Question on using a conventional engine stand- since the corvair engine can't be mounted to the stand by the bell housing because the prop hub  is assembled on the crank, have any of you builders used such a stand.  I was thinking of bolting a piece of plywood to the stand and then mounting the motor mount to the plywood to hold the engine block. Any solutions or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks - Fred Schutt

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Hi Fredrick,
I think you may find that this is what you want.

http://www.roysgarage.com/new/stand_pics.html

I had various ways to hold my engine when I was building it.  I had a plank of wood with holes drilled in it at the cylinder hold bolt pattern and used the studs to hold the engine up while I assembled the halves. 

http://daniel.dempseyfamily.us/zodiac/engine/crankandcam.htm

Then I had a simple wooden jig I used on the bench top. 

http://daniel.dempseyfamily.us/zodiac/engine/blockassemble.htm

When I was assembling the cylinders to the block I had the prob hub on the crank and had the engine bolted to the table using the prophub. 

http://daniel.dempseyfamily.us/zodiac/engine/engineassemble.htm

Finally I had it on the test stand, which I built for initial engine runs. 

http://daniel.dempseyfamily.us/zodiac/engine/engineonstand.htm

 

Thanks Louiis and Dan-

Louis- I am checking to see how Roy's stand can mount to my Pep Boy's engine stand.

Dan- Your photo of the wooden test stand- did you also use this for engine run up testing?

 

Thanks- Fred

I have not built my Corvair flight engine yet but I have dismantled several cores using my generic automotive engine stand. For most of the dismantle stage, I used the bell housing. At the end, I took the bell housing/engine block off the stand and remounted it using only two legs of the engine stand attached to two of the "ears" on the block that William Wynne uses as engine mount locations. I could then rotate the engine to level, remove the bell housing and separate the case halves, remove the crank and cam, etc etc.

I suspect initial assembly could be done using two legs of a standard engine stand attached to the two "engine mount ears" on one case half. Once you have the case closed up, you can stand the engine on the prop flange and bolt it to the bench. After that you can assemble the engine with the crank vertical, just like normal aircraft engine shops do. That is a guess, I have not done it yet........

As far as initial runup testing goes, I plan to use the airframe as an engine run stand. It will serve as initial proof testing for the aircraft fuel system and such while also doing the initial engine runs. Obviously I will have a ground run air shroud on the engine in place of the cowling for those long initial runs, but otherwise plan to run it on the aircraft fuel and electrical systems so they can be tested along with the engine.

I fabricated 2 "L" brackets to attach the Corvair engine to the standard Harbor Freight engine stand. Each "L" is made of 11/2 x1/4 angle iron and the vertical leg attaches to 2 of the standard engine stand arms while the horizontal leg attaches to the engine in the standard places. I added braces at 45 degree angle for strength.

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