360 won't fit on engine stand plate?

[madtom]

After fighting it all afternoon, I've decided there just isn't a way to make my 360 fit on the mounting plate of my engine stand and am wondering if I'm missing something obvious? Basically, using the top two bolts and the bottom left and right, it's about half a bolt hole to short to reach (and I've tried everything I can think of). There just doesn't seem to be anyway to connect all four arms, regardless of what hole you try to use.

The stand is a harbor freight 1,000 lb and my motor is a ford 360 with the flywheel removed. Has anyone used the HF 1,000 pound stand on a 360?
Thanks for any suggestions, I'm only going to use the stand once or twice and I read mostly good reviews on the HF stand.

[dv7508]

Ran into the same issue when I tore down my spare 352. I don't remember where my new stand came from, but I'm sure it's origin was the People's Republic. I left the one bolt out and just used three. Had no issue, but I would not lay down and take a nap under it.

[madtom]

Thanks for the reply. It's only second time I've pulled a motor and first time to use a stand, so it's good to know I'm not crazy.
I think I'm going to enlarge the "arm slot" about 3/16 of inch and see if it will reach then. It looks like there would still be plenty of metal to work with.

[Canonman67]

If I remember correctly when I did my 390 I had to start all the bolts and the tighten them from one side to the other or it wouldn't fit.

[madtom]

That's good to know.

Which 4 holes did you use? On the bracket were the diagonal slots on top or bottom? I replaced the HF metric sized bolts that hold the arms to the plate with US, grade 8 bolts which might be just bigger enough to keep things from lining up.

[Canonman67]

It's been awhile so I'm pretty fuzzy about what I did but I think I used the two bottom and the next ones up. All four holes were slotted on the bracket but I'm not sure. Not much help am I? I do remember having to get help to bolt the block on though.

[jimmy828]

I used the same HF stand. I had trouble getting all 4 bolts to fasten to block. Seems the hardest bolt to get lined up was around the starter area. Looked like a weak place to put the bolt but i finally got it to fit and it worked out good

[madtom]

I cut one of the bottom arms and welded a piece in, making it about 3/4" longer. It fits perfect now.

The 1,000 pound HF stand seems to be holding it great, not the slightest bit of sagging and rolls around pretty easy.

[tnlprt]

I currently have 4 FE engines on engine stands.

I use the 2 upper most holes and the 2 next to them.

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