Or any year for that matter. What did the factory do to new engines being installed on the assembly line?

Did they run-in the engines? Test for leaks etc? How did that process work?

They had a warranty and quality was important then, what kept them from installing a bad engine?

 

Check out section 0 of your Assembly Manual for the various tests they ran on the completed car.

The engine was tested alone at the Motor Plant using one of two methods, outlined on page 26 of the Engine Assembly Manual. Natural gas was one option, compressed air the other. Note that this was before the carburetor and such were installed. After testing the rotating assembly like this, they also tested for both internal and external coolant leaks by pressurizing the crankcase and looking for bubbles.

 

Thanks Brian. I've heard reference to a turn table where multiple engines were tested at once. This device used natural gas and had many quick connects on the hoses and such. Engines were run only a couple or few minutes.

When considering the amount of cars that could come of the line, that was a of engines to be tested. I can only imagine what the Motor Plant would have looked like.

I've never seen any pics of this process, so I'm kinda fishing for any info at all on it.

 

don71: You are correct we had several engine test areas where the completed engines were "run in" on test stands. If I remember the "run in" station held about 12-16 engines and ran on natural gas (no carb installed). The guy would perform a series of procedures, 1) start engine and check that it had oil pressure, move to next engine and do the same thing, 2) then would go back to first engine as now it was at operating temp, 3) set timing to spec. and lock down dist. clamp, and was checked for oil/water leaks, move on to the next engine, meanwhile the engine he just did went through a series of preset rpm ranges, and then shut off automatically to cool down, 5) by the time he finished the last engine the first had water circulated through it to cool it further and he than disconnected all hoses, electrical connects, etc move on to the next engine as the first engine was draining water.... and so on and so on. The engine/driveline went through a series of tests that is described in the Assembly Manual at the vary end of the assembly line. Then driven across Logan to the Final Assembly Bldg, and then to the Shipping Staging Area.