Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

I am curious where the v-8 blocks were made for Chevrolet back in the day, prior to say 1980. I know the Tonawanda Team used to assemble many of the high performance engines but where did the blocks originate from ?

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Depends on where the engine was assembled--- Flint engine plant blocks came from the nearby Saginaw foundry and Tonowanda blocks came from the Tonowanda foundry across the street from the Tonowanda engine plant--- FED 387

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

As far as I know, the blocks were cast at one of four places.

The casting foundry ID may be located near (next to) the casting number on the block.

CFD - Central Foundry, Defiance, OH

GM-D - Central Foundry, Defiance, OH
(there was some sort of merger between two casting foundries that resulted in different foundry IDs. A foundry in Danville, IL was part of GM Central Foundry at one point too.)

SMCO - Saginaw Metal Casting Operations

???? - Massena Casting Plant, Massena, NY (not sure if any Chevy blocks were ever cast there)



CFD and GM-D are the most popular that I have seen.

There is a large single digit number near the casting number that is used to identify the drag core pattern number.



Tonawanda Engine Plant is where some blocks were machined and assembled.

others:
Romulus Engine Plant (since 1976)

Silao Engine Plant in Mexico (opened in 2001)

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Tim,

Looks like blocks with a "K" cast into them come from General Motors of Canada (McKinnon Industries Limited) St. Catharine's, Ontario.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Got hold of an engine core once-the cast date on the block at the rear was E127-May 12,1967. The stamping on the pad in front of the right head was T 0515 XX{don't remember the code- it was for a 327 250 horse PG trans type of thing.That engine was final assembled and ready for assembly line installation three days after the block was cast. Talk about a real seasoned casting!
All the 348,409,396-454's were Tonowanda engines. The small blocks were if the stamping on that same pad started with T. Also, the Tonowanda engines had a silver sticker on the passenger side valve cover that said,Tonowanda the Number 1 Team.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Really interesting info, thanks to all who responded.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Flint, Michigan was the machining and assembly point of the small block chevy. Saginaw gray iron plant cast the blocks,Heads,Intake manifolds, cranks and connecting rods. Chevy in the hole plant in Flint on Chevrolet ave. made the cams, valves and valve train pieces. AC Delco plant in Flint on Dort hwy made the valve lifters, spark plugs, air cleaners,oil and air filters and tons of other parts..All 302 Z/28 engines, LT-1 of the 70's and and about 95% of all small blocks came from the Flint engine plant....Luke

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Not to change the subject but every Buick V-6 and V-8 was cast and assembled in Flint, MI.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

.........

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Possibly Toluca Mex foundry

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

My dad worked at the Flint plant for 18 years.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

At the St.Catharines Ontario plant we assembled 1500 small block engines in an 8 hour shift using blocks cast on site in the foundry. This was mid to late 70''s.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

The Target master I am disassembling was dated '89. The block,crank,heads and pistons all marked Mexico. It was purchased about 1989 or 1990 installed briefly and then involved in an accident (write off). I am not sure of the mileage but so far it looks really clean and decent inside. Owner was a Valvoline diehard. I did notice the crank casting looks very rough and the finish almost appears as if a coarse wire wheel was used on counterweight flash.
(4 bolt main, cast crank, cast dished pistons, 993 heads, single link timing chain...)

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

my understanding is that these engines "did not last very long" generally til a little while after the WARRANTY expired--- never had one never saw one I have no experience wit them other than GM supposedly discontinued them due to numerous complaints relating to quality and engine life---these engines were sold at a lower price than the "regular" GM replacement stuff--- I guess it all comes down to you get what you pay for!!

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

How many people were assembling engines?

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Two assembly line's, can't recall total number of workers. Iirc engines came by 3 or so a minute, we had 16 guys pushing pistons. It was 40 years ago.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

1500 per shift thats about 190 engines per hour or 3 engines per minute-- no standing around here folks--

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Further to this discussion,I found this post on the NCRS site

When I was the Senior Process Engineer at the Chevrolet Pilot Line in Flint in '66-'69, a good friend was the supervisor of the Piston Department at Flint V-8 next door, and I spent time there on several occasions. They didn't stamp the rods and caps when they machined the rods and made up the piston/rod assemblies for the engine assembly lines at 2400 rod/piston/pin/ring/bearing assemblies per hour; they just placed the size-gaged cam-ground pistons in the correct position in the 8-piston conveyor trays to match the teleprocessed bore sizes for that engine from the bore air-gage station at the head of the line.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

At St. Catharines blocks would come down line upside down. Bore size was stamped on pan rail ( A,B,C ) etc. Workers would choose matching piston-rod assembly and install main bearings. Then place in order beside engine. Then we would pop them in and install cap and nuts.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Ya think all those ring end gaps were in position? :-)

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

If there ever was a mass produced corporate small block engine better than the Chevy's that were built in St.Kitts I haven't seen it.

Re: Chevy engine blocks origin ?
 

Those end-gaps move around until they find their happy place anyway.
Dan