Steve Stierman
Recently, while doing some repairs on the TC engine on the bench, I thought how nice it would be to get it running to check my work without putting it back in the car. I have run other engines like this, in particular my Mini engine with radiator attached while it, with its transmission underneath, would sit nicely on a piece of carpeting. Not so with the XPAG as the sump isn’t flat and a radiator would need to be in close proximity for cooling during a good long test run. I decided to build a quickie low budget stand out of some 2” x 6” pine board that I had sitting around the garage. First I built a rectangular frame with an inner width of 16” and this is important; and an interior length of 38”, although this could be as short as 28” to accomplish the same thing. I was designing as I built and made the stand a bit longer then I needed. The frame was first nailed together to hold things in place but I added hex head wood lag screws to counter vibration at each corner later on. I also suggest screwing a lag screw at each bottom corner protruding slightly so that you can slide the stand and engine across the concrete more easily should you need to.
On one short end of the frame, I found the center and cut a slot 2” deep and 10” wide to set the bottom of the bell housing in flush with the back of the timber frame and then set a piece of scrap lumber under the front of the engine to level it up. I found a scrap piece of 1/16” inch thick steel big enough to cover the notch and extend out a couple of inches on either side. I drilled two holes in the steel to mount it to a couple of the lower bell housing bolt holes and then drilled through the steel a couple of places on each side of the notch to screw it to the back of the wooden frame. Moving to the front of the engine I cut a couple of pieces of 4 x 4 lumber 13” long, you could use 2” x 6” also, but I had the thicker lumber so I used it. These are placed up right under the front engine mounts on either side of the wooden frame and bolted through the side of the wood to keep them in place. Two more lag bolts go down through the engine mounts to the upright wood blocks to attach the engine. If you use 4” x 4” blocks you will have to notch them slightly to clear the front engine plate, you may also have to notch the outer side of the frame to clear the oil filter depending upon what type you are using. Once you have this all bolted together you will notice it is quite sturdy and the engine does not move at all. Now you may position the radiator by it hoses in front of the fan. There are several ways you could mount the radiator to the stand. I took a piece of 2” x 6” and held it under the radiator on edge and marked where mounting studs would intersect the edge. I drilled two 1” inch deep holes slightly larger than the studs. I then slipped this in place under the radiator and bolted it to another board that I bolted across the frame at a slight angle to keep the radiator where I wanted it.
The exhaust headpipe was mounted pointing out the side rather than going to the rear, an electric fuel pump was plumbed in with some ½” ID hose clamped to the rear carb threading, a coil was hooked to the distributor and a battery and jumper cables were grounded to the engine and starter lug. The pump and coil were wired to the battery, and an extra oil pressure gauge was plumbed into the orifice on the block and coolant and oil were added. With a pull of the choke linkage and tug of the starter lever the engine roared to life and sustained a good long test run.
You could improve this stand in many ways, but I found for about 2 bucks U.S. worth of nuts and bolts and just a couple of hours of construction time it worked just fine.