I’m ready to ship my long block to Eiji at Datsun Spirit. Looking for ideas on building a crate for shipment. 
seen a few pics out there but most look like a good portion of the oil pan is supported by the wood frame. Any help or advice is much appreciated. This will be a round trip affair. Thanks in advance.

Have you checked with Datsun Spirit for suggestions? I've never shipped an engine but it seams that you would want the engine supported by the points its supported in the car: engine mounts and transmission bellhousing.

 

Warning: Once again... I don't know what I'm talking about.

He sent me some pics and his that he makes is pretty much all wood. I’ve got a metal fabricator next door that can make brackets for me if I can make templates. My thought was using the existing motor mount location on each side and the two lower bell housing holes on the rear. 
just looking for other ideas out there that others have had success with. Once it’s on the truck who knows what happens. More concerned about the return trip than anything.  Thanks

 

I think you're starting with the right idea. Insure it at a high level and it should get well taken care of

Put the engine on a block of wood,  that's under the oilpan edge and under the standard mounts, then put it complete in a box made of plywood and do not use nails but glue it together and use screws to put it all together, make a "floor" part and a "cap" part so they can take it apart and not distroy it. they can use it again to send it back to you. you can screw the top or use bands to keep the floor and top together what ever you prefer!

Nice to hear your resto is going well! 👍

Mart

Also.. let them know it's a re-useable box, so they don't make a mess of your engine-box!

I did the modern thing and googled “Engine Shipping Crate”. 

Quite enlightening what’s out there. Plastic two piece clam shell boxes are very popular.

Shippers also love pallets. Few pieces of wood under strategic places to support it upright, basic tie down ratchet straps to lock down to the pallet slats. No need to “enclose it in a box” 

He's going to send it back on the wooden crates he makes I would bet unless you want your metal crate back. 

I've made a couple of those crates and put steel casters on them to roll the blocks around while rebuilding. It's nice to be able to sit down and work on the motors. @Diseazd has a wall lined with original motors stored on them.

Here's a L2.8 block on one I've used to hold the cylinder head down while I did some work on it.

 

Finished building my crate a few weeks ago. The idea was to use the existing mounting points and keep the engine suspended where the No possible damage could be done to the pan or the pump. Here are some pics of how it went together with screws and glue on the non removable sections. I secured a top plate on the new pallet. From there you can see how I constructed it. Upon completion the entire box enclosure can be lifted off by removing the screws around the base. Don’t have a pic of the handles installed on each end for removal. Pretty happy with the way it came out. The crate made it up to Eiji at Datsun Spirit unscathed via R&L carriers.