Hudy engine break-in stand alternatives?
 

I scored a bunch of new & used engines from a neighbor and life would be much easier to test them and see which ones are still good (and break-in the new ones) if I had an engine break-in stand. The only one I know of offhand is the Hudy which is priced like it's gold-plated.

Anyone know of alternative break-in stands out there or do I MacGyver something out of an old chassis & bubblegum? Anyone built their own and care to share steps?

A friend of mine just bolted a motor mount and fuel tank to an old starter box. I just broke in a new vspec on it and it worked like a charm

thats a good idea, i may rig something up, i have 3 starter boxes sitting here

give me a ring @ 205 601 5578, check out my speed shop thread. I can probably establish whats what and break them in for you and possibly offer a fair bulk price deal.

We have great refrences as well.

thanks!

Alan Burton

did it vibrate a lot? The hudy stand although pricey is really solid. We bolt ours to large stands and have wood block in between.

I love my hudy stand.

You can put together your own if you can have someone machine a spacer that'll hold the prop out and fit your collet. Then just put a cut for clearence plastic prop on. Use a set of cheap engine mounts and bolt it to a 2x4 that you can clamp to your pit table. Then get a fuel tank.

I haven't seen any other stands that work for car engines.

By the time all that is said and done, you've spent enough where you could have just bought a hudy stand.

Remember you'll need an on road header to turn your muffler away from the prop. I use an old header from an ofna with a weird 90 degree silicone pipe between the pipe and header which turns the muffler away from the prop.


Also keep in mind that while the stand is perfect for breakin, it really deosnt test anything. So testing engines on the stand won't prove much. Its easy to have a good idle when you have a heavy flywheel effect from the prop. So you can prove that an engine runs and makes power, but drivability and idle, not so much.

Thanks for the offer Alan, I'll give you a call later today to discuss.

The used engines I'm just looking to see if they still have pinch, compression, and can be tuned/have air leaks. I have extra 1/10 & 1/8 chassis available to bolt them to, add clutchbells, and test them but the sheer amount of wrenching I'm looking at to do that makes my head hurt.

Thanks for all the tips/suggestions. Looks like it's either Hudy or Macgyver-action if I want to do this myself.

i might try to make something like what all you are saying sounds like a good plan

can someone clarify something for me? I have never seen a hudy break in bench. But from what people say and from what i understand it's just a stand to put the engine on, a place for the fuel tank and a propeller for a load.

Is that it? does the break in stand vary the load and adjust the throttle for you? Do you put a servo on the stand? Or do you hand control the throttle? And the load stays the same with the propeller right?

So technically you could still not break in the engine right with the break in stand since you would have control over throttle inputs right?

If this is the case, I don't see much of an advantadge over putting it in my buggy and idling it on the box while varying the throtle.

its a lot more controlled as in u can keep it at the correct temp all through the tank cycle u dont have any worries wen ur doin it at a track to get landed on by other racers or annoy them and the prop does put the correct load on the motor and in my personal thought best solution for break in and u can vary the trottle response

Has any one ever tried a reverse pitch prop on one of these engine stands. I had one and didnt like it because it was to hard to keep the temps up while breaking it in. I think a reverse pitch prop would be the ticket.

What i would like to know is how you Brake a motor in on the Stand. Like do you start it an just Vary the RPM on all the Tanks are just keep it at one RPM for the hole tank i have never used on i just put the motor in my buggy and run it EZ for the first 8 are so tanks Leaning it out a little as i go and keeping the Temps at are around 200-230. Do you do the same thing on a Brake in Stand?

i just have an old buggy chassis with a fuel tank and the motormount then i just place it on the starter and start it up:nod::nod:

no fan or what do u put on ur motor for load as that wouldnt be good free spinning