The Supercar Registry - Any Tonawanda Engine Plant employees here?

Quote:

Originally Posted by thehornworks (Post 1517227)

I rebuild horns for a GM engineer he said there was a half crazy guy in casting that would make sand models of workers he didn't like and smash them when they walked by. He also told me that raw casting were fork lifted outside into the snow to cool and store and some where not found until spring.

the production foundries all had "cooling courts". Hot castings were removed from the molds onto a shaker conveyor that removed excess sand. Then the hot castings went onto an overhead cooling conveyor that took them up into a "cooling court" - the overhead conveyor snaked back & forth up there so that the castings spent a couple of hours cooling as they progressed along toward shot blast machines in the finishing department. Cylinder blocks were hung onto the cooling conveyors by tongs that looked like ice tongs. Occasionally, blocks would come loose from the "ice tongs" in the cooling court and remain on the floor there until the court was cleaned (once or twice a year). So, when the casting date on a block is way before the engine assembly date - it's not too surprising.