1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

[Terry M.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

Info I got from my friend Frank Sciabics from RP in the old days was that the FI's were installed at Flint. They were first tested at RP in a special wide open room with a chemical that is similiar to cheap paint thinner. Chemical was sold by Barton Solvents. I don't know the correct spelling but here's a start.
Standsol or Stanasol. Help me out here.
The chemical was popular in the 50's and 60's as a cleaning solvent.
But you didn't ask this. You asked how Flint tested the engine with the FI unit at the factory.

John,
Stoddard Solvent. It used to be sold under a variety of trade names. We used drums of it in the lab where I worked in my youth. If you Google it you will find out why you generally can't get it so easily any more. I would guess Rochester Products would have bought tankers of it.

[Mark D.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

One of John's pics from the Tonawanda line...

[Terry M.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

One of John's pics from the Tonawanda line...

Well, I'll be. As the church lady used to say "Ain't that special."

[Mark D.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

Well, I'll be. As the church lady used to say "Ain't that special."

She might also ask...

"Who is that, painting those engines? Could it be...?"

[John H.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

So John from 65-67 how did they lift BB at St. Louis if they lifted SB by the exhaust manifolds.

The car assembly plants lifted/carried BB's the same way they handled SB's through 1967 - with lateral scissors hooks under the exhaust manifolds; photo below shows how many different designs of scissors hooks it took to carry engines in a multi-carline assembly plant in 1967, and how many designs of straight hooks it required in 1968 to do the same thing with lifting brackets on the engines. My Production Engineering Group at the Chevrolet Pilot Line made that happen. The other photo shows a typical 1960's engine dress line using the traditional scissors hooks, and another photo shows the Engine Drop operation at St. Louis in 1966 with a scissors hook.


67_68Hooks800.JPG55EngDressLine800.jpg66L79DropFrt800.jpg

[Keith B.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

John thanks for the pictures and answers. I could imagine pre 68 at a big plant with inline 6's SB,BB and any other BOP.engines that required a lot of different engine hooks. And after that that slimed it down. Those are some great pictures showing how it happend. I'm sure all us restores would love to have those bins of bolts behind that worker.

[Jim S.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

Do the pulleys look like engine color rather than black ????

[Joe L.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

Do the pulleys look like engine color rather than black ????

Jim------


I'd say gray phosphate.

[Jim S.]

Re: 1965 - Were carburetors installed on SB engines in St. Louis?

Jim------


I'd say gray phosphate.

Yeah, I guess there's a lot of reflection from the lighting.