After a very long wait for the machine shop to get to my engine, I finally got it back last week after having the block bored 0.020" oversize. The cylinder head was rebuilt with new guides and a valve job and pressure tested. The crank was checked but deemed to not need any work.
Since the ordinary engine stands are not up to the job of holding up the mighty Cummins 5.9 and since I am not up for building a heavy duty engine hoist for what might be a 1x use, I decided to go a different route and make a dolly type engine stand that has the crank vertical with the flywheel side of the engine down. This is very similar to how aero engines are worked on, except in their case the front of the engine (prop flange) is facing down.
So I got 2 2x2' sheets of 3/4" plywood and glued and screwed them together.
I made a rubbing of the back of the block to get the hole positions and transferred that info from paper to the plywood (put the rubbing face down like having the block sit on the plywood). Using my Rong Fu clone I then drilled the block attachment points slightly over 1/2" since the bolts are M12x1.5 (recycled old head bolts). I also marked all the hole positions for 5/16 bolts for the castors I picked up. They are good for 350lb each x 5. Rated for 1750lb, I believe the engine should come in around 1200lb when fully assembled.
Castors seen from underneath.
Here is 1 of the head bolts shown, its about 5" long. 1.5" will be used up by the thickness of the plywood dolly, the rest will stick out above. I will then add a tubular spacer to each bolt, 1"OD, 0.5" ID. I will cut them so that there is at least 0.75" of thread engagement into the block casting. This is to raise up the back of the block from the dolly so that the crank will be free to rotate and nothing touching the bolts for the castors.,
Here is the block stood up on the pallet to make the rubbing of the back face. Once I get the spacers trued up on the lathe, I can bolt the dolly to the back of the engine and then get it stood right side up on the dolly. Then I should easily be able to move it around and get access to all the sides needed. The only things that will have to wait is the transmission adapter plate and the flex plate, those can be installed once i have the engine hanging from the engine hoist right before going into the truck. First job is to wash off the block and clear all the internal passages of any machining and honing residue and then I can oil it and start the assembly process.
