Engine on stand starting question

Syleng1 said
You’re correct about the torque needed to start a fresh engine. Old D8 bull dozers use a gas driven motor as a “pony motor.” For starts before electric driven motors could handle it. Remember a starter does not care what end it turns over as long as it has the proper gear ratio it works. It got me thinking…I’m not trying to be special. I just do not want a run stand since most of my engines I have a professional machine shop with a dyno break them in for me. This is a stock 318 with a few items changed. I did not want to spend $1500 for the stand or $1450 for the dyno run if I can help it. Just another thing for my kids to dispose of when I pass.
But thank you for the sediment. I love to run things up the flag pole before I pull the trigger- if you know what I mean.

I built my run stand with scrap and some extra wheels/gauges I had laying around. Might have $60 in it. Also, if you use a belt it will need to be cogged or it WILL slip. There is no way a V-belt will hold the kind of tension it will require, at the gear ratio necessary, to spin an engine over. One more thing, nothing builds coolant pressure quickly, there isn’t enough restriction in a cooling system to build pressure at the flow level the pump is capable of with cold coolant. You’ll need heat and flow to build pressure.