11 Dec Make a Simple Engine Dolly

Build a Cheap, Simple Engine Dolly to Make Engine Swaps Easier

By Brian Gillespie

Easy Peasy

At my day job working for Hasport we use a lift to do engine swaps. It’s how the engines are installed on the assembly line. There, the body is dropped down over the engine, subframes and front suspension and bolted in place. In our shop, having a convenient way to move the engine in place and keeping it level and then dropping the car down over the engine made the task much easier. We came up with a solution back in the day to remove, install and store engines using an engine dolly. The original dollies were welded square tube steel construction with custom supports for each type of engine. Way overkill. Years of doing engine swaps has resulted in this dolly design made for about $20-25 in parts.

Swap Shop Special

Now with all these K-series engines sitting around the VTEC Academy garage ready to go into projects (are you jealous?) we need a way to move them around and install them. Here we show you how make a dolly and how to get your engine nice and level so it installs quick and easy. You too can do it like the pros with this simple engine dolly tech tip.

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