'They say it never rains in Southern California, so except for a few of our southern friends in Florida and the Gulf Coast, we are the only ones who aren't shop-bound this time of year with musclecars carefully stored away. Lucky us. For the rest of you, this leaves most weekends and winter nights open for garage tech. So we thought we'd offer up some interesting little projects that you can build yourself with the help of a tape measure, a chop saw (or hacksaw if you're really desperate), a 110-volt MIG welder, and a little bit of fabrication experience. But don't let that welding stuff scare you. As our buddy Scott Sullivan once told us, "If you can fog a mirror, you can MIG-weld." 'Nuff said.
How To Build An Engine Perch
If you're like most guys, you probably have more engines than you have cars. That's certainly the case around the Car Craft shop, where we're always knee-deep in engine projects. While the old wood-block-under-the-balancer routine is a quick fix for setting an engine on the floor, we wanted an engine perch that would also allow us to transport engines safely in the back of our pickup when it's time to run out to Westech for a dyno test.
The first step was to cut the 10-foot length of 1x1-inch tubing into the lengths we would need for the engine perch. You could do this with a hacksaw, but we used a Sawzall. | 
We cut the front uprights last because they require a 45-degree-angle cut using this protractor we bought at the hardware store. The top of the cut is 1031/44 inches in length while the bottom of the cut to the base is 911/416 inches. Making this cut last establishes the proper angle for both front legs. The second front upright will need to be trimmed for length. |
The first thing to make is the base, using the 22-inch-long legs for the sides and the 16-inch lengths for the crosspieces. The base should measure 16 x 24 inches with the front and rear pieces overlapping the side pieces. We used a 90-degree triangle to ensure the corners were square. | |
This particular engine perch will accommodate both small- and big-block Chevys, and it also allows us to bolt the perch on the engine while it's on the engine stand. The entire perch is constructed from 1x1-inch-square, 0.072-inch-wall-thickness, mild-steel tubing using one 10-foot length. In addition, we bought a 6x6-inch-square piece of 31/416-inch steel plate for the front mounting tabs. We decided to build two of these perches (mainly because they keep walking away when we're not looking), and the entire process required the better part of a Saturday afternoon. The only tools required were a tape measure, Sawzall, bench grinder, right-angle gauge, and our handy Craftsman 110-volt MIG welder. If you really want to be professional, a chop saw makes much straighter and more accurate cuts than our Sawzall, but we survived. Check it out.
While we're not certified welders, we do have enough skill to glue a few pieces of mild-steel tubing together. It's actually a lot of fun. | 
Next, we fired up our Craftsman MIG welder and tacked all four corners together, then rechecked to ensure the angles were square. Then we welded all four corners plus the vertical common walls, allowing the metal to cool in between so the base wouldn't warp. |
The next step was to weld the small pads onto the angle portions of the front uprights. Then we centered a pilot hole in the middle of the pad and drilled 71/416-inch holes in the pad that will line up with the front motor mount location on the engine. | |