My uncle has been working in Chicago with a guy who was on the design team for the Mill and Drill Machine used in the Fiero plant #17.

He worked for Gilman, the company that built the machines in 1983. There were three machines built. All three machines were used for the Fiero program from 1983 (Beginning of the 1984 Model Year) until 1988. After that, one machine went on to the new Saturn plant to start production of the Saturn SL-Series sedan in 1990. The other 2 machines were retained and used for the Lumina APV, Trans Sport, and Stilletto mini-vans.

Enjoy:




























Matt

Wow, very good.

Archie

OK, That is awesome. Thanks!

Very cool. Thanks for posting it!!

Think there is a chance one of us is driving that same space frame in the picture?

Nice!
I actually read each written page too...
I want to paint my 86 chassis off white now.

[This message has been edited by IFLYR22 (edited 06-09-2011).]

Great find!
Thanks for sharing.

~ Bob

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"Its nice to be important.
Its more important to be nice."

Thanks! A + for you!

Never seen a white space frame before! Cool stuff!

Very nice Mattman. Thanks for sharing!

Pat

wow awesome find! +1

Yes. Amazing for its time.

Thanks for sharing.

Wow thank you for sharing and additional +1 for not being a douchebag and attempting to sell on Ebay for $15 a pic.

I almost skipped this thread. Glad I didn't. THis is very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Fascinating.

Thats very cool, thanks so much for posting!

Its kind of inspiring, I believe I read there were 3 of those machines made for the Fiero line. That means that my car has a 33% chance of being machined by the very machine in the pictures. So cool!

can the originals be zipped or rar'ed and hosted ona dl site for us to download? this is something i would love to have.

[This message has been edited by americasfuture2k (edited 06-10-2011).]

Excellent! Thanks for scanning that in and posting it. I give you a "+" too.

Very cool to see. Thanks.

Edit to say I also gave you a + for this.

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"Life is short. Drink the good wine first"

[This message has been edited by Larryh86GT (edited 06-10-2011).]

Wow... Boy have we come a long way... One or two small robots now prolly does the same thing and you dont need a 2k sq ft area to fit them Look at all the steel used to make that beast! Daaaaammmm, that sucker is big; makes my drill-press look like a sewing needle. You could power a small town w/ the amount of electricity that thing uses...

[This message has been edited by ALJR (edited 06-10-2011).]

quote Originally posted by sricka01: Wow thank you for sharing and additional +1 for not being a douchebag and attempting to sell on Ebay for $15 a pic.

I have the originals of these pics if anyone wants them for $15 apiece. :-)

quote Originally posted by FieroG97J: I have the originals of these pics if anyone wants them for $15 apiece. :-)

+1 douchebag point to you good sir! LOL

Bump for those who haven't seen this thread yet.

Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing

Hooraayyy for progress!!!!

Neat write up. Thanks for posting.

Wow cool! I see that it could drill 60 frames a minute but does anyone know how many fieros were rolling off the assembly line per day? I assume '84 was the year that they had maximum production.....

brian

Cool info! Thanks for sharing.

Mattman,

(And any other interested parties) Pontiac was very proud of the Gilman machinery and "advertised" its capabilities whenever and wherever they could. I suspect that there were originally many sets of these pics floating around. I live near New Orleans and In the early nineties I made a pilgrimage to Pontiac HQ in Dearborn, after having made phone contact with one Fred Simmonds who at the time was the PMD Public Relations Mgr. I was allowed access to the files in the PR department to comb through them for items of interest. These files were comprised of at least 10 five drawer filing cabinets with each drawer so jam packed full that it was hard to pull an idividual document. I was there for the better part of two days trying my best to put an eyeball on every document and slip of paper or photo that was there. I was told to take what I wanted, but they would review whatever I selected before letting me escape. I amassed a pile of about 18 inches in height which was mostly all photographs. There are a lot of shots of prototype interiors, whole cars, etc. A lot of the pics are original art for views commonly seen in the shop manual, dealer albums, press kits and some used in Witzenburg's book on the Fiero. That trip started me on my literature hobby which is now comprised of such things as continuous loop film strip projectors, advertising tapes, TechTrack tapes in VHS and Beta formats, laser discs, dealer albums, Ad Planners, Advanced Press Information binders, Parts & Illustration catalogs, and much much more. Unfortunately, no one in my family has the least interest and I have 4 sons. I would never have the time to list it all on ebay, but I'm trying to put some stuff out there for the true collectors. Without itemizing the whole collection I am guessing it to be worth about $5,000 If anyone would like to talk literature send me an email and I will send back a phone #

dk

Awesome! Just one of those spindles is bigger than my whole CNC machine, I'd love to get my hands on one that big!

Great stuff to see!

I remember making a tour of the plant in about 1986 and seeing this machine in operation along with all the robotic welders. I was also impressed at the time with the paint line where they mounted all of the panels on a rack and ran them through the paint system at one time.

So, just to understand better, the white space frame in all the pics is made of steel, right? Just never knew why they called it a space frame, because of design or matterial?
Also, Mattman134, another plus for you. Thanks for sharing!

Here are some pics of some of my "stuff."

From Wikipedia spaceframe
"Space frames are sometimes used in the chassis designs of automobiles and motorcycles. In a space-frame, or tube-frame, chassis, the suspension, engine, and body panels are attached to a skeletal space frame, and the body panels have little or no structural function. By contrast, in a monocoque design, the body serves as part of the structure. Tube-frame chassis are frequently used in certain types of racing cars.

The first notable American-Produced automobile to use a space frame was the Pontiac Fiero. Fiero frames used 233 pieces of steel, weighing in at 600lbs, to form a very strong and safe car. After the Fiero program ended in 1988, the technology went on to form the Saturn SL series, Pontiac Trans Sport, and Chevrolet Lumina APV mini-vans."

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"Now you too can see in the dark."
http://projectorretrofit.com/

I have a question about the doors. So those were already drilled and hinged by the time it was put into this mill machine? Couldnt that have resulted in sloppy alignment?

I'm wondering why it needed such massive looking drills just to make holes in the plastic tabs on the body? Seems like it wouldn't take such a massive rig.

Today's version would have a Windows based touch screen PLC instead of that control panel.

The machine was probably designed in 1982.

[This message has been edited by 30+mpg (edited 05-19-2012).]

quote Originally posted by jscott1: I'm wondering why it needed such massive looking drills just to make holes in the plastic tabs on the body? Seems like it wouldn't take such a massive rig.

Repeatability

That is very very impressive. Thank you so much for sharing with us...

quote Originally posted by 30+mpg: Today's version would have a Windows based touch screen PLC instead of that control panel.

And an Indian person at the controls