Carb Plate Lifting

Bought the proform carb plate to lift my 460 out (no transmission attached). Will be wrapping it tight with a couple of 6ton straps for backup also. The intake currently has about a 1 inch plate/spacer on it with studs. The studs aren't all the same length though not a major difference between any of them but noticeable with the naked eye. Should I double nut them and take them out, tap the holes, and replace them? Use them as is? My concern is that I don't know how long the studs are or how deep they are into the intake. Also, when I lift should I take the spacer off or does it matter? There should be plenty of threads on the top with it on but a whole lot more of them with it off.
Thanks

My motorsport "victor" intake has been modded from a 4150 to 4500 pad so I just put a strap through the intake under the plenum and lift it that way to be safe.

That would be nice. Solid and centered.
Mine's currently all stock so I don't have that option yet.

Lift chain bolts to heads works good also

Chain bolted to each corner of the head.  Load leveler on the engine hoist.   On the fox chasis trans and engine  start in almost vertical.  Then level and back to slip into trans tunnel.  Mine goes in ( and out) with starter headers etc all bolted up.   When dropping in I just have to put the top half of the intake on.  Attach fuel water and trans...  hook up ignition and done.  From gutted engine bay to running in about an hour.

If your unsure, remove the studs / spacer and use some appropriate bolts and mount the plate on the manifold directly.

Yep, bolt it directly to the manifold.

I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

schmitty wrote:I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

cool40 wrote:

schmitty wrote:I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

I bet you didn't stand underneath.

I always use the plate directly to the manifold. I lift the complete motor and np435 with it. I haven't ever seen a failure.

I do however have 2 hooks on my motor lifter and I use a 3/8" chain bolted to the front of one head to the back of the other head as a safety hooked to my other hook on my motor lifter.

maverick wrote:

cool40 wrote:

schmitty wrote:I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

I bet you didn't stand underneath.

Sure have, I put the unit in the truck with a forklift too. I made my own with 3/8" plate

Farmers are cheap to replace......

schmitty wrote:I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

Yea,that works fine,I use too do it like that all the time. Nowadays I use a engine leveler and bolt the plates to the head. Easiest way I ever did it

dfree383 wrote:Farmers are cheap to replace......

They found out that we can be made from recycling dirty diapers, because we're all full of it.

Put a 7.3L NA in my buddies truck with this and a cherry picker a month ago.

schmitty wrote:

maverick wrote:

cool40 wrote:

schmitty wrote:I picked up my engine, C6 trans, and a cast iron NP205 all bolted together with a carb plate.

I bet you didn't stand underneath.

Sure have, I put the unit in the truck with a forklift too.  I made my own with 3/8" plate

Honestly, I do things the same way...but I DON'T get under while it's swinging.

Have a read of this I found some years ago. The plate works no probs , I just prefer the chain to the heads

Load Leveling Lift Plate
Destructive Tensile Testing Results

Iron vs Aluminum Manifold

Knowing that there are some genuine concerns associated with using an engine lift plate attached to an aluminum manifold, Kaizen Motorsports wanted to evaluate the validity of this concern. To do so, we sent two of our lift plates to a certified test facility, along with an iron and aluminum intake manifold, to evaluate the difference between the two set-ups. We think the results will surprise many people!

First, one of our plates was attached to the iron intake with four high strength carburetor studs. With the plate and manifold in a level position, the leveling device was positioned at each end and pulled to 2000lbs with no deflection. The leveling device was then centered and the entire set-up was pulled to failure. The figure below shows the results (failure point highlighted in red). It can be seen that the system did not break until it reached 7,890 lbs! Having established a baseline, we were anxious to see the results for the aluminum manifold.

IRON MANIFOLD TEST RESULTS

The second test was conducted in precisely the same manner, except the plate was attached to an aluminum manifold. The results of this test surprised even us. For this test the load was applied progressively from 1250 lbs to 2000 lbs and then to ultimate failure. At 1250 and 2000 the leveling device was actuated from one side to the other. The load was then centered and pulled to destruction. The ultimate load was 8950 lbs.
The plate in the first test failed at a lower load simply because the lifting eye was not perfectly centered and at around 4500 lbs the plate began deflecting at a slight angle which in turn reduced the amount of force that the plate could withstand. The plate in the second test (aluminum manifold) began deflecting evenly and remained even until failure. The difference between the ultimate loads in the two tests has nothing to do with the manifold material.

ALUMINUM MANIFOLD TEST RESULTS

Upon inspection of the manifolds after the tests, we found that the steel carburetor studs could still be removed by hand on both the iron and aluminum manifolds. No visual damage to the manifolds was apparent.
NOTE: Despite these test results, Kaizen Motorsports does not recommend lifting anything over 1000 lbs.
Please see our Product Disclaimer for a complete set of proper lifting guidelines.


The link, shows the graph http://www.kaizen-ms.com/files/Al_vs_Fe_Manifold.doc

kramttocs wrote:Bought the proform carb plate to lift my 460 out (no transmission attached). Will be wrapping it tight with a couple of 6ton straps for backup also. The intake currently has about a 1 inch plate/spacer on it with studs. The studs aren't all the same length though not a major difference between any of them but noticeable with the naked eye. Should I double nut them and take them out, tap the holes, and replace them? Use them as is? My concern is that I don't know how long the studs are or how deep they are into the intake. Also, when I lift should I take the spacer off or does it matter? There should be plenty of threads on the top with it on but a whole lot more of them with it off.
Thanks

I'd be surprised if you couldn't pick the entire car off the ground without failure using the carb lift plate.

I have always been terrified to use a carb lift plate especially on a big block and especially with an aluminum intake. I have stripped out more aluminum threads than I care to remember and those four dinky little studs made me envision my engine dropping on the car or on the floor and destroying everything.

But, just this last weekend, I bite the bullet and put my 460 back into my Mustang with the carb plate for the first time ever.

Wow, did it work great. Made the engine placement so much easier and didn't have to do nearly as much pushing, pulling and twisting to get it set right.

Studs unscrewed right back out with only my fingers.

I feel silly for not doing this the last 40 years.

Fear is paralyzing I guess.