eaglei

You may be interested in knowing that LS3 dry-sump engines are hand built at GM Performance Build Center in Wixom MI. One builder does the complete engine from start to finish.

Each engine has a builder ID tag on the front surface of the intake manifold (IAFM), on the RH side.

If anyone is interested, we can start a "Who Built Your Dry Sump LS3". thread. There are similar threads for LS7 and LS9 engines. It's been fun for Z06 and ZR1 owners, and for those of us that assemble the engines at Wixom.

Thank you all for your Corvette enthusiasm!!

eaglei

brian98vette
CF Member



My Corvette Photos
Member Since: Feb 2000
Location: Salem MA Thank you Rick Dadd

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Thank you Rick Dadd for building my engine

Just a note for folks trying to find the plate - it's as described on the RH intake side, but the badge is facing forward towards the front of the car - I spent about 20m looking all over the side.

Excellent thread and always great to hear about how our cars are crafted - thank you OP for all of the information - love to get the inside details.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024x768 and weights 171KB.

Note: This is a paste from related thread. Sorry photo did not show up, perhaps Brian will repost it?

AirBusPilot

Bender the robot built mine. I think he did a great job.

I appreciate your incite into the build process. I think there is value there and I'm sure the engines are more consistent like any good blue printed engine would be.

eaglei

How did you find out about Mr. Bender? We usually hide him in the secret skunkworks room.

AirBusPilot

I found a burnt cigar with bolt bite marks.

brian98vette

Thank you Rick Dadd for building my engine

Just a note for folks trying to find the plate - it's as described on the RH intake side, but the badge is facing forward towards the front of the car - I spent about 20m looking all over the side.

Excellent thread and always great to hear about how our cars are crafted - thank you OP for all of the information - love to get the inside details.

Here's the general location of the builder tag:



And here's Mr Dadd's tag

rm50

I was hoping there would be more of a response to your thread.
Where are all the GS owners with the MN6.

Raazor

They're busy converting their cars to "thin bodies"

AirBusPilot

Actually the correct term is "narrow body".

ex: 757 narrow body
767 wide body.

Most of our flight attentents? Wide bodies.

nwc6

Coke spew, actually AfterShock.....

Cool Rod

That's interesting, I didn't know they were built by a single builder. Any idea how long it takes to completely build an engine?

For the rest of us, how are regular LS3 engines put together? Is it by a team that always works together, or is it just done on an assembly line or something like that? Do machines or robots or something do the assembly?

Actually, it seems it would be easier for GM if an engine was completely assembled by one person.

Just curious.

icedancer

GS MN6 Vin 1225

Built by Chas E. Giese Jr.

eaglei

A build takes about 3.5 hours. On an normal day a builder can make a little over two laps (8 hours).

bub

Same guy built my 2008 LS7.

Thanks to the OP for posting the pics of where the plate is on the GS dry sump engines. It's in a different spot on the Z's.

mgtr

Is he related to Dr. Buffer? (Warning -- relatively obscure reference).

Cool Rod

Thanks. That's very interesting.

eaglei

The regular production LS3's are built on an assembly line. Each worker does a fairly small portion of the engine build, and repeats the task as the next engine moves into his/her station.

I'm sure the team concept is used for regular engine assembly, as it is used pretty much everywhere at GM. Team concept has proven quality benefits and is widely used throughout the auto industry .

Generally a team is composed of maybe 6 - 10 workers, who rotate jobs during their shift. They are likely in one department, for example short block assembly. One person in the team is leader. Workers rotate tasks to avoid injury, reduce monotony, and so no one is stuck all day on a job they don't like. And yes, many jobs are done using robotics or other specialized machinery.

We also use team concept at Wixom, even though each worker does complete engines. We have a team meeting at beginning of shift to cover emerging issues, schedule, etc. And we have team leaders to provide assistance as needed, do quality checks and other tasks. Hope this helps your understanding.

LucaBrasiAZ

that is funny...ill be on a 757 to new york on thursday, and a 767 to venice 3 hours later!

eaglei

Any new dry sumps to post? I see another thread has started concerning builder name plates.

GSRANDY

Don,

My Z16 GS Corvette Coupe with MN-6 transmission is scheduled for build the week of 12/14/09.

As soon as I get my Corvette home you can bet I will be looking for the "Built By" tag.

Who knows it may have "Donald L. Henley" on it.

Regards,

GS Randy