A number of people use the plates with the four bolts into the intake manifold to lift the engine, so I would never say that it won't work. But like BillK said, I didn't feel comfortable doing that be it aluminum or iron because I'd rather trust four, or even two horizontal 3/8"-16 bolt holes that are in the front and rear faces of the cylinder heads, than four 5/16"-18 bolt holes that are in the intake manifold in a vertical position and are intended for merely mounting the carburetor.
Even if your cylinder heads are aluminum, if they cannot hold up to the task of supporting the weight of the engine, then they would
NEVER hold up to the
TREMENDOUS forces of the cylinder pressures created by 8 cylinders above 5,000 RPM trying to push the heads right off the engine block.
Here's the way that I do it....( I make sure that I use 3/8"-16 bolts that are long enough to engage
ALL the threads in the accessory bolt holes of the cylinder heads and I also use grade 8 bolts which are probably overkill but it's better to be safe than sorry)....
and here below you'll see a 2 by 4 piece of wood that I like to tape in a vertical position to the firewall which acts as a guide to prevent the engine from spinning around on the chains while I line up the bolt holes in the motor mounts with the ones in the frame stands, when I install the engine back into the car. Here I was test fitting the new oil pan I bought to see how it fits the frame.....
Below you'll see the 50 lb and 35 lb dumbells, I use on top of each of the hoist legs, (again, might be overkill) for keeping the whole thing from tipping over with the engine on it, since I don't have a whole lot of room in my garage, and I therefore have to resort to pivoting the entire hoist with the engine on the hook. I do that by sliding a 4 foot long piece of 2" wide 1/4" thick band iron halfway into one of the engine hoist legs for leverage, so I can then pivot the whole hoist while the engine weight is on it. It works good since I have a Harbor freight hoist which unlike many others, has the front wheels on the legs, on 360 degree swivel casters just like the rear wheels have.
The front wheels being on casters allows me to pivot the whole thing with the engine weight on the hook, and it sure beats trying to grab the engine itself by hand to try and pivot it. That's a good way to topple the whole thing over!!!! I saw a guy do that in a video, and it sure wasn't pretty!!!.....I hope these pics have been helpful.....
BTW, this is a BBC with a tall deck iron block, so it's just as heavy, (if not heavier) than any other BBC engine.....(short of one with a giant blower on top)..
