing as I cant seem to figure out how to post pics on this BB. Also are you planing on rebuilding your original engine or finding something else to stick in the bird and save original? If so I would suggest for long time storage an engine cradel as it keeps engine lower to the floor and takes up less space. can also send pic of this with engine on to explain what I mean.
Stephen

forgot 1 thing on engine crane, test lowering valve before buying as some work like your typical flook jack and when releasing the hydralic pressure they tend to just let go and come down very quickly which make installing engines difficult. look for one that releases pressure slowly and evenly. Me and my brother had one let go on his 66 cevy c-10 and the engine tore up the firewall.

Here's my old 350 that's been on this stand for at least 15 years.
It's an old 3 leg stand I've had since the 70's. It does bounce a little but I felt safer with that old US made 3 leg than the 4 leg Chiwanese junk.

Come to Mandeville, LA. I'll give you an engine stand...

With Harbor Freight, you don't need a reason to take it back. When I bought my cheap chinese mig welder, I asked about if it was a case of that I wasn't satisfied with the product. They say that they have a 30 day, no question ask garuntee.

I think that the bleedown test on the ram would a good move. Have a body hang on it, and check to make sure that you can control the rate.

the engine hoist we had has just a little valve on it that you stuck the crank handle over and turned it like a floor jack, valve would stick under pressure of engine and then when you finnaly got it to break free and turn it was to late SLAM!!! there she was lying in the firewall. Then I remember hearing my brother saying hmmmmmmmm how do we get the blots to line up now.

Great input and pics fellas, thanks as always.

Greg, keep your stand for that 455 project later this year!

Stephen, send to john.alvey@us.army.mil

HF has this stand in stock locally. What ya all think?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47304

A friend of mine bought that one last year. It is excellent!

I have seen stands at the local outlet for about $40. I think it would more than adequate for us amaturers. Even so, higher level stuff won't hurt.

The nice part about that particular one is it folds up for storage. These hoists can take up a lot of room.

I don't think you could go wrong with that stand John. Decient price,heavey duty 2000 lb rating,folds up nice (wish mine did) even has the brace I was speaking about. Lets rock n roll and get an engine sticking of the front of it.

I'm thinking the same, plus it DOES fold up.

I agree, check the ratings on both for how much they will hold. Get a 4 wheel stand and get the beefiest one they have. The fold up hoist is a good one, and when assembled is stout.

Firebirdcrazy, I was told the Chevy BB is about 75lbs or more than the Pontiac Motor... and the Poncho is about that much more than the Chevy SB... I forget the numbers, but remember thinking that with headers and an aluminum intake on the Poncho, it wasn't all that much more in weight than a complete stock SBC... I'll have to look it up again. Anyway, the 69 396 I had on the stand was deffinately heavier than the 67 400 I have on there now.

Go for it John, just make a list of things you need before you go. It's like walking into a toy store...

Brett!