Lemmie try this again

[Ed Jennings]

I posted this a couiple of days ago:

What would you numbers gurus have to say about a block cast Jan 26 (Friday, in a car built Jan 31, the following Wednesday. 1962 if that makes any difference.

I thought all the numbers experts would jump in to tell me the date is too close. I know it's theoretically possible, but what is the probability?

[Wayne W.]

Re: Lemmie try this again

Not unusual at all.

[Wayne W.]

Re: Lemmie try this again

OOps, I misread your post a little. It is not unusual for the engine to be assembled that close. It is not impossible though, for the car to be rather close also.

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Lemmie try this again

We're talking 5 days between casting and car assy date. Two of those days are weekend days, though when I posted this previously, there was a reply that indicated that at least some Saturdays were production days.

[Mike E.]

Re: Lemmie try this again

Ed,
As you say--theoretically possible, but not likely. Especially with the weekend in there. It had to be assembled (Friday at the very earliest, and quite uncommon to be assembled the same day as cast) and then trucked from Flint to St. Louis in time to be installed by Wednesday. It could hve been the last one off the truck in St. Louis, and the first one closest to the door to be used.
Let's put it like this: If it were documented original, I wouldn't/couldn't quarrel with it. However, if someone is stamping a block, I wouldn't encourage it because it is awfully tight timing.

[Bill W.]

Re: Lemmie try this again

I agree with Mike. possable but not likely. Are you sure of the build date of the car ? I owned 62#5322 and it went out of the door at the plant1/12/62.this date is 100%correct. 62 14166 went out 7/18/62...Bill

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Lemmie try this again

My car is 6224. The engine isn't in the car, just a possible replacement.

[Gary S.]

Re: Lemmie try this again

Didn't the Restorer have an article a while back about a documented original block that was cast and then built up in a very short time frame (2-3 days)? I don't remember the particulars on this but something in the gray matter says I have read this.

In addtition, who is going to go to all of the effort to fake an engine with a questionable cast to build-up period?

Gary

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Lemmie try this again

Maybe me. But I would be pretty quick to also label it as a "restoration engine", not the original.

[Dave Suesz]

Find another block...

I used to work with a career Ford engineer, and this question comes up with Fords, too. It is extremely unlikely they would put a green, still hot from the foundry casting in for machining, even if the foundry and engine assembly plant were side-by-side. So you have transportation from the foundry to the shop, even if it's only across the yard. Then you have engine assembly, plus attachment to a transmission, then transportation to the auto assembly plant, by truck or rail. Then it would have to be the last engine/trans assembly off the truck onto the rack closest to the line. Then it would have to be among the very first assemblies the forklift driver picked up. Remember, there were many combinations to choose from, taking up a lotta shelf space, such as base 4V with 3sp, base w/4sp, 8v/auto, base/auto, fi/4sp, etc. etc. Dick always said a realistic minimum was more like two weeks for a Ford assembly, depending on which plants were involved. We generally figure minimum two weeks, he also said six months was not impossible, since the ones at the far end of the rack were a longer trip for the forklift.

[John H.]

Re: Find another block...

Theoretically possible, but highly improbable; what's the engine plant assembly date stamp? If it was cast at Saginaw on Friday, it could have been at Flint Engine on Saturday (they worked lots of Saturdays at Flint) and machined on second shift, probably not assembled until Monday the 29th and hit the shipping dock marshalling area that night.

Engines were shipped by rail, and took several days to get from Flint to St. Louis, after the railroad made up the train. In emergencies, expedited shipments were made by truck to avoid assembly plant shutdowns, and even that took 12-14 hours on the road.

Pretty unlikely that a Monday night engine at Flint would end up in a Wednesday-built car at St. Louis. Not impossible, but unlikely.

[Mike McKown]

Re: Find another block...

On quite a few occasions I saw Ford 5.0 and 5.7's come in our plant with engine assembly dates only two days old. You could count on 10 hours by truck from the engine plant to our load dock. I have no idea of the block cast date as it wasn't important to me at the time.

Normally, as Dave says, the engines we received would be 1-2 weeks old.