Flint Small Block Castings

[Terry M.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

You are describing some serious choreography, Terry. I'd love to see a video......

I am not aware of one, but I have never searched for it either. Closest I ever saw was a series of stills in a Hot Rod Magazine from the late '80s early '90s.

[Terry M.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

You are describing some serious choreography, Terry. I'd love to see a video......

I am not aware of one, but I have never searched for it either. Closest I ever saw was a series of stills in a Hot Rod Magazine from the late '80s early '90s.

[Mike E.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

Jim -

We tend to focus on V-8's, but there was a separate, but very similar world for the in-line six-cylinder engine, which was still very much a big player in passenger cars and trucks. They were also cast at Saginaw, trucked 24/7 to the old Flint Motor Plant down by the river in downtown Flint, and that plant produced several thousand L-6 engines every day for lots of passenger and truck plants. 1953 was a big year for the L-6 - it finally got full-pressure oiling to the rod bearings, and the old cast iron pistons were finally replaced by newfangled aluminum pistons.

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Here's a cool video from 1936 showing the casting of the L6's. The Foundry portion starts at about 5 minutes into the video. Did foundry technology changed much in the 30 years after the film was shot?


Mike

[John H.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

Here a cool video from 1936 showing the casting of the L6's. The Foundry portion starts at about 5 minutes into the video. Did foundry technology changed much in the 30 years after the film was shot?


Mike

Mike -

No, not by much, although the first automatic molding (pouring) lines were installed in the 60's, eliminating the manual pouring of 2900*F iron from ladles into molds. The sand and the iron are all gone now at Saginaw - all they use is aluminum, with the latest automated processes. It was the Saginaw Grey Iron Foundry in the 60's, and now it's Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, GM Powertrain.

[Joe L.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

Mike -

No, not by much, although the first automatic molding (pouring) lines were installed in the 60's, eliminating the manual pouring of 2900*F iron from ladles into molds. The sand and the iron are all gone now at Saginaw - all they use is aluminum, with the latest automated processes. It was the Saginaw Grey Iron Foundry in the 60's, and now it's Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, GM Powertrain.

John------


I believe the only gray iron foundries that GM still operates are the ones in Defiance, OH and Toluca, Mexico. GM also still has a nodular iron foundry in Defiance, OH.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: Flint Small Block Castings

MIKE As JOHN said not much. The big difference is the way cores are made. In the old days sand with binders were blown in the core box & dumped on molded trays then baked in a oven to harden them. Today chemical binders such as Isocure are injected into the sand filled core box & the sand core comes out of the box hard. Tooling is now all CNC'D so castings are dimensionally better than making wood masters to make metal patterns & core boxes