<VV> Head Torque

[Dennis & Debbie Pleau]

Craig, what is the brand name on the tool?

dp

At 11:32 AM 9/12/2005, NicolCS at aol.com wrote:
>Hank said:
><snip> John is right in that GM does use power tools on the assembly line on
>the head mounting job. At least in 74-75 when I was bolting 350 heads and 
>also
>in plant 4 on the Vega line they used them as well. No reason not to believe
>that they didn't in the 60's as well. <unsnip>
>
>For sure GM uses power tools on the assembly line and first hand experience
>as noted above is ample proof that they used them on 350s.   Here's some
>evidence to the contrary regarding Corvairs.  I have a socket that came 
>from the
>Corvair engine assembly line at the Los Angeles plant. It's a two-size
>telescoping socket - the extended size fits the upper studs and when it's 
>installed on a
>rocker stud, the telescoping portion pushes inside to permit the outer socket
>to land on the rocker stud.  The chrome socket has regular thickness walls,
>not the HD style walls of power sockets.  The tool is in excellent condition
>but when I used it with a power tool to spin down the nuts and studs on an
>engine I was putting together, the retaining pin flew out and the socket 
>came apart
>half-way through the job.  This would never have survivied a production
>environment with power drives.  I put the pieces back together; now it's 
>just like
>it was before and I use it all the time.
>
>Here's how I came by this tool:  When I was in LA's "South Coast Corsa" club,
>one of my club friends was "Red Jones".  Red worked at the Santa Fe Springs
>Assy plant and later at the Van Nuys plant as a quality engineer - his job 
>was
>actually problem solver and he's the guy who would decide what would work 
>when
>they ran out of a particular part or a process didn't work.  Red's affection
>for Corvairs was well known at the plant and when the tool-crib guy was
>cleaning house, he saved some Corvair specific tools for Red.  Before he 
>passed
>away, Red gave this socket to me.  BTW, Red is also the guy who noticed 
>that the
>Vega clutch disc in use at his plant looked like a Corvair disc but with a
>spring-center hub.  He mentioned that to me and I came up with what it 
>took to
>install one and did the first conversion.  Now, there's a little bit of 
>history!
>(very, very little!)
>
>GM may have used a power "nut-runner", but I suspect they used
>fixed-calibration hand torque wrenches for the final tightening of the 
>cylinder head.
>Craig Nicol