Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Videos

[Mark F.]

This post grew out of the one I was following regarding L72 gusseted blocks: https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...lock-(3869942)

Based on that post, I got curious and searched for vintage GM/Chevy iron foundry casting videos and unfortunately, after a day of searching, I could not find any (weird?). However, the casting processes involved are rather primitive in nature and don't really vary that much between any of the Big 3 IMO (at least not back then).

I did find a few others (Ford, Chrysler, Shell Oil [odd?]) which describe many metal manufacturing processes - including the auto industry. Casting processes for various parts; drop forging, forming of ingots and billets, post-processing in milling machines, coil spring manufacture, stamping, engine assembly steps and many more items are described and shown in factory settings.

Having worked in Ford’s foundries (and a few others before that) and engine assembly plants 40+ years ago (’77 to ’81), I have always found these processes fascinating to see in person – fire, heat, dirt, noise, vibrations, smells, danger…yeah, man…

With the COVID down time we have now, I hope some of these better picks might be as entertaining and informative for you as they were for me (plus a walk down memory lane). Thx, Mark

Vintage 1959 Foundry and Forming Processes (produced by Shell) – really good general overview - not auto-specific, including strip mill; cold rolling; forging; and drop forged crankshaft production and more… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEatTMQsGtg

Vintage 1938 – Ford River Rouge "Tour" (a fairly detailed overview of the entire complex). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0PAg7FfMk

Vintage 1955-56? Chrysler - Coil spring manufacture in around 4:00; tunnel broaching around 9:45, body manufacture, painting, etc. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6L0ykX9lPU

Vintage 1962 – Ford River Rouge "Tour" (different in many ways from my perspective than the 1938 version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMlPonSrqVo

Vintage 1994?? Ford Windsor Casting Plant - About 2:15 minutes in starts the actual casting process dealing with crank shafts; engine cylinder core making starts at about 6:45; ~10:20 starts engine blocks… and more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVhj2oifl0

Vintage 1955 Body by Fisher 1955 - not much metal forming shown other than stamping. seeing the '55 Bel Airs was kinda neat, too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbquyC8Xz5Y

[Ed S.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Mark - thanks for posting those fantastic videos. I have to tell you, I only watched the first video - the foundry and forging processes, 30 minutes long, made in 1959 - 60 year old technology. Very impressive. The most important take-away from the video - which was not even mentioned - is the design and manufacture of the machines that are used in the forging and foundry processes. We're talking one-off really complicated machines - keep in mind that this video and production processes were made 20 years after the start of World War II. It was capabilities like these that comprised the Arsenal of Democracy - WOW -- neat stuff. Thanks again.

[Mark F.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Thanks so much, Ed I'm glad you enjoyed the 1st one!

My wife asked me "what are you doing up there?"...I told her I kept drilling down into more and more on the web and lost track of time...
Some were not so good, but I hope I have been able to cull out some of the better ones...thx, Mark

[Richard M.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Mark, Great vids. thanks. And yes I especially like the first one. Fascinating.

Rich

[Joe R.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Mark, thanks as this process is very familiar as I worked for The National Tube Division of United States Steel back in the early 60's in Gary, Indiana. We did Extrusion and Cold Roll Electric Weld Tubing.

JR

[Mark F.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Good deal, Joe

Speaking of tube mills, I did a few jobs at Ford's Green Island, NY plant where they made radiators. They had brass tube mills to make the horizontal "tubes" (actually, kinda like "cats-eye" shaped) that carry the water between the copper cooling fins and the radiator end tanks.

Those tubes would fly out of the end of those mills almost like a machine gun!
Noisy as all get out - plus they went thru a bath of molten lead/solder, which was later used to solder the copper radiator fins to the tubes in a heat soak conveyor oven - quite a mess! thx, Mark

[Mark F.]

Re: Vintage Casting, Forging, Forming, Stamping, Engine Assembly and cool in-plant Vi

Here are some additional casting techniques… more modern than the previous videos I posted…thx, Mark

Edelbrock Casting facility…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckbpq6OoiEY

How it’s made video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8x91Z7Dyhw

Here’s a Lost foam engine block casting process -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrysF1QO0oM