What Is An Engine Run Stand? Here's Everything You Need To Know

Anybody who works on engines at home can benefit greatly from an engine run stand. This applies to people who are performing tasks like the LS swap where an old engine has to go in and replace the old one. It can be difficult to tell for certain whether you have a working engine free of leaks before putting it into a car, so an engine stand helps alleviate that issue. The way it works is your engine sits on a stand and runs without being installed into a car and you're able to do all the testing you need without actually putting it in. The stand allows you to break in the engine, and that can be a huge timesaver if you catch some flaws before going through the trouble of installation.

Of course, you can completely skip this step, but if the engine ends up having a leak or something else wrong with it, you have to remove the whole thing instead of knowing beforehand if there were issues. The downside to the stands is these can be costly accessories, so somebody performing a one-time swap will view it as an optional purchase. If you're constantly working on cars, it's much easier to justify picking up an engine run stand. You can get a regular engine stand from Harbor Freight for cheaper that'll do the job of holding up your engine and nothing else. If you're confident you don't need any testing beforehand, it'll work just fine.

You can buy a Larin engine run stand from Amazon for $499.98. This specific example can hold up to 1,000 lbs, effectively covering a lot of what you'll be working with at home, but you'll just need to double-check your engine before getting it set up on the stand. It's able to hold your engine for months as long as it's in the weight range, but ideally, your project will be finished before that.

Both types of engine stands work for assembly and detailing, but engine run stands like the Larin example take it much further. Larin's stand includes a tachometer to measure RPM along with an engine temperature and oil pressure gauge so you can easily get those readings before any installation. You can set your engine to run at a certain RPM while on the stand and then check for things like exhaust temperature and the correct timings — essentially it's a way to help see if you made any common mistakes rebuilding an engine. You won't get this type of functionality with a regular stand.

If you need something that can support more weight, you have to spend some more money. For example, this stand from Summit Racing can support up to 1,500 lbs, but it also bumps the price up to $731.99. You'll need to pick up something like this if you're working with the high-output Cummins 6.7L diesel engine as that one weighs more than 1,000 lbs.