Mighty Mount Engine Test Stand? - The AMC Forum - Page 1
Aug. 11, 2025
Mighty Mount Engine Test Stand? - The AMC Forum - Page 1
Author
fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Mighty Mount Engine Test Stand?
Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:19am I am refreshing my 304 and am thinking about getting a mighty mount engine test stand to run it with so I can tweak ad take care of any issues before dropping it back into the car.
My issues are:
1. They only have chevy and ford motor mount adaptors, but they said they would modify mine to work. If I have them modify mine where can I get full replacement motor mounts (the metal part)?
2. They have a universal engine adaptor that works like an engine stand to let you mount the motor to the stand. I would have to use this since my tranny is an auto and there is no separate bellhousing to use for their normal mounting system.
On closer examination I realized that the start mounts to the tranny, so using their universal mount will not work.
Is there a bellhousing I could get from a manual tranny that would bolt on and work for testing on the stand and allow stock starter to mount correctly?
Or do you guys know of an engine run test stand that will work better for AMC's but does not cost thousands?
Thanks!
74 Javelin AKA Ghost whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:42am I bought mine from Northern Tool for about $400.00, IIRC. I use a bell from a M-11/12 less the tranny to mount the starter:
Short Video Linky Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague 401MATCOUPE
AMC Addicted
Joined: May/20/
Location: Salisbury, MD
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:42am Forrest....I made my own, using a 4 speed bellhousing (could use early auto BW), front crossmember and mouts from junked out car. Welded together some 2 x 2 box tube and a used a piece of channel across back for bell housing to bolt to. Ground off the motor isolation mount studs, so the engine just stays in the crossmember with its weight. Since you are just running it not trying to "extract power", just having the bellhousing bolted to the channel is enough to hold all in place. I don't have the run stand right now one of our fellow club members is borrowing it to run a dual carbed 390, and break it in. It is a great advantage to run it in before you install, every engine out of my shop gets the run stand.....I have a water temp gauge and oil pressure gage on stand that are both digital and run off a transmitter on the engine. For cooling I use the radiator off another AMX parts car but have electric fans mounted to radiator. Don't like the spinning fan that normally would be run by engine, but use existing pulleys and belts. I run every engine before it is painted to ensure no leaks (oil or coolant), then when engine is broke in and tuned (timing, dwell, etc) I will paint. I have found plenty of nusience problems including a cracked head that had a small coolant leak. If you ned help, just let me know, I only have a few hundred bucks total in my stand and it has payed dividends for years, I looked at my records and I am at run 54 right now. When I get it back I have a 401 and 343 to run on it. I run stock log manifolds on it with a single exhaust y pipe from a 69 Javelin. This way I can swap from rectangular port head to dog leg with no change to stand and still run day or night in a residental neighborhood. When I worked for Piedmont Airlines I built the only US airline owned turbo prop dyno to arrest Shaft Horsepower, it was awesome fun, $1.6 mil later we certified with Pratt and Whitney and that is about 1/4 of what it would cost today. Have fun!! Ross K. Peterson
68X,GoPac,343,AT,52A(1stCar)
68X,GoPac,390,4sp,52A
69X,GoPac,390,4sp,64A
70X,GoPac,390,4sp,87A,8
70X,GoPac,390,4sp,BBO,8
70 Jav SST,390,AT,BSO
74MatX,401,AT,Prototype
74MatX,401,AT
whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:45am Now $520:
Northern Tool Stand Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 1:11pm The Larin stand does not appear to have any provision for radiator mounting? I can get the mighty mount deluxe for 699 as long as I can find a bellhousing that will work. Would still have to work out the motor mounts though unless they happen to be the same as ford or chevy.
74 Javelin AKA Ghost whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 1:25pm fmahannah wrote:
The Larin stand does not appear to have any provision for radiator mounting? I can get the mighty mount deluxe for 699 as long as I can find a bellhousing that will work. Would still have to work out the motor mounts though unless they happen to be the same as ford or chevy.
I bolted a spare rad to the side, using a piece of angle iron for the leg to hold up the other side; used angle iron to fab up mounts that bolt to the block and to the Larin engine "legs." Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 3:26pm One of the engine stand mfgs says they will fabricate engine mounts for me if I send them my motor mounts and can tell them the angle? I assume they are wanting the angle of the side of the block or the angle of the mount where it bolts to the crossmember after attaching it to the engine?
Does anyone happen to know the angle they are asking for on a 304 v8?
Thanks
74 Javelin AKA Ghost jblue
AMC Nut
Joined: Sep/27/
Status: Offline
Points: 280 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 4:39pm Larin at broadwaylifts.com-$289 free shipping fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 4:59pm Yeah I looked at these elsewhere and they are not very complete. No provision for cooling and I would have to get someone to fabricate motor mounts since theirs won't work for an AMC. I'm not a fabricator and don't have welding equipment.
I am looking for a more complete setup so I can run engine for longer periods with correct cooling etc.
74 Javelin AKA Ghost
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Mighty Mount Engine Test Stand?
Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:19am I am refreshing my 304 and am thinking about getting a mighty mount engine test stand to run it with so I can tweak ad take care of any issues before dropping it back into the car.
My issues are:
1. They only have chevy and ford motor mount adaptors, but they said they would modify mine to work. If I have them modify mine where can I get full replacement motor mounts (the metal part)?
2. They have a universal engine adaptor that works like an engine stand to let you mount the motor to the stand. I would have to use this since my tranny is an auto and there is no separate bellhousing to use for their normal mounting system.
On closer examination I realized that the start mounts to the tranny, so using their universal mount will not work.
Is there a bellhousing I could get from a manual tranny that would bolt on and work for testing on the stand and allow stock starter to mount correctly?
Or do you guys know of an engine run test stand that will work better for AMC's but does not cost thousands?
Thanks!
74 Javelin AKA Ghost whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:42am I bought mine from Northern Tool for about $400.00, IIRC. I use a bell from a M-11/12 less the tranny to mount the starter:
Short Video Linky Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague 401MATCOUPE
AMC Addicted
Joined: May/20/
Location: Salisbury, MD
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:42am Forrest....I made my own, using a 4 speed bellhousing (could use early auto BW), front crossmember and mouts from junked out car. Welded together some 2 x 2 box tube and a used a piece of channel across back for bell housing to bolt to. Ground off the motor isolation mount studs, so the engine just stays in the crossmember with its weight. Since you are just running it not trying to "extract power", just having the bellhousing bolted to the channel is enough to hold all in place. I don't have the run stand right now one of our fellow club members is borrowing it to run a dual carbed 390, and break it in. It is a great advantage to run it in before you install, every engine out of my shop gets the run stand.....I have a water temp gauge and oil pressure gage on stand that are both digital and run off a transmitter on the engine. For cooling I use the radiator off another AMX parts car but have electric fans mounted to radiator. Don't like the spinning fan that normally would be run by engine, but use existing pulleys and belts. I run every engine before it is painted to ensure no leaks (oil or coolant), then when engine is broke in and tuned (timing, dwell, etc) I will paint. I have found plenty of nusience problems including a cracked head that had a small coolant leak. If you ned help, just let me know, I only have a few hundred bucks total in my stand and it has payed dividends for years, I looked at my records and I am at run 54 right now. When I get it back I have a 401 and 343 to run on it. I run stock log manifolds on it with a single exhaust y pipe from a 69 Javelin. This way I can swap from rectangular port head to dog leg with no change to stand and still run day or night in a residental neighborhood. When I worked for Piedmont Airlines I built the only US airline owned turbo prop dyno to arrest Shaft Horsepower, it was awesome fun, $1.6 mil later we certified with Pratt and Whitney and that is about 1/4 of what it would cost today. Have fun!! Ross K. Peterson
68X,GoPac,343,AT,52A(1stCar)
68X,GoPac,390,4sp,52A
69X,GoPac,390,4sp,64A
70X,GoPac,390,4sp,87A,8
70X,GoPac,390,4sp,BBO,8
70 Jav SST,390,AT,BSO
74MatX,401,AT,Prototype
74MatX,401,AT
whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 11:45am Now $520:
Northern Tool Stand Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 1:11pm The Larin stand does not appear to have any provision for radiator mounting? I can get the mighty mount deluxe for 699 as long as I can find a bellhousing that will work. Would still have to work out the motor mounts though unless they happen to be the same as ford or chevy.
74 Javelin AKA Ghost whizkidder
Supporter of TheAMCForum
Joined: Mar/03/
Location: North Georgia
Status: Offline
Points: Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/07/ at 1:25pm fmahannah wrote:
The Larin stand does not appear to have any provision for radiator mounting? I can get the mighty mount deluxe for 699 as long as I can find a bellhousing that will work. Would still have to work out the motor mounts though unless they happen to be the same as ford or chevy.
I bolted a spare rad to the side, using a piece of angle iron for the leg to hold up the other side; used angle iron to fab up mounts that bolt to the block and to the Larin engine "legs." Ron Frost
marne1ancient @ gmail.com
910 nine two two
"There is no limit to what a man can do, so long as he does not care a straw who gets credit for it. Charles Montague fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 3:26pm One of the engine stand mfgs says they will fabricate engine mounts for me if I send them my motor mounts and can tell them the angle? I assume they are wanting the angle of the side of the block or the angle of the mount where it bolts to the crossmember after attaching it to the engine?
Does anyone happen to know the angle they are asking for on a 304 v8?
Thanks
74 Javelin AKA Ghost jblue
AMC Nut
Joined: Sep/27/
Status: Offline
Points: 280 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 4:39pm Larin at broadwaylifts.com-$289 free shipping fmahannah
AMC Addicted
Joined: Nov/20/
Location: Dahlonega, GA
Status: Offline
Points: 520 Post Options Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jan/10/ at 4:59pm Yeah I looked at these elsewhere and they are not very complete. No provision for cooling and I would have to get someone to fabricate motor mounts since theirs won't work for an AMC. I'm not a fabricator and don't have welding equipment.
I am looking for a more complete setup so I can run engine for longer periods with correct cooling etc.
74 Javelin AKA Ghost
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