Engine block stampings

[bergy]

OK guys - think about this! The Z-28 blocks were cast at the Saginaw Michigan gray iron plant. If a block was cast first thing in the morning, it took about 35 minutes to "shake out", 3-4 hours hanging in the cooling court, 1 hour to get through cleaning (these times are all assuming the lines never stopped - that would be very unusual). Then it had to wait in the shipping area before being loaded into a truck and shipped to the Flint Machigan motor plant. Now the block had to get unloaded, through receiving, through staging, all the way through block machining - piled on a pallet and taken over to the assembly line. Finally, it's got to be assembled and date stamped. All of this is nearly (never say never) impossible to do on a DZ block in one day. Two days - yeah, but same day - not likely. It did, however, happen occassionally at Tonawanda because the motor plant was attached to the metal casting plant - so castings were carried one pallet at a time into the motor plant.

[Jonesy]

[ QUOTE ]
OK guys - think about this! The Z-28 blocks were cast at the Saginaw Michigan gray iron plant. If a block was cast first thing in the morning, it took about 35 minutes to "shake out", 3-4 hours hanging in the cooling court, 1 hour to get through cleaning (these times are all assuming the lines never stopped - that would be very unusual). Then it had to wait in the shipping area before being loaded into a truck and shipped to the Flint Machigan motor plant. Now the block had to get unloaded, through receiving, through staging, all the way through block machining - piled on a pallet and taken over to the assembly line. Finally, it's got to be assembled and date stamped. All of this is nearly (never say never) impossible to do on a DZ block in one day. Two days - yeah, but same day - not likely. It did, however, happen occassionally at Tonawanda because the motor plant was attached to the metal casting plant - so castings were carried one pallet at a time into the motor plant.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are REAl examples out there of both Tonawanda and Flint engines that were cast and built in the same day. Mot a high occurance, but it did happen.

[Bob Martin]

Thanks to everyone for there input. It makes me feel better. I knew it was not a re-stamp but never saw one with the same day before. Thanks again Bob

[bergy]

FYI - You can look at the casting time on the block. If it's cast late on first shift or any time on second shift, it would definitely be impossible for a Saginaw casting to be assembled the same day. Look for an early first shift casting time.

[bergy]

I don't believe that anyone has said that it's a restamp - I'm just saying that the owner could look at the time code on the block and demonstrate how it makes sense that it's not a restamp. Of course, now that god has spoken - there's no need for a technical discussion.

[Jonesy]

[JohnZ]

We (NCRS) have documented a number of Flint small-blocks that were cast and assembled on the same day, and MANY that were assembled the day after they were cast. The Saginaw Foundry sent 55,000 iron castings to Flint V-8 every day, and those dedicated GM trucks ran 24/7. Machining at Flint V-8 ran on three shifts, and both assembly lines ran on two shifts (170 per hour on Line 1, 130 per hour on Line 2).

[1969z280]

Bob:

If someone restamped the block, why wouldn't they have made it a couple days later than the casting date? My opinion would be that it's probably the real deal. Good luck and enjoy it, Ed

[Jonesy]

Furthermore, its not a restamp, so there is your example of being cast and built the same day.