Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Running a Carbed Engine on a Pallet

I'm going to go look at an engine next weeked hopefully. The guy says he doesn't know if it runs or not, but it turns over. I'd like to test it out to see if it runs, but I'm not 100% sure on how to do this. I'm guessing:

1. Putting in oil
2. Hooking up a battery
3. Dumping some fuel in the carb
4. Hooking up the fuel pump to a can of gas?
5.........

So here's the question. What's it going to take to do this and is it at all possible?

Thanks

you can't run an engine on a pallet. We have done it on a cradle.

You need to secure it from the vibration and torque.

U need exhaust, I know guys claim to run open heads, but it's not a good idea.

Just my opinion! ! ! Be careful.

I've done the fuel line running into the gas tank thing. Just don't put but a 1/2 gallon in there, that way you don't have a large source of fuel if something goes wrong.

Definatley put some headers on there. Stock manifolds will serve the purpose.

Also put it in a crable. The pallet idea isn't a good one.


Also be careful.

I agree with everyone else, get a cradle 1st. If you cant borrow one, buy one. I think they are only about 25 bucks or so if my memory serves me right.

I'm in the process myself. I've done it before testing new boat motors. Don't use a pallet. Use a cradle or engine firing stand.

Oil full
battery and starter connections
rig up exhaust of your liking
I set up oil pressure, water temp and rpm gauges to the senders to monitor
I've always used a gravity fed fuel line directly to the carb from a small container.
Rigged up on-off toggle switches to power to coil and power to starter

I guess posting at close to 2am threw me off. The whole thing is in fact in a cradle. It has the stock exhaust including the y , carb, distributor, fuel lines, basically everything still attached. I'm not sure if it still has the electrical connections, but I can check on that.

One thing that I could possibly see as problematic is that the trans is still attached. Is all that's involved with that is filling it with trans fluid or is there something more?

Just unbolt the tranny. Shouldn't take more than a minute or two. But then again you culd just fill it with fluid that way it can help stabilze the engine more.

Bring over your own carburetor and distributor to make sure it'll run. If it doesn't run, that'll isolate the problem. Keep in mind that even a worn out motor that has seen the end of it's useful life (valve job leaking badly, suffering from worn rings) will still fire up and run. With that being said, bring something to check compression with while you're at it. Check the oil for contamination before you crank it.

Ben T.

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The trans is going to leak. I would probably pull it off if it was me testing it.


I agree, do a compression & leak down, if you think this thing is going to run without a rebuild or if that's what you're trying to do.

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Don't forget about some type of ignition box there also............

I don't know if I'd go thru all that trouble. I'd do a compression test, pull valve covers for inspection and maybe oil pan. If it has good balanced compression and everything looks normal and clean under the covers, I'd call it a day.

Good luck.

how much are you spending on this engine?if it is a bargain deal say 100 bucks then i wouldnt even worry about it if you are talkin 500 do what fast said and if it is more than that you need to go deeper into it. buyg an engine can be a be bent over deal if you arnt careful. first off will it turn over by hand next is there water in the oil. you should check the compression to see if there are any valve train or piston problems. you dont need to do all this extra work if it isnt a big purchase and if it was good to start with than the seller should be willing to have these things ready to be looked at especially if he is asking a large amount of money for the engine

The deal ended up falling through. The guy was up in Kentucky and I was planning to head up there with a friend. The guy called me a couple days before we were going to head up and told me he had sold it locally. It's kind of a mixed blessing. We didn't have to drive 11.5 hours to get there, but I'm also still on the hunt. I'm going to check out a local junk yard next weekend. They say they stock performance parts, mostly engines and transmissions. It would be nice if that works out.

I went to a pick-a-part place today with my friend and we snagged some pretty sweet stuff. I got an edelbrock performer rpm intake manifold, some chrome valve covers, and a holley 4bbl for under $100. We ripped it all off of an old C10 pickup. If we had more time we would have kept pulling stuff off of it. There was also an LT1 shortblock, but there was no way in hell we were going to be able to get that out with the little amount of tools we had. It was our first trip out to any juckyard and it I ended up with some cool stuff.