Norwood Reunion Photo Tour

[SS427]

Damn! I knew I should have gone. I could sit there for hours and listen to their assembly line techniques. Many of you know how anal I am about how things were done on the assembly line and this would have been a great time to hear it first hand. My first question would have been, "How were the coil springs inserted into the frame in only a matter of seconds?". Thanks for posting the photos.

[Xplantdad]

Great stuff Jeff!

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SS427</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Damn! I knew I should have gone. I could sit there for hours and listen to their assembly line techniques. Many of you know how anal I am about how things were done on the assembly line and this would have been a great time to hear it first hand. My first question would have been, &quot;How were the coil springs inserted into the frame in only a matter of seconds?&quot;. Thanks for posting the photos. </div></div>

It was done as you would imagine it: front cradles and rear axles details (ie, shocks, springs, brake lines, etc) were subassembled on a separate feeder line. The front upper and lower control arms were attached to the subframe, &quot;open&quot; at the ball joint end. The front spring was hydraulically compressed and positioned, and the ball joint attachments made.

So - the operation was done in a traditional way but the use of hydraulic compressors and air tools made it go faster.

Alternatively, for those vehicle assembly plants building full frame vehicles (like light duty trucks): the entire front engine/suspension crossemember could be built up at the source. This crossmember, complete with suspension and brake corners intact, could be received at the assembly plant and fed to the main line directly, where it was attached with two or three horizontal bolts and two or three vertical bolts (per side) in the vicitny of the engine mount. This reduces the time at the final assembly plant and transfers responsibility for the quality of the subassembly to the supplier.

K

[DaJudge]

Really cool reunion. This is what makes the hobby fun. How did you go about gathering or contacting the past employees? This would be really cool to do with the Pontiac MI plant workers and stage it around the GTOAA or POCI meets.

[70 copo]

The reunion was an off shoot of the book... While I was doing research for it, I began getting invited to the Picnics and Summer parties hosted by both groups.... One day in early 2011 the Salary group asked if I could locate perhaps a Camaro for a display at the picnic site, I replied why just one...

Gathering 2011 the experiment: https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...;Number=460036


Nobody know how it was going to turn out so we all winged it. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: DaJudge</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Really cool reunion. This is what makes the hobby fun. How did you go about gathering or contacting the past employees? This would be really cool to do with the Pontiac MI plant workers and stage it around the GTOAA or POCI meets. </div></div>

This might be tougher to do since they've already &quot;dispersed&quot;; sounds like Phil had a couple existing pools of former workers to draw from.

We may have missed that opportunity for Pontiac.

K