Assembly line question

[ALLAN]

Having spent the day refitting bits of dash panel, I got to wonder, On the assembly line was the dash panel put in as a complete assembly? I can't imagine someone wrestling with fiddly hidden screws as the car moved down the line, OK I have two left hands full of thumbs and selective eyesight but still...

 

[cbarge]

Yes the dash is completed and then installed as one unit. Most Mopars the windshield is installed AFTER dash.

 

[Carmine]

Having worked in Chrysler assembly plants, I can tell you that the dash frame is built up as a separate sub-assembly and sequenced (brought to the main assembly line) at the correct moment. While the windshields are installed afterward, they can be removed and installed without windshield removal... It's just much harder and typically requires some flexible socket extensions.

 

[ALLAN]

Ah yes, the special tool provided,as Mr Haynes would say it makes sense I guess things like airvents just slot in.

 

[amazinblue82]

Having worked in Chrysler assembly plants, I can tell you that the dash frame is built up as a separate sub-assembly and sequenced (brought to the main assembly line) at the correct moment.

You're younger than me boss!

I was in GM/Ford plants in the late 1970's when a TON (frightening level of detail work by today's standards) of work was done IN the plant on a sub-assy line/trucked in from a separate component plant. Anyway, at least GM still had this kinda stuff going on, before being "sequenced" on vehicle assy line as late as 1977 MY.

Source: Chrysler’s Lost Los Angeles Plant, 1932-1971 Allegedly Chrysler LA Plant 1960's?

 

[Carmine]

You're younger than me boss!

I was in GM/Ford plants in the late 1970's when a TON (frightening level of detail work by today's standards) of work was done IN the plant on a sub-assy line/trucked in from a separate component plant. Anyway, at least GM still had this kinda stuff going on, before being "sequenced" on vehicle assy line as late as 1977 MY.

View attachment 239900

Source: Chrysler’s Lost Los Angeles Plant, 1932-1971 Allegedly Chrysler LA Plant 1960's?

I wasn't implying the work was done elsewhere, just on a separate line within the same plant. It doesn't look a lot different now than it did then, other than touchscreens vs. the mechanical buttons in that photo.

 

[amazinblue82]

i gotcha ... i was just saying back then (into-thru the 70's) there were instrument panel plants separate from assembly plants at 2 of Big 3 where I had summer jobs. we (GM) had 3-4 such plants to my recollection (@ the Inland Division) .

Thx.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I removed my whole dash assembly with the windshield in. Definitely special modified wrenches or sockets are needed. I can’t remember if I had to remove or at least loosen my top dash pad or not. Not much space between the windshield and bolts. Not sure I could get the bolts restarted with the windshield in though.
Much easier with the windshield out.

 

[CBODY67]

"Off-line assembly" was still alive and well at GM-Arlington in the 1990s. Parking brake assy with the brake cable attached is one example we say on a night-time plant tour. MANY aspects of the car were done that way, not just the instrument panel. We were standing there, watching as a body/frame came through the curtain. Then a guy walked out from another plastic slat curtain with a complete fender. He walked up the car (core support was on it at that time, loosely), put in 5 bolts (Cadillacs took 6, I believe), tightened them, and walked away. We stood there asking "Did we just see what we saw?" It was all over in like 30 seconds! We were thinking "How long did it take to do that in a body shop setting?" We stood there and watched it happen again, on another car, just as quick.

We got to see an off-line assembly area, for the foot-operated parking brake assembly. We were told that these off-line assembly jobs were usually held by higher-seniority workers. They knew how many of the items were scheduled for each shift, so they built that many. When done, they got to leave.

When we did the Superbird restoration, we used the same orientation with the instrument panel assy. When done, two club members walked it into the passenger compartment (seats were not installed at that time), put the bolts in to hang it, then other things were hooked up/installed. Windshield was out. It was amazing how easy it was to do! Much better than the "conventional wisdom" laying on one's back working under the instrument panel!! The heater box had been rebuilt before that, as were other floorpan-related items. Carpets were installed, too.

When you know how the cars were built, then can adapt some of the assembly line sequences to what they do in restorations, the total build happens easier and quicker. Like putting the total front frame unit (engine and suspension installed) up as an assembly. Takes a rocker panel contact lift! Then you put the tapered shank bolts in and it's all self-centered/located too. Pretty slick! Better than worrying about scratching paint of a fresh restoration in the engine compartment!

It all gets back to "work smarter", IF you think about how the cars were built at the factory, rather than how they were typically worked on "in the field".

CBODY67

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Very interesting post, guys.

 

[69CoronetRT]

Having worked in Chrysler assembly plants, I can tell you that the dash frame is built up as a separate sub-assembly and sequenced (brought to the main assembly line) at the correct moment.

Which is why you can find broadcast sheets from some plants taped to the top of the glove box. The department was told what type of dash to build for which car. When completed the dash assembly, with associated broadcast sheet attached, was send to the line to be mated with the car. The sheet could still be there after all these years. Always check for a BS above the glove box.

 

[amazinblue82]

1962 Ford Plant in Dearborn MI. about 6:25 in the one shot of a cluster being added to the IP ON the line.

20 years later, most cars were NOT built this way and it keeps evolving if you've been in an assembly plant the last 5-10 years . magnificent what they are doing .. and you can eat off the floors of these modern plants.



This was "muscle work" in the old days .. look at the body line. guys with welding guns, grinders, the jigs holding it all together until welding .. really cool stuff.

Last one for me .. a bit of the evolution of vehicle assembly 30s thru the 90s at GM (and others no doubt)

 

[1970cat]

i have a vhs called pontiac gm fisher body(early 70s). it appears to be a promotional film. it shows everything from the engine block foundry , body drop, paint ,water testing, break-in, etc. never seen another like it. wish i could get it converted to dvd because i'm afraid my vcr will eat it.

 

[CBODY67]

After we'd toured GM-Arlington a few times, we went through GM-Flint in '88. Quite a difference in how rwd and fwd cars go together. No "body drop", but "powertrain/suspension/fuel line" rise. The seam sealer applied by robots.

As we went through the Flint plant after the high-tech ("see and feel" robots) had been better "learned" or swapped out for normal ones, the workers laughed at how those early robots would install the windshield into the front seat. Whoops! LOL

We also went through the 3800 V-6 engine plant. More neat stuff, like the machine that Parkerized the camshaft in one operation. Like the machine that bored the blocks and the machine that power-honed the cylinders afterward. LOTS of fluid volume! Like the dyno room where completed engines were sent for a 30 minute run-in before their "final check", which we got to watch via video feed.

Got to see how all of the exhaust manifold bolts went in at once, like a NASCAR wheel lug nut deal. The engines get "painted at". We were there a few weeks before they ran the batch of 3800 V-6s that were modified for the Pontiac Firebird TransAm cars (with the 3300 V-6 heads to clear the strut towers on the Firebirds).

Vehicle assembly plants, even the modern ones, are pretty labor-intensive places. Every "job" has been carefully timed so that each "group" can complete their work within the designated footprint. Although there are many labor-saving overhead machines, due to the speed of the line, muscle is still needed in many cases. Lots of interesting improvements over the past 40 years!

Somewhere, possibly in Allpar.com, there's an article or two about the original Dodge Brothers plant in Hammtramck. "Pole Town", which was later sold to GM who built a Cadillac plant there (Cadillac DeVille/DTS, Buick Lucerne). VERY different lifestyle of the workers and how the plant was configured and run.

CBODY67

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Somewhere, possibly in Allpar.com, there's an article or two about the original Dodge Brothers plant in Hammtramck. "Pole Town", which was later sold to GM who built a Cadillac plant there (Cadillac DeVille/DTS, Buick Lucerne). VERY different lifestyle of the workers and how the plant was configured and run.

Yeah, I read that somewhere a while back. Seems like car factories were the embodiment of hell back then. Noise, flames, fumes, more noise, large rotating things to gore you, and more noise again.

But they paid good wages for an uneducated (but legal) immigrant Pole.

 

[CBODY67]

Wood floors so they didn't step into liquids which were running between them, too. On-site fire department and one massive electrical distribution unit/network.

 

[rapidtrans]

Worked 2nd shift at Dodge Main in summer of 73. Dangerous place for an exec’s kid.

 

[amazinblue82]

Worked 2nd shift at Dodge Main in summer of 73. Dangerous place for an exec’s kid.

dunno what Dodge Main's safety record was but you needed your wits about you (like GM's Clark Street Plant - old, multistory buildings)) walking around that joint. Stuff was flyin' around everywhere .. big HEAVY things like bodies.

 

[rapidtrans]

The fulltime workers were more dangerous than the equipment.