When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Made this from scratch. Maybe $300 invested in tubing, HF engine stand, rad, Tach and Volt gauge + ABS, ebay racing switch panel. All the stewart warner gauges are left overs from my other projects. The stand is fully adjustable in every direction for ANY engine combo. It also allows the legs to move out of the way and you can work on the engine while its on the stand (flip it 360*) if you need to do something. Fuel system is a gas can with a stock 91 TPI fuel pump and rubber line using left over AN fittings. Running a stock 99/00 PCM with Hp tuners.
$100 in tubing
$45 HF 1000lb engine stand
$60 in the rad
$60 HF in casters (2 swivel and 2 solid)
$30 tach and volt gauge
$10 teflon coated 1" bolts and nuts
Anyways... she runs and the engine is a 1999 5.3 unknown mileage (lots of sludge inside). Used LQ9 6.0 cam, cloyes LS2 chain, melling 295 oil pump and fbody oil pan. Cheap oil and filter with motor oil cleaner to get the sludge out. The flexplate looks wobbly as **** lol... so that will be replaced. But its nice to test on stand where I found the #7 injector stuck open (led to hydrolock while cranking) and leaking fuel rail ends. New injectors and rails and we are running. Its setup on a enhanced 1Bar MAF OS but dont have the MAF hooked up as I'm running a SD harness I made (my dad still needs to convert his MAF harness to standalone) for another project.
Next I test my JY 5.3 for vitals and cleaning the oil. Then tear apart for a cam swap and pan swap etc. It comes apart fully as well and the HF engine stand becomes an untouched engine stand for something else if needed.
I can try to get better pics of the setup but it was raining out and didn't want to fully pull it out (also cold out).
Thanks. I thought about charging people to possibly test engines /break them in but not sure how I could do that. Everyone I know I wouldn’t charge lol but most people want Dyno numbers yadda yadda. Also bringing random people to my home or meeting them at there’s is a significatant safety issue lol. It’s nothing special or that innovative but it will work for my application and anything I could throw at it.
Thanks, I dont have any completed pics of it as we just got a crazy windy noreaster and were about to get slammed with snow starting tonight with another noreaster.
Heres what I got during the build process. It wans't hard to make at all... really only took a day to get most of it all cut ad welded up once I had all the materials. The rad in the pic is used for a ford application but its fully adjustable so any rad can be used. The red part is the HF 1000lb engine test stand which unbolts and can still be assembled as a engine stand when not being used as a test stand.
Given that this is an LS motor the PCM will provide all the engine data via the PCM on my laptop so the tach/water temp/voltage etc isn't really needed... but I wanted it on it for other engines or for starting without the laptop hooked up. Really just need a oil pressure gauge which would be a small gauge on the back of the motor. Test stand works great and hoping to get my fathers 5.3 off and my spare 5.3 on to verify its running before doing a cam swap/chain/and pan.
Very nicely done and I wish somebody around here had one. Seriously, you could patent that.
Rick
I'm gonna have to build me one......just gotta throw my pile of parts together first!!!!!!!! Lol ........looks awesome if I can only figure out my damn factory harness I'd have an awsome use for it!
Thanks. It’s pretty easy if you use a Engine stand as the back support. Then your just building a frame to hold it all together. An annoying part was also the casters. Our Engine hoists are about 6-7” in height off the ground for the legs... so in order to have the legs go under the test stand it had to be higher than that. Not many 6”+ casters that can handle the weight that don’t break the bank. Ended up using some $20 each HF specials. They support 600+lbs each so it’s more than enough. Took me about 1-1.5wks to build if I put all my time together into 8hr shifts. That’s including all the wiring etc. I had already had a converted LS stand-alone so it just dropped on.
Used laptop for $50, So in the end I have $419 in the whole setup. Perfect setup to test my $80 5.3 core engine that really only had 2 broken exhaust manifold bolts.
I have a little more in the rest of the parts on the engine lol.
I'll have video as soon as I get my radiator mounted to my run stand.
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Slideshow: The controversial Ferrari F6 swaps its original flat-12 for a Corvette Z06-derived LT4 V8 and sends power to four rear wheels through a custom-built drivetrain.
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Slideshow:These GM engines didn't just make huge power, they survived abuse, boost, track days, and six-digit mileage with a reputation for refusing to quit.
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Slideshow: From wobbling harmonic balancers to failed EBCMs, these are the issues that define long-term C5 ownership and what repairs typically involve.
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Slideshow: A modern Camaro transformed into a retro icon, this limited-run "Bandit" build blends nostalgia with brute force in a way few revivals manage.
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Slideshow: Cadillac didn't just crash the high-performance luxury vehicle party, it showed up loud, supercharged, and occasionally a little unhinged...
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Slideshow: A one-off sports car that looks like a vintage Italian exotic-but hides a C6 Corvette underneath-just sold for the price of a new mid-engine Corvette.
Homemade Engine test stand works! 
