It's ok. It's not necessary to worry about any of this. Switch your brains off now.
Once you've got the rocker cover off and cams out the engine can be turned upside down and will sit quite happily (and safely) on the head.
I put an old carpet tile under it to help cushion the surface and it also makes moving it around a lot easier.
I brought home some lengths of 10 mm stud, unistrut and plywood with the idea of making a stand but having taken the thing apart I can see it's not at all necessary.
The crank, primary gear train & clutch account for a lot of the mass in this block.
Talking of clutches, I am still pretty surprised how big it is. Quite a beast.
The only thing that's really pissed me off about the whole design of the engine so far is the fact that you need to take the head off to get the front cam chain guide out. That's just plain stupid. A black mark against Honda for that. I'm not doing it.
The rest of it though is really well thought out. A great improvement on the design of the 400/4 which was the last motor I stripped down.
Now to order the parts.....

 

Glad to hear you're getting along with it. You're right that it's stupid to have to remove the head to get to the front cc guide. That's ridiculous. It probably doesn't need replaced, though, does it?

Good idea to set it on some carpet. That would suck to nick the head all up or something.

 

And no Trout I was talking about a bike engine stand - the motor fits sideways as I recall, held up by the original engine mountings - I'll see if I can find a drawing, if anyone's interested................
Car engine !!!!!!!!!! ??????????? MUPPET

Good to hear it's moving along Henry - any news on the primary chain through the sump ? I really don't want to take this lump out if I don't have to..............

 

I know what you mean, moneybags...
I was just hoping you had a secret about using a regular stand rigged up for a bike engine...

 

I'm so broke I can't even pay attention right now
I've just paid out a shedload of cash to get my son and his family (wife+ 3 littlies) to Oz- airtickets $3500+ US Just his college fees in Oz were over $21500 US.......................so I'm REALLY broke...............
Don't let anyone tell you the costs go down when they hit 21 - it just ain't so...............