[RA1John]

Are we certain that all engines were pre-run at the engine assembly plant?
I'll have to ask my friend who worked at Pontiac Engine Assembly in the early to mid 60s.
I recall him saying one of his jobs was sub assembling the Tri-Power carbs, lines, linkage and setting the entire assy. into a rack where another operator would place it on the engine/intake.
He also swung the mallet to stamp the engine usage code on the front of the block. Said they Engine Unit Number was already stamped before it got to him (at casting plant?)

[johnta1]

I think the carb(s) weren't on the engine when ran?
Not sure if intake was on or special contraption (for propane)?

[judger69]

Originally Posted by RA1John

Are we certain that all engines were pre-run at the engine assembly plant?
I'll have to ask my friend who worked at Pontiac Engine Assembly in the early to mid 60s.
I recall him saying one of his jobs was sub assembling the Tri-Power carbs, lines, linkage and setting the entire assy. into a rack where another operator would place it on the engine/intake.
He also swung the mallet to stamp the engine usage code on the front of the block. Said they Engine Unit Number was already stamped before it got to him (at casting plant?)

This Eric White interview with Pontiac factory worker Carl Papke is on Wildaboutcarsonline.com They talk about running the engines without a carb but on a natural gas / air mixture and water hoses hooked up. It is a very good series of articles with lots of info about the various plants. However, what years that this was done is not stated in the article, so unsure if every engine from that plant was fired. He also states they didn't have a starter on them at that time. Hmmmmmm...... I wonder if the starters were installed at the assembly factory then.

Engine fire up is about half way down Section 4.

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...aldisplayed=50

[judger69]

And here is a link to section 1 - the start of the interview. The series pretty much traces the construction of the car from the frame to finished. This may help with some of the OP's questions about the build process and dates etc. It says factory worker Carl started working at the pontiac factory in Oct. 1963.

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...aldisplayed=50