Topic: engines built per day?

[dave500]

does anyone know how many engines of what ever model honda could produce daily,at full speed,or average?i have three 550 engines,one is from canberra and one from close by me in queensland,they are 3960 numbers apart,not real close.

[bwaller]

Dave I own a 750K3 & bought another Canadian K3 a few years back that are 3352 engine numbers off, 3435 on the frame. At the time I thought that was pretty close! 

Probably many days apart in production time, but all these years later seems to close that gap.

[Magpie]

That's an interesting question. I have engine number 260, first few days of production I suppose. Cliff.

[markb]

That's probably a good guess.  The  7414 sandcasts were built between June 1969 and September 1969.  That could have been anywhere between 1800 and 3600 per month depending on when they started in June and ended in September which could have been 60 to 120 per day.  I like to think my #97 (engine 100) was built on the first day of production. 

[Magpie]

How cool is that? Cliff.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

CB750F-100002 to CB750F-10015054 Built between 1/75 and first week of 4/75. Just don't know when they actually started. And not to forget but they were also building K's and A's. So guess it depends on model and facility production line.

[CrankyOldGuy]

If I remember correctly there were 77,000 750k1's produced between the end of Sept 70 to the beginning of March 72.  That would average a little over 4250 per month, working 21 days per month ... +/- 200 per day.  Just a guess ... just my brain used .. no calculator.

Harry O.

[markb]

That's probably a good guess.  The  7414 sandcasts were built between June 1969 and September 1969.  That could have been anywhere between 1800 and 3600 per month depending on when they started in June and ended in September which could have been 60 to 120 per day.  I like to think my #97 (engine 100) was built on the first day of production. 

I had made my estimate using 30 working days per month.  Twenty is probably a better number which would be 90 to 180 per day.  Cliff, that could easily put yours on the second day of production.  Of course were assuming they were up to speed in the first few days of production.  Interesting to think about.

[754]

 I dont think they were up to speed at first.. think it waas more of a schooling situation...a group of assemblers watching a prototype engineer explaining assembly as they did one in front of them..
 Curious trhough how the 150ish spread in motor/ frame #  came about..
..and what frame went to 97 and 260 motors...?

[Prospect]

I dont think they were up to speed at first.. think it waas more of a schooling situation...a group of assemblers watching a prototype engineer explaining assembly as they did one in front of them..
 Curious trhough how the 150ish spread in motor/ frame #  came about..
..and what frame went to 97 and 260 motors...?

Probably the spread came about because the engines were made and stamped to match the frame.  They would be tested and if they didn't meet the standard they would not be used and another one off the line would be placed in the bike.  That depends though if they stamped the engines while on the assembly line or when they were in the bike already.  Just a theory.

[Magpie]

The spread of frame to motor  numbers on 12/69 is almost 300, there must have been a few bad engines or frames coming down the line. I had a new one in July, 1969 and wonder what the numbers were on it at times.

[markb]

I have heard, on the sandcasts anyway, that the engines were all stamped as they were assembled and then stockpiled.  The frames were stamped in sequential order as they went down the assembly line.  In other words the engines weren't stamped to match the frames.  This means the frames were stamped after they were painted.  Have you ever noticed on the sandcast frames (and maybe later) the VIN is always rusty?  When it came time to drop in the engine they just grabbed one therefore the mismatch.  Except for the VIN stamping part this is all speculation but here is an interesting fact.
A member at the SOOC compared the engine numbers to the VINs from the directory of known sandcasts.  The chances of an engine number being lower than the frame VIN is 41%.  So the notion that the engine number is always greater than the VIN and that the difference is ever increasing due to weeding out defective motors is not correct.

[HondaMan]

Until sometime during the K1, when the 2nd factory was opened (hurriedly), the frames and engines were made and stamped: that was all. They were at different facilities until they were mated together on the production lines. If an engine showed up something undesirable during the test run or test track circle, it was pulled and sent back for rework, and the near-complete frame went to a rework line for another engine. This was how so many bikes ended up with things like K3 switches on K4 handlebars, K1 kickstart arms on K3 bikes (which had bigger rubber cushions), and the like.

This info came to me from a Honda rep I knew (Randy, don't remember his last name, but might if I dwelled on it...) in the early 1970s when I had my shop and these questions were everyday stuff: he had been to Japan twice by then and had seen the facilities live.

[dave500]

why didnt randy take a digital camcorder with him to the factory?

[markb]

They were at different facilities until they were mated together on the production lines.

Very interesting!  So even the frames didn't go down the line in order.  Even with the random pair-up I guess it would be possible to have a frame match an engine purely by chance.  Anyone ever seen that?

[HondaMan]

why didnt randy take a digital camcorder with him to the factory?

I asked him if he could take some pix for me on his next trip, but he never responded. I sort of wanted to see it, too!

They were at different facilities until they were mated together on the production lines.

Very interesting!  So even the frames didn't go down the line in order.  Even with the random pair-up I guess it would be possible to have a frame match an engine purely by chance.  Anyone ever seen that?

Just once, on a K1 in Chicago.

[fire113]

...I bought a K0 (no sandcast) this Year and I have only ONE numer difference between the frame and the engine. My K1 has ~50 numbers between frame and engine.