I picked up a stand yesterday, it's a cheap 750lb stand. I think that should hold a 305 longblock right?

I'm still not sure if the mounts will clear the flywheel (so I can attach the starter and run the motor, or just do a comp. test)

I'm hearing different things from everybody on this. The mounting brackets look like they can provide about 15" diameter clearance for the flywheel. The 'spacers' seem to be 1-1.5" from the braces. If these 4 things will bolt to the motor where the transmission bellhousing would normally go, then isn't it a safe bet that it should work? I'm not using a lift, so I want to make sure It's going to work the first time, if anyone has done this before, that would be great re-assurance.

second, what if I do get this to the point where I can start it (as long as that doesn't tip it over 750 pounds )

not only will it spin if it isn't properly secured, it is likley to flip that stand right over! should I consider getting a beefier stand or find a way to brace this one with extra frame pieces from an old gym set or attach a chain and hold it down with the front wheels of my corolla? or any other creative billy-bob engineering I havn't thought of?

after this, I'd like to find a way to set this into a cradle of some sort and have enough room to bolt the transmission to it for test purposes, although I would only want to do that to sell the transmission, so that could be too much work since I already know it's good. eventually I might as well get a hoist, they're cheap enough and I might be fortunate enough to afford another F-body to put this in in the future.

I'm definitly thinking of having the heads shaved .002",porting and polishing the intake,heads and exaust....or just leave the ex. manifolds alone and get another set of hedmen shorty headers. a cam and lifter set would be nice too, money permitting. thanks for your advice!

 

My father did somthing like this years ago. He had a stand that you can move on the floor. Like the square ones you see, keeps the engine about 6" off the ground. Anyway, he strapped that to a trailer floor, and went at it. It worked good, but scared the hell out of everyone around.

 

Thought about building a cradle myself. Could fire the engine up in the house. (I keep telling myself I need a garage). Buddy has prints on building a nice one. I'll see if I can get a copy and send them if interested.

 

I like the idea of strapping it to the ground.

I'm going to start with the basics and worry about those things later.

I have a lot of gasket scraping and thread tapping (cleaning) to do before I even get close to having this engine run.

 

Might be a good idea to have a cherry picker hooked up to the engine while its on the stand. That way it wouldnt tip over.