Club 80-90 Forums

hi everyone i bought a spare engine for my van last year and was wondering if there is a way of getting it to run outside the van.i have been manually turning it by hand every fortnight for about ten minuets but would like to try and get it running so i can make sure its ok mechanicly.has anyone ever done this and if so any advice/pics/video how to do it.cheers dave

dave lfc wrote:hi everyone i bought a spare engine for my van last year and was wondering if there is a way of getting it to run outside the van.i have been manually turning it by hand every fortnight for about ten minuets but would like to try and get it running so i can make sure its ok mechanicly.has anyone ever done this and if so any advice/pics/video how to do it.cheers dave

You'll need an engine stand, 12volt battery and some petrol.

that's about it really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIMlFCmlGOE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What about cooling?

Even a watercoooled will be ok for a couple of minutes running without water, but no longer than that. Better to fill it up and block all the hoses off. Fine until the the thermostat opens, which will take about 15-20 mins

This all assumes the spare engine has ancillaries like carb, dizzy, coil, ignition amp and loom, exhaust, starter motor, flywheel, I would not run without coolant so needs water pump or plate over and other water ways needs plating or sealing and it needs filling with coolant for just a short run, could plump to a running hose pipe as done with outboards

oil filler tube couod be plated over but not breather

second hand engines are often sold without all this stuff

oh yeh spare gearbox or bell housing to fit starter motor, have thought about this myself as you can see

easier imo to just stick the engine in the van, do it in a day run for a while then swap back if you feel the need, it's the only way to know if it's reliable because you will never run an engine full chat on a stand.

itchyfeet wrote:This all assumes the spare engine has ancillaries like carb, dizzy, coil, ignition amp and loom, exhaust, starter motor, flywheel, I would not run without coolant so needs water pump or plate over and other water ways needs plating or sealing and it needs filling with coolant for just a short run, could plump to a running hose pipe as done with outboards

oil filler tube couod be plated over but not breather

second hand engines are often sold without all this stuff

oh yeh spare gearbox or bell housing to fit starter motor, have thought about this myself as you can see

easier imo to just stick the engine in the van, do it in a day run for a while then swap back if you feel the need, it's the only way to know if it's reliable because you will never run an engine full chat on a stand.

yes it has all the ancilleries with it and i have a spare gearbox bell housing for the starter off my old engine.so do i just make an auxilery fuel tank and then some how run a live and earth off the starter?cheers dave

I would take out the spark plugs, fit the starter, check oil level, connect a ohmmeter across the low oil pressure switch and use a battery and jump leads to spin the engine over and check oil pressure comes up - switch goes open circuit. If that is all OK then think about starting it.

I'd agree with marlinowner on that. Get the oil pressure up otherwise you'll potentially damage the piston rings when you crank it

If you have an engine that suffers with low oil pressure or perhaps a hot compression leak to coolant, you will only know that once you get it up to proper temperature, you are unlikely to be able to do that on a stand, so by all means run it but it won't guarantee a good engine when you finally install it.