Clean Work Bench & Test Stand

I have been wanting an engine test stand.   I was going to make one out of a tractor but after talking to the guys on M.O.W. I came up with this.



I was already using this bit of roll around scaffolding in the shop. I have a hole drilled in the plywood to make assembling vertical engines easier.  To convert it to a test stand I added holes to bolt down the engine.

Mostly the dash provides a ready made gas tank mount.  But it will also provide a reasonable mount for the throttle and starter switch / relay.   A car battery on the lower shelf will provide the juice.

I am thinking holding the dash in place with pins and clamps.  That will make it easy to remove so the table/scaffold can be used for other things.

The dash is from an the 11HP MTD mentioned earlier in this blog.

Label MTD 137-332-078.

This is what is left of it.








The throttle cable on this MTD was broken but I may be able to use the one from the Murray 14.5.

Not too sure what I will do about the wiring.   The MTD had been retrofitted with a starter button so I expect the switch is bad.   I like the idea of the button.

More to come....

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Fired up the engine I had on my new 'test stand' today.  

Mounted the tank to the dash with zip locks as designed by MTD and used sheet rock screws to hold the MTD dash to the plywood.








When I first hooked up the fuel line gas leaked out of the carb.  When I was done I unhooked the fuel line just in case the float needle is leaking.

Need to add a fuel filter and shutoff to the setup.

It has a ways to go but it is useful as is.