MGB: MGB Engine Stand Adapter Plate

Hap has a cool adapter plate that he made for building his MG engines. I have taken a lot of pictures of it and wrote out some measurements. The problem for me was two fold. I did not have the stock, or the equipment to fabricate one myself. Maybe my little Hobart Handler could do the job, but I have had plenty of other uses of my time.

Needless to say, I wanted one, so, I called a guy locally here in Altoona and he came over to my house to talk about fabricating a plate. I gave him a block to take with him and some simple instructions. Today he came by with the finished product. I'm pleased with it as a first pass.

It is made to bolt to the stock adapter plate you get with the typical engine stand. Problem with these stands is that you can figure out how to make it work, but good luck putting a back plate, flywheel or clutch on during the assembly process.

This one uses already existing holes in the block and gives you full access to the entire motor.

I'm thinking about having him make more. Need to provide some feedback though. We did not start cutting metal off, because that gets into more shop time and higher expense.

Let me know what you think and if you would be interested in buying one. Don't know prices yet, because I would need to see how to ship it first. This is just a "hey look what I got" message with more follow up if anyone wants any. I'll take the block off and show some pictures after I paint it.

Another view.

Last one.

I can help make a CAD drawing converted to PDF if you want to make this type of information available broadly....

Andy

If you could send me copy of the pdf I would see how it works out on a new laser a friend of mine just purchased

All I need are some sketches w/dimensions to get started on a drawing...

Thanks for the volunteerism. Once I get it separated, I'll look at some dimensions.

That said, I don't mind having some made for people who do not want to build it themselves.

You go boy!:D One piece of advice I can give any of you doing this is make your adpater fit all four possible alternator/genorator braket holes, as some models, only th back two are tapped. The other pick up point is the water drain, it's a BSP thread but, for oh, which is like .505"-19, but 1/2-20 thread will screw in and work fine, someone here has already debated me on this, but after sucessfully doing it for 20 years with maybe a 100 engines, thrust me 1/2-20 bolt work fine. I built mine over 20 years ago, and paln on building me a second one prett soon, my new one will probably be built out of tubing rather than plate, just want to try to do the next one a bit different, tweaking the ole mouse trap.

Thanks for the inspiration Hap. Thread sizes mentioned are correct and good point on the bracketry up front. Being the good student that I am, I took that page from your book too.

I actually prefer your original, because I believe it is more spacious than mine. I need to do some grinding on it for example, if I wanted to be able to install a distributor too.

Yeah, I made mine to be able to install or remove a distributor, but now, I wouldn't let that get in my way if another design idea came along, basicly removing and installing the dizzy is easy enough to do before and after ther stand, and you're not normally going to install a engine with the dizzy already installed. Working with the thick plate as for cutting it is a PITA, but I'm sure you already know that, most of my cutting was done with torch and then not even prettyed up aftward I was in too big a hurry to get it done, and get a motor on it :) My bracketry on the front side is alternator/generator brackets, just widdled on and welded on the deal.

I need one of those!!!

Any idea how much one will cost?

I need to figure out shipping which I'll do it this weekend. If I can get a few orders, it could be less than $100, but right now is about $110 + shipping.

With 5 simple CAD drawings, you could have the parts laser cut really cheap, then just weld them up. I like how Hap's uses a lot less material, so its easier to paint the engine. :D

Fred here is a photo of an old factory stand. It came from one of the old dealerships in this area.
Bill