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Mike, you should take the tour through the BG plant. It would be interesting to hear your comments about the "then and now" aspects of Corvette assembly. Just do it.
Rex
Maybe the next time I go up to Illinois I'll stop off at the BG plant and take the tour. I'm sure it's interesting.
Maybe the next time I go up to Illinois I'll stop off at the BG plant and take the tour. I'm sure it's interesting.
The plant is undergoing updates and modifications now, so tours have been stopped until January 2019. But it is a fantastic experience, I watched my 2012 ZR1 get built and got to be the first to start it up at the end of the line. I also built the engine at Wixom, so was very interested in how the engines got onto the line from the racks, looking for the identifiers for my unique engine, no problem, it made it fine.
I'm sure you would enjoy it a great deal if you are a gear head......
The plant is undergoing updates and modifications now, so tours have been stopped until January 2019. But it is a fantastic experience, I watched my 2012 ZR1 get built and got to be the first to start it up at the end of the line. I also built the engine at Wixom, so was very interested in how the engines got onto the line from the racks, looking for the identifiers for my unique engine, no problem, it made it fine.
I'm sure you would enjoy it a great deal if you are a gear head......
I'm sure it would be interesting to see. So much has changed since the old Mill days in St Louis. I'll make it a point to see it.
I'm sure it would be interesting to see. So much has changed since the old Mill days in St Louis. I'll make it a point to see it.
Building your own engine would be fun too.
It is mostly robots and machines, but the people still do the exacting work on the line, and they are good at it. Building that LS9 was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. It took me most of the day (the master builder who watched and advised me takes 3 hours to do one), but I loved it, here's a picture of the engine and the proud Dad at the end of the line:
It is mostly robots and machines, but the people still do the exacting work on the line, and they are good at it. Building that LS9 was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. It took me most of the day (the master builder who watched and advised me takes 3 hours to do one), but I loved it, here's a picture of the engine and the proud Dad at the end of the line:
That's very interesting. Did you build it from a bare casting to a complete engine? Are components (pistons, etc) already selected for size or do the correct items arrive with the block? Quite the smile.
It was pretty much from scratch, but of course all the parts and tools were laid out and organized to make it easier, no searching in parts bins, etc. After a small breakfast with some Corvette brass, and getting safety briefings from the UAW rep, I went to the station #1, a room where the pistons, wrist pins, rods, bearings, etc. were laid out to start the assembly process so you could move to pick out a block. There were 4 lines used by the master builders, each LS7 and LS9 engine is hand built by only one guy, I replaced one of them. Lots of labor saving machines, lifts, etc. as you go through each of the 35 stations heading to the cold run and warm run test areas at the finish, to make sure it runs. All torques are computer checked as you bolt everything together, a QC check sheet is produced at each station before you are allowed to move to the next. Here is a picture of me picking up the crank to put in. The best thing is I could chose the date of the components I put together, so everything is "numbers matching...........
they also weigh the engine in the end of the line to make sure nothing like the oil was left out. I toured the mich place before they moved to BG. I have also toured the st catherin plant were they used to build the std corvette engines. they were doing the dyno 40 hour durability tests on full floating piston pins when I was there
Last edited by PAmotorman; 09-05-2017 at 09:03 PM.
It was pretty much from scratch, but of course all the parts and tools were laid out and organized to make it easier, no searching in parts bins, etc. After a small breakfast with some Corvette brass, and getting safety briefings from the UAW rep, I went to the station #1, a room where the pistons, wrist pins, rods, bearings, etc. were laid out to start the assembly process so you could move to pick out a block. There were 4 lines used by the master builders, each LS7 and LS9 engine is hand built by only one guy, I replaced one of them. Lots of labor saving machines, lifts, etc. as you go through each of the 35 stations heading to the cold run and warm run test areas at the finish, to make sure it runs. All torques are computer checked as you bolt everything together, a QC check sheet is produced at each station before you are allowed to move to the next. Here is a picture of me picking up the crank to put in. The best thing is I could chose the date of the components I put together, so everything is "numbers matching...........
Thanks Mike. It looks like you were quite serious, but having fun. Were there people guiding you through each step of the build? If I bought a new Corvette, I would definitely want to build my engine.
I had one master builder, Ron Hein, who was my advisor and talked me through much of it. He would sometimes help me with heavy items, to steady the head or the supercharger assembly and get the studs lined up, for instance. But he turned no wrenches nor threaded any nuts or bolts for me. The most exciting parts were the pressure testing at the end to the oil and water systems (it is a dry sump engine). You are really sweating bullets, and when they start and run it on the hot test cradle in the cabinet with propane as fuel. Pictures of that, and yes we also weighed it at the end of the line too.
Building your own engine is just the best experience ever, and my wife likes it too since I am so attached to the car I can never sell it...........she thinks I buy too many cars.........
Much thanks to all you gentlemen providing first hand knowledge of the "early years". This long and dignified history of great people/great cars is one of the things that makes the Corvette such a special automobile. I have not had the pleasure of owning any of the early generations, but have always had a special place in my soul for the C3, as that was the current generation during my car awakening experience in my adolescence. I guess every Corvette enthusiast has similar feelings for their "first" generation of Corvette. However, I truly believe each generation is beautiful (yes even the C4 ) and I have many pictures, paintings, scale models, and other memorabilia from all the generations.
To hear you guys reminisce about the making of C2s is absolutely amazing to me (as that was before I was born) and a wonderful gift you are sharing with the rest of us.
I don't venture into the C1/C2 thread, so for once the front page editorial was of some value. Thanks again for the memories!
Mike Hanson... How the heck are you? It's been a long time.. and John, (and PR) thanks for the pictures...
I took a tour in 1977 of the old plant and it was not all the glitz and glamour that I expected. Like stated above, it was dark and danky... but they still made magic.
I remember the guy putting the front ends together and squirting some of the bonding strip glue into the hands of people taking the tour.. showing how hot it got while curing.
I also remember walking to the tour bus (they brought us in on a bus with strict instructions... no pictures)... and there was a proto type of the 1978 style car with the rear upper surround panel held in place with sheet metal screws. Someone on the tour bus took a picture and got his film confiscated...
I go to St. Louis two to three times a year and every time I try to find the old plant I'm advised to stay away from this area..... I'm not so sure it can't be any worse then going to the loop, two years ago we were there and a gang fight broke out in the middle of the street.
Anyway... thanks for the pictures... I've enjoyed reading this thread tonight.
Ernie
A coworker in the first part of summer of '77 saw a truck come out with covered Corvettes and it stopped at a motel on the north side of St. Louis along I-270. The parking lot was pretty well lit so they pulled a couple of covers off and photographed several early 1978s. I think he sent copies to Corvette Fever or Keeping Track.
That sort of thing was a big deal back then.
Originally Posted by Critter1
Hi Ernie. Good to hear from you. Yes, it's been a long time.
That old building was kind of ugly inside but it sure had a lot of character and personality, didn't it? And as rough as it looked, it functioned very well and our cars rolled out in beautiful condition.
Everyone that has ever taken the tour of the plant comes out with permanent good memories. a lot of folks tried to sneak cameras in but most were unsuccessful. LOL
I've never been to the new plant in BG but I would like to see it.
That's why my pictures were so poor. It took a couple of trips to figure out how to get pictures and not get caught. You couldn't just pull a camera out, look through it, and shoot.
I was at Bowling Green in December 1988 and just missed the shipment of ZR1s. I started to take a camera in but with no idea of what it was like, figured I'd get caught. And I wanted to see an old classmate who worked there and not get him in trouble.
As it turned out, I could have probably taken a camera with him. From the things he did (we did), I'm surprised we didn't get in trouble.
We went so far as to picking a car out of the lot and taking it out for a ride on the perimeter road. He said if I had been a day or two earlier, we'd have taken one of the ZR1s.
Originally Posted by Critter1
Maybe the next time I go up to Illinois I'll stop off at the BG plant and take the tour. I'm sure it's interesting.
It is worth the trip, especially since you can run through the museum across the street.
Last edited by Procrastination Racing; 11-16-2017 at 10:40 PM.
when the mrs and I picked up our 65 396 factory delivery the place looked old and dirty then. how did it last till the 80s. ??
It just got older and dirtier, and they finally tore it down after it closed; some outfit built a cardboard recycling business on that piece of ground later on. I moved on in my GM career after I left there in 1968, and never went back.
So the bodies were shipped in already assembled completely by A. O. Smith? I have an NOS lower nose for my 61 that was made by Rockwell. Did they mold the parts and Smith assembled them? How did Rockwell figure in or did they?
09-05-2017, 12:42 AM
Some cool stuff!
