Roll Your Own Engine Test Stand
 

Not all of us can afford the PRW 1300111 Low Profile Racing Engine Test Stand for $1599.99 plus shipping. I bought cars for less than that. So I decided to roll my own sorta speak, (pun intended) for a fraction of the cost.

The Goal:
1. Cheap - quality metal, but I'm not gonna chrome plate it.
2. Simple - don't need the complexity of making it adjustable, I won't be tuning an LS1 any time soon.

Materials:
I decided to use 2 inch square tube, and 2 inch angle iron total cost $127.24 (casters and hardware included)... and they pre cut to length for .50 cents per cut.

Tools:
Although you can get by without a metal cut off saw, this project requires a welding machine. I know what you're thinking, well there you go a decent Lincoln or Miller MIG jobbie will run you $500 bucks. But wait I bought one for under a hundred bucks, it's a Flux Core but it will work. Justification, I already have another project that I will need it for, and now that I own one, I'm no longer limited by what projects I take on.

Optional:
Gauges, I plan on picking up some from Harbor Freight at a later time.

You may follow the build here: http://www.gregandsandy.com/302/teststand.htm

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Page two
 

I hate to say this because I will sound like one of those glossy paged car magazines, but a project like this can be done in a weekend. Provided two things:

1. First you don't have to stop what you are doing to take pictures of every single step to share with others on some forum later.

2. Second you don't choose to do it during World Cup weekend. [May not effect non European decent fabricators]

So all in all it took me about six days. Most of which were weekdays spent in the garage after work 2 to 4 hours depending on the task for that day.

I invite you to see PAGE TWO of the build, where we start out by building the motor mounts for the test stand.

Building An Engine Test Stand

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Looks good..