Engine stand setup?

[sdad]

I would like to get my Duratec 3.0L running on a stand. This is with an eye toward developing intakes, exhaust, etc. for a mid engine I am slowly developing. I am building up a subframe that includes the engine, transaxle and rear suspension components, but would like to have a temporary sturucture that I can use to optimize the final subframe design, prior to actual construction. In a general sense, how have people approached this in the past? A rolling cart?. Hard mounts? Should cooling be part of stand, or seperate? Same for fuel? Not sure if attaching to a dyno is something that I should plan for or not, not sure what provisions would be necessary.
Are there prefabed stands out there?

[INF3RN0666]

Since nobody has replied yet, I'll start it off.
I don't quite understand what the last few questions are about but this is my opinion on what you're trying to do. What I understand is that you want to construct optimal intake/exhaust systems for different kinds of engines. Can you rephrase what it is you're exactly trying to do?

If you're going to be designing intakes and exhaust, you should work based on the bHP dyno. So get an engine dyno, as opposed to a chassis dyno, and hook up the engine right to it. That way, you eliminate any other factors that are not related directly to the intake/exhaust that you've designed.

Or are you saying you want a mount system so that it holds the parts for you on a chassis until you weld them together?

[sdad]

Sorry to be so unclear. I have only the one engine that I want to create a sub frame for. I want to build up a custom intake and exhaust system for the engine, which is likewise being mated to a manual transaxle. All parts are being custom fabbed together, not a factory thing. So what I was after was to start off with a simple test stand which would allow me to do the fabbing before I create the final sub frame. I'd like to have all the pieces put together so I can best see how to layout the subframe to hold suspension components, clear exhaust, allow access to maintenance items, etc. In my opinion, I can get away with cheap mat'l for a test stand, modifying the test stand as I need to, before I commit higher quality (read expensive) mat'l, not to mention fea and cad computer time.
During the development of my in/out systems I may want to put engine on dyno. This is being done in my garage, so portability is nice, but safety is important. No fun times if I kill myself in the process.

I was hoping that some of you could give me some opinions on how I might best jury rig this temporary test stand.

Did this help, or did I just go around in a circle?

[INF3RN0666]

yeah it's pretty clear now. I honestly have no experience in fabricating cars, but I would definitely want to get into it in the near future. A lot of people here are mostly mechanics, enthusiasts, and people seeking desperate help. You might find one or two that have built a car from the bottom up. I hope you get some help on this.

Personally, I would just start building the final product from scratch and modifying it as I go along for two reasons.
1. Metal can be cut, rewelded, and modified many times without too much hassle or taking away from the final product.
2. The cheaper materials won't be of any price savings in the end if you just start building.

Draw out a good design, build it, and make minor modifications as you go along.
That's just my opinion, but what do I know?

[curtis73]

Whatever you do, over do it. I can't tell you how many times someone has tried to run an engine on a cradle and ended up in trouble. If you think about it, you are trying to operate a several hundred HP gyroscope spinning 300 lbs of cast iron crank, rods, and other parts on a spindly little stand.

as a baseline, I suggest a stand that is as low as possible. Start measuring from each motor mount down to the ground. If its 10", make sure you extend the stand 10" out in either direction from the mount. Does that make sense? Basically, if you picture three points; the motor mount, the ground under the motor mount, and the outside of the stand; they should form an isocolese triangle; The distance from the mount to the ground should be the same as the distance out to the end of the stand.

Also, I suggest a few 3/8" redhead concrete anchors into the garage floor. Once you start that engine up, it will dance around like a vibrator on a kitchen table.