C8 Engine Plant
Popular Reply
Apr 28, 2024, 02:52 PM
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2024
Posts: 31
Likes: 25
From: WESTERN NEW YORK
History..
Yep, would be neat to tour. Always been impressed with what GM engineers and the Tonawanda plant have achieved with the Small Block Chevy:
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
Proud to have worked there! ..as a young man was amazed at how much I learned.....it enabled me to raise a family on a very fair wage with benefits..as a Mach. Repair Apprentice ..then a Mfg Supv where I spent the last of my career.
I saw A few fellow employees who were hurt..some hurt badly when they took short cuts on safety and paid for it dearly.
I believe I learned more there about life here... than if I went to college..and would not of traded it for the world!
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Lots of good "stuff" came from this plant
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From: The E-Ray prophet
Well of course. The LTA was built in BG too. So is the LT7 (presumably).
GM is sending a clear message that the tried/true/reliable powerplants can be built elsewhere. And the finnicky/persnickity/delicate stuff has to be built in BG.
GM is sending a clear message that the tried/true/reliable powerplants can be built elsewhere. And the finnicky/persnickity/delicate stuff has to be built in BG.
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Curious if there were any tours offered of the engine plant?
E-Ray, 3LZ, ZER, LIFT
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 34,937
Likes: 12,351
From: NE South Carolina
Yep, would be neat to tour. Always been impressed with what GM engineers and the Tonawanda plant have achieved with the Small Block Chevy:
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2024
Posts: 31
Likes: 25
From: WESTERN NEW YORK
History..
Yep, would be neat to tour. Always been impressed with what GM engineers and the Tonawanda plant have achieved with the Small Block Chevy:
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
SIDEBAR:
The Tonawanda facility consists of several plants totaling 3.1 million square feet and sits on 190 acres. The factory receives cast engine blocks from GM's OH Defiance Foundry and MI, Saginaw Metal Casting plant. The 1st plant was built in 1938; Plant #4, in 1941; and Plant #5, in 2001.
GM has invested billion+ in the facility. From a 2013 press release where they stated the plant built 71 million engines since the start and about a million/year that is ~80,000 in 2024.
What is most impressive to me re GM Engineering and the plant is the Small Block Chevy is using the exact same bore spacing as my 1956 Chevy 265 cid, 200 hp as the LT2 in my E-Ray with 376 cid and 495 hp! For its low cost and reliability that old technology pushrod engine produces production tolerances and surface finishes of race type engines. Maintaining the same bore spacing has probably allowed investment in the production equipment needed to achieve those close tolerances. Even the V6 in my S-10 Truck had the same bore spacing!
Proud to have worked there! ..as a young man was amazed at how much I learned.....it enabled me to raise a family on a very fair wage with benefits..as a Mach. Repair Apprentice ..then a Mfg Supv where I spent the last of my career.
I saw A few fellow employees who were hurt..some hurt badly when they took short cuts on safety and paid for it dearly.
I believe I learned more there about life here... than if I went to college..and would not of traded it for the world!
E-Ray, 3LZ, ZER, LIFT
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 34,937
Likes: 12,351
From: NE South Carolina
AT 18 I was hired to worked there Tonawanda Engine Complex ...for 321/2 years..started out on the 400 cu inch assembly line pushing wrist pins thru connecting rods..went into a dust free room and watched ZL1 aluminum engines being assembled after temporary layoff then went to plant 4 operating a press that bent clutch and brake pedals...then another layoff ..then went to the FORGE Plant where crankshafts, ring gears , axles,connecting & tie rods where forged. Worked 2 years as an inspector on forged cranks and ring gears. Forged(upset) axle Blanks...even made axles and sent them to FORD. Used to walk thru the Foundry occasionally on a visit(which was directly behind the Motor Plant and watched large cupolas on a monorail pour molten iron into sand castings for engine blocks that were to be machined at the motor plant....Times were great and prosperous back then...UNTIL...Dick Dauch CEO of AMERICAN AXLE bought the Tonanwada AND DETROIT FORGE....Took the technology .(closed the Forge plant,& Detroit Forge .went over seas ....and the rest is History.
Proud to have worked there! ..as a young man was amazed at how much I learned.....it enabled me to raise a family on a very fair wage with benefits..as a Mach. Repair Apprentice ..then a Mfg Supv where I spent the last of my career.
I saw A few fellow employees who were hurt..some hurt badly when they took short cuts on safety and paid for it dearly.
I believe I learned more there about life here... than if I went to college..and would not of traded it for the world!
Proud to have worked there! ..as a young man was amazed at how much I learned.....it enabled me to raise a family on a very fair wage with benefits..as a Mach. Repair Apprentice ..then a Mfg Supv where I spent the last of my career.
I saw A few fellow employees who were hurt..some hurt badly when they took short cuts on safety and paid for it dearly.
I believe I learned more there about life here... than if I went to college..and would not of traded it for the world!
We had a welding flux plant in Niagra Falls. Would visit since we had the manufacturing development function responsibility from our R&D Lab in NE Ohio. That was from 1972 to 1978. Some tough winters!
