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Hi, I have a question regarding a decked engine stamp from a past rebuild...wouldn't the decking remove all the paint on the stamp pad? I've never seen a decked pad but this looks suspicious that there would be paint on either side, see attached. Apologies if I used the wrong description/language. Thanks.
If you go to the Cars For Sale section and look for the thread WTB 1972 LT1 posted by Chez443 then it should answer your questions. The post is about 10 posts down. This car has just come up for discussion there.
Hi, I have a question regarding a decked engine stamp from a past rebuild...wouldn't the decking remove all the paint on the stamp pad? I've never seen a decked pad but this looks suspicious that there would be paint on either side, see attached. Apologies if I used the wrong description/language. Thanks.
It appears to me that the pad was painted after the decking but then most of it removed but not fully stripped clean. (From the engine plant, engines didn't have painted pads anyway, so no paint to remove when decking.)
I have read many time. that the engine pads were not painted in the early generation of the C3. Was this because the area of the pad was masked when the engine was painted? Why did GM’s specifically go to the trouble of masking this area, so that Info stamped could be easier read?
Seems odd because a lot of them seem to be painted when people post pics. Do we have a lot of people painting their engine blocks out there? Some of these cars look like they’ve had no maintaince or cleanup done to them yet the stamp pad is painted. I’m curious if anyone knows GMs thoughts and processes as it relates to the engine block at the stamp pad. Thanks, Ike.
I don't know the why of not painting the pad or when the practice may have ended. John Hinckley, widely recognized as an expert* in GM Chevrolet processes, wrote about it regarding the process at Flint:
As engines entered the paint booth (one every 13 seconds), plastic or cardboard masks were applied to the carburetor and fuel pump mounting pads, water pump hub, spark plugs, and temperature sender. A can was placed over the distributor, and a piece of masking tape was applied to the stamp pad. Engines with aluminum intake manifolds and valve covers (or chrome valve covers) had those parts covered with vacuum-formed plastic masks. The engine was sprayed with the cheapest orange enamel available in bulk that month, with two spray operators on each side of the booth. Then the masks were removed as the engine exited the booth, and the paint air-dried as the engine moved on to have the exhaust manifolds installed. After that the engine was conveyed to the hot-test area.Prior to 1965, the exhaust manifolds were installed on the main engine assembly line and they were in place when the engine was painted.
*GM 1964-1985 (Chevrolet and GM Assembly Division): Production, Production Engineering, Vehicle Engineering, Product Promotion Engineering, Process Engineering, Pilot Operations, New Model Pre-Production & Launch.
67:72 thanks for the link/explanation. Nice link and well explained process. It just amazing the speed in the process of these engine assemblies. It’s amazing that any of them actually worked.
I guess there’s a lot of excess GM engine orange paint floating around and a lot of artists. Thanks again Ike.
Stan thanks for the addition. Was the reason GM went to the effort was so that these would be more visible when needed? It would logically make sense. Thanks, Ike.
I've been wondering about why the stamp pad wasn't painted...
The engine stamp (plant, date, option) was done at the plant prior to paint. If the pad was then painted and shipped to the body plant, would the VIN stamp have been affected by a layer of paint? I could see the stamp characters getting loaded with it and not being clearly defined... anyone have an alternate hypothesis?
Also, the issue would be that the Vin number would then need to be stamped through a layer of paint that now is on the pad, once the engine was mated to the car. Perhaps this created an issue with the stamping?
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LT1 engine stamp decked
