Topic: Engine Assembly where?

[Sean C. Gearty]

Were the engines assembled in the Dearborn plant and then shipped by rail or truck to Metuchen & San Jose for assembly of the cars?

Asking because of some of the chrome valve cover date stamped and engine assembly dates posted on another thread here. Just trying to understand why the windows of engine assembly can be 30 to 60 days prior to a car being produced.

[jimhib]

  Engines were built in batches and if not in high demand they could sit on the shelf for a few weeks. Not necessarily the case with big blocks.

[67gta289]

Depends on the engine - six, small block V8, FE?

Since you mention Dearborn, I'll assume you are talking FEs.  All FEs were assembled at the Dearborn (Rouge) Engine Plant (DEP).  From there they were transported across the site to the Dearborn Assembly Plant (DAP) and all other vehicle assembly plants that used FE's not just Metuchen and Milpitas (San Jose).

Remember that FEs were used in other car lines, and trucks also, so the batch concept is not an accurate mental model for engine assembly.  Meeting a retired Ford engineer tonight, in fact.  He was the "390 engineer" in 1967 and 1968.  I'll ask.

If you look at parts (blocks, heads, etc.) the batch process has more applicability. 

Are you asking about individual casting and stamping date variability, or engine assembly date variability?

[Sean C. Gearty]

That is a good point. I was looking at the casting date on the engine block, example a 428cj to the assembly date of the car.
(San Jose or Metuchen). Now knowing that the 428 was assembled at the Rouge (Dearborn) engine plant, and then shipped to the different car assembly plants would explain the 30 to 60 day gap.

[67gta289]

Just got back from the meeting and Len had a few recollections about FE production at the DEP.

1. Normal production was in groups of about 100 "similar" engines.  Example of similar would be 390 2V and 4V for passenger cars with the same or different exhaust manifolds.

2. One day they pulled out all the stops and made a record of 5000 of the same engine in one day.  It was eventful enough to remember 45+ years later.

Doing the math, at the maximimum rate they would do 100 engines every half hour.  So again, I would think that the term "batch" is not really applicable for engine assembly.

He did also mention that they stored engines at the Highland Park (MI) site.  Highland Park's primary use was the tractor assembly line, but there was plenty of warehousing space.  So storage could be a factor in a large gap between engine assembly and vehicle assembly dates.

Hope this helps.