Author Topic: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE  (Read 36310 times)

Mike S

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #15 on: December 25, 2012, 07:43:10 PM »
 Bergy,

    When you said casting repairs....what was a typical type of repair done? I assume that if a block wasn't repairable then it was melted and materials reused?

Thanks,
Mike
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MO

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #16 on: December 25, 2012, 08:06:34 PM »
The duration of Christmas shutdown varied with the casting demand.  The foundry was pretty maintenance intensive, so we tried to schedule a week shutdown in melt/mold to accommodate big projects.  The finishing/inspection area would generally work a limited crew through shutdown to catch up on casting repairs & rough casting backlog.  Also, personnel would be available to ship castings out of inventory to the motor plant.  Ugh - that's a real flashback - digging pallets of blocks out of snow/ice!  Under normal production though - the castings flowed pretty quickly to the motor plant (which is the topic of this thread).

Thanks...that's kind of what I thought. I couldn't see that they would completely shutdown plants.

bergy

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #17 on: December 25, 2012, 09:09:05 PM »
Typical repairs were cosmetic welds on the valve cover rail for heads and on the intake rail on blocks - they often accumulated in finishing.  Sometimes hand stamping of castings that were missing a part number or date digit.  Also grinding of excess iron that would prevent castngs from going through auto grind equipment.  Scaling of cosmetic mold penitration - stuff like that.

firstgenaddict

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #18 on: December 26, 2012, 01:24:31 AM »
Thanks...that's kind of what I thought. I couldn't see that they would completely shutdown plants.

With the advent of maintenance software and better designed/engineered process machinery maintained on a stricter basis, week long breaks for maintenance are pretty much a thing of the past. In the 40-50-60-70's my grandfather designed and built papermills, it was a given that the Week of July 4th and week of Christmas were for scheduled downtime (not one or two companies... every paper company), the reason? it had been found to be the most cost effective way to prevent UNSCHEDULED downtime, READ BREAKAGES... if you think taking a week to repair/ replace critical parts is extreme... wait til that part breaks in the middle of running a critical order for your best customer... not only the raw part expense, but whatever else is broken, including the customer's trust, then paying downtime at 1000's per hour for presses sitting idle, etc etc etc.
James
Collectin' Camaro's since "Only Rednecks drove them"
Current caretaker of 1971 LT1's - 11130 and 21783 Check out the Black 69 RS/Z28 45k mile Survivor and the Lemans Blue 69 Z 10D frame off...
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MO

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #19 on: December 26, 2012, 05:48:57 AM »
Thanks James...that certainly makes sense.

crobjones2

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2012, 12:18:54 AM »
I have always ben amazed at how efficient the casting plants were. There is a day seperation between the casting of the four components on my 350. Block on the 20th, water pump on the 20th, intake on the 21st and heads on the 22nd - all assembled on the 25th
I thought that was fast - but cast to built in a day - i'm impressed
Chris
69 SS 350

william

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #21 on: December 28, 2012, 01:00:39 AM »
Their casting operation may have been efficient but the rest of Chevrolet was a mess. De Lorean devoted much of his 1974 book to the train wreck he took over in 1969. He turned it around; many people believe he was one of the best auto execs ever.

The Ford Model T plant [1920s] was so efficient Toyota based their production system on it. They not only did their own casting they owned the mines, boats, all of it. Iron ore to running car in 72 hours I guess. Not bad for 1925.

I have spent my entire working career in manufacturing operations; Industrial Engineering and lately, Supply Chain. I cannot even imagine what an auto assembly plant is like today. Incredibly fast pace, no room for error. All "A" players in those shops.

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69Z28-RS

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #22 on: December 28, 2012, 01:55:29 AM »
Henry Ford even tried to buy part of TVA (Wilson Dam in NW Alabama) to generate his own electricity; he thought he had a deal, and bought up property for his workers homes, cut streets paved them, put in sidewalks, elec lines, etc...  then I think Roosevelt nixed the 'dam' deal, and Ford never moved south that area still has the overgrown streets/sidewalks, but no homes...  it's called 'Ford City'...  :)
PS.  Ford did build an Aluminum casting plant adjacent to Reynolds metals in that area later, but now it too is closed.

Gary
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bergy

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #23 on: December 28, 2012, 09:53:51 AM »
"Their casting operation may have been efficient but the rest of Chevrolet was a mess. De Lorean devoted much of his 1974 book to the train wreck he took over in 1969. He turned it around; many people believe he was one of the best auto execs ever."
   I actually got to meet John De Lorean at the St. Louis Assembly Plant.  Real visionary, extreemly smart & personable - even took time to show us around the new company plane that he flew in on.  He dressed completely in white that day - looked like the man from Glad!  His ego finally got the best of him - IMO.   

william

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #24 on: December 28, 2012, 03:03:25 PM »
Although universally praised in several business books, DeLorean went "...right off the beam" to quote one of them when he was promoted to GM. Still took some big ones to even think you could start your own auto company.
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JohnZ

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #25 on: December 28, 2012, 05:08:17 PM »
Although universally praised in several business books, DeLorean went "...right off the beam" to quote one of them when he was promoted to GM. Still took some big ones to even think you could start your own auto company.

We built two special all-pink Firebird convertibles for Nancy Sinatra when DeLorean was dating her in 1967-68 when I was at Lordstown (she wrecked the first one the second week she had it); he had all the pink soft trim (I.P. pad, seat covers, door and quarter trim panels, carpets, soft top, etc.) made by some outfit in California. Then there's the Caprice limousine, but that's another story.... :-)
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firstgenaddict

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #26 on: December 28, 2012, 11:13:01 PM »
FORD Owned everything from the mines to the plants, to the glass manufacturing (LOF) to KINGSFORD Charcoal which made charcoal brikets from the scraps of wood from the car bodies, to manufacturing his own tires for his cars. He took one profit on the entire operation and could never be held hostage for commodity price increases...
He was way ahead of his time, experimenting with HEMP oils and resins to produce car panels from HEMP fiber and run them on Ethanol produced from hemp.
 

BTW The US government sent the tire plant to Russia during WWII...

ALSO Firestone (privately held) still does own everything from the rubber plantations(most of a tire is synthetic now) to the stores that sell the tires.
James
Collectin' Camaro's since "Only Rednecks drove them"
Current caretaker of 1971 LT1's - 11130 and 21783 Check out the Black 69 RS/Z28 45k mile Survivor and the Lemans Blue 69 Z 10D frame off...
https://plus.google.com/photos/112392262205377424364/albums?banner=pwa

william

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #27 on: December 29, 2012, 03:46:11 PM »
If you're in the area make it a point to tour The Rouge. They build the F-150 and you can observe a small part of the assembly operation. No more build sheets, broadacst sheets, whatever. When a unit is ordered they burn a chip with all the build info. As a unit moves down the line each station reads the chip and a screen displays the assigned components. I asked about some paper taped to the back of the cab and it was a paint inspection tag. That's it.

The area available for viewing is the start of the trim area. Interior panels, headliner, etc. Very little inventory at point of use. They must replenish hourly.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2012, 07:45:32 PM by william »
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z28z11

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #28 on: December 29, 2012, 04:37:22 PM »
I have to comment about Flint based on what I have seen in engine assembly over the last 30 years or so - I can count among my customers GM Spring Hill (formerly Saturn) for 1.9L, 2.2L, and 2.4L- 4's and transmissions, Nissan Decherd for V6 and ZH2 5.6L V8 production, Navistar/International diesel production V8 (5 heavy transfer lines), Hyundai Montgomery Theta 4 and V6 lines, and got to tour GM Opel L850 2.4L KS Germany and the plum of Stuttgart, Mercedes Engine V6-V8 production. I have helped tool a lot of processes from camshaft to crank machining to cylinder bore/block machining, plus small parts machining like water pumps/front covers and everything else, but in all this time I have never seen anything to beat seeing the film of the block gang installing pistons on the V8 line in Flint. Mercedes touted their robotic assembly in the Stuttgart plant, but the whole time I observed the place I kept thinking about the pace at which our venerable small blocks sailed out of the Flint plant (since 55?) and into what many of us own yet.

Kudos to all who ever worked in either facility. Your craftsmanship still powers us today -

IMO

Regards,
Steve
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jmcbeth

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Re: BLOCK CAST DATE VS PAD STAMP DATE
« Reply #29 on: December 31, 2012, 12:03:46 AM »
Great info Bergy. Love those inside stories from people that were actually there. That's what makes this site so great.

I second hot302's comments. How fortunate we are to have the insight of folks that built these great cars. Thanks very much!
John
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