A friend of mine has fabricated a lifting fixture that bolts to the
5/16" valve cover mounting studs. The studs don't bend because the
fixture (made out of heavy box section tubing) bolts down hard to the
stud. The fixture has two vertical ears that are designed to be secured
to the chain brackets on the Post Tool/Harbor Freight adjustable fulcrum
(the one with the long jackscrew). This is the trickest system I have
seen, you have full control over the tilt angle as you remove the
engine.
I think most people who buy the "factory" L-bracket lifting hooks have
trouble with the hooks and the valve cover studs bending, because there
is another factory part which is NOT available, which puts the correct
load on the brackets. This is a straight bar with a lifting eye in the
center, designed to go through the holes in the L-brackets. Most people
put chains directly to the L-brackets, putting a side load on them and
bending them.
By the way, all this talk about the Cat thread reminds me of my cat from
my immediate post-college days, an all-black shorthair named Marella
Lucas, Princess of Darkness. Her name combined the best of the worst
automotive electrical systems (Marelli and Lucas), and she was perfectly
at home in our garage (at the time full of B-GTs and G production
Spits). Being all black, she didn't show the dirt and could
occasionally be used as a mobile shop rag. Loud noises like air
compressors didn't bother her, and she knew my old B-GT was also hers
(she slept in the passenger seat). She lived to a ripe old age of 15,
and even into her last days she would perk up and run to the door
whenever she heard an MG drive by...
Cheers,
Paul Kile
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