'78,'79,'80 Buildsheets, box by box

[marco_1978_spyder]

In this thread I want to document whats known about the 1978 to '80 buildsheets, and where the mysteries are, one box at a time.

if you feel you can add some information in, or have a question feel free to chime in.

were focusing on 78 to 80 buildsheets because there the most likely ones to be found. Earlier Vegas from 75 to 77 may be able to follow along. They were also Lordstown Ohio cars. The full sized sheet was introduced in the 75 model year. Canadian and California built cars dont usually have any buildsheets hidden in the interior.

You might find one under the carpet, behind a door panel, or behind a passengers side plastic seatback, on 1978 models.
A scanned in buildsheet will be included, just not right away.
So here goes...

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box1: Upper left corner. Large box...

1st heading "Job Sequence Number"

In this example we have "P2978706" stamped in normal sized font.

Its Known that the P stands for Pontiac . Their was also C, O, and B possible as well.
The 297870 (notice my omission of the '6' on the end) is the cars actual body unit number. Body unit numbers were assigned to sequentially to all H bodys AND Full sized Vans that were also made on the Lordstown property. This number reappears in box #8 labled body number.

Here in box 1 one this body number also recieves an extra digit on the end. This number varies from 1 to 9.
This one in particular has a 6.
I've grouped buildsheets up with the same last digit to find any correlations to body style or options but there were none. But that still leaves a wide variety of other possibilities for the digit.
Also, 2 different buildsheets from the same car revealed the same digit, so it wasnt about buildsheet copies.

One possibility is the frames were being created in batches of ten.
Another poss. is that cars were selected from pre assembled (bare body shells) in batches of ten. Or in one of ten body banks containing enough bare shells to keep supply up to demand. That way there would be a constant supply of coupes, hatches, and wagon frames, waiting to be matched up with an order and sent to the trim shop.

Every number included 2+2 body styles, so this digit didnt separate different body styles.


So that digit is an open question I have for anyone that worked at the plant that may know..

Well, thats it for tonight...tired, goin to bed!

[marco_1978_spyder]

Ok so still in box #1.

Underneath the job sequence numbers, we have 4 digits in a Large Font . In our example we have "0938"

This was another tracking number. This number is ONLY found on 1978 and 79 buildsheets. They eliminated the need for it in 1980.

--This number would have been written in a cars rear licence plate area in Wax Crayon-- Very original cars should have this number still under the rear licence plate, unless it was removed by a dealer prep, bodyshop.

I would have thought maybe this number was the key code for the car, but its appearance in the licence plate area seems to indicate it was just a final tracking number.

Below this number we have 'box' 10 but its still within the same actual box as box 1 so we'll discuss it here.

Here are some of the most interesting numbers off of the whole buildsheet, and I lay claim to cracking this code.

In this example we'll have 56-6449 on top of 04-20. The heading of this area is "Sched. No. Date"

The schedule number and date..... to be continued..

[marco_1978_spyder]

Starting with the line on the bottom we have 4-20. As you may have guessed, this was April 20th 1978. (My 6th birthday,lol!)

On top we have the 56-6449...

56- was the production cycle day. This number works like this... Production of the 78 models began in late Aug, 1977.

The first work day of production was 01. Day after day it clicked up right to 99 the 00, 01,02 again..

A typical month counted about 20 production days(M-F some Saturdays). They ran a total of 244 days in 1978. 79 was similar.

Day #56 would have passed by in the 3rd month of production. April was the 8th month of production, and with that, the '56' is actually denoting day 156. Apparantly It wasnt necessary to know it was day 156, just that it wasnt day 55 or 57. Each day had 2, 8 hour shifts, so the line ran for about 16 hours for each day counted.

The next 4 digit's, was the cars place in line.. most likely during the final assembly line, which was 1 long line. Probably similar to the early Vega's mile and a quarter long track. 6449 was this cars #. The car ahead and behind would have been 6450 and 6448 respectively. Regardless of make, model or vin number.

Subassemblies would have referenced this number to meet up with the right car at the right place and at the right time.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Boxes 2 thru 7a Blank.

Box 8: Body Unit Number.

This box contains the number assigned to your body shell. It does not correspond to the VIN. Body unit numbers can jump around by the thousands on cars that made it down final line just a few hundred cars apart.

Most likely the basic bare body shell for your car was assembled by fisher body before it was destined to become your actual car. This number counted every C-B-O-P body shell the plant made + Van bodies, that were made and shipped to a separate final assembly plant on the Lordstown property.

1978's totals were some 444,000 units. This body was #297870.

Doing some simple math, this number equates to the frame shop spitting out bodies at just about 2 per minute, for every minute of the 244 days the plant was running 78's.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Here is a sample sheet to follow along with..

[marco_1978_spyder]

BOX 9: Large box upper right corner. Includes Box 24.

Box 9, is labled "Vehicle Ident. Number"
And thats whats given.... Here we have 2 - M07V - 8U
550620.
Decoding a vin is pretty common knowledge so I wont go into it here. The above shows this is a pontiac sunbird hatch with a 4cyl. made in 1978 at Lordstown, and was the 50,620th Sunbird that year. (Pontiacs started with 500,001)

Box 24.. DP SEQ. NO.
Printed in this box is a repeat of the body unit number from Box 8, and also the 4 digit number from Box 10 which was discussed with box one.

Seems that here, the basic chassis Body Unit Number was married to the cars spot down the final assebly Line.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box 10 - Discussed with Box 1..The Cars spot in line was now set with designated day. During one of the 2, 8 hour shifts, on day #156 which would occur on 4-20-78.

Box 11: AXLE Here we have there very first information about the actual parts assembled to your car.
In the box labled Axle, is what axle your car received.. Here a "2EC" was set for assembly. A 2EC was a non posI, 2.73 geared rear.
The 2EC is followed by 2 dot's that lead into the information in box 12 labled Frame.

Box 12: FRAME

-This is currently a mystery... Here are the details.. I have a pile of about 30 buildsheets, and have about another 10 viewable online.

In all I've encountered...the numbers ..80 - ..81 - and ..82 most commonly. In one single instance I have a ".181"
In this example we have a common 2EC..81 I've sorted buildsheets according to this number and looked for similarities which would indicate this number was for the torque arm.... But it doesnt correspond... In each pile there's a mix of tranny's and therefore different trq arm setups. No other correlations stood out either. Like sway bars(covered in another box) I thought maybe this might have to do with where the battery tray would have been spot welded, but this would have been taken care of before the car was even painted.

So Box 12 and its contents stands as -unknown.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box 13 & 14: are under a combined heading "Control Arms"

13: Front: This box, like our example, usually contains the number 16. 16 was the Upper control arm which was the same for every car. Then, 15. 15 is the number used for the lower control arm. A 4cyl model with no sway bars will have 59 in place of the 15.

A 59 was a lower control arm W/O the mount for a sway bar welded to it. A 15 was used on sway bar equipped cars.

1980 Buildsheets also contain a 3 letter color code here such as 'SIL' 'LTB' which usually corresponds to the interior color. It's been a while since I sorted them out but based on some comparing, this color corresponded to Lower dashboard color. (1980 models could get a 2-tone scheme with the lower area and glove box door in black) Not sure why this info is up here by the control arm information, but it looks like they had no better place to put it..

Next, Box 14: "Rear" Most of the time this contains one ' * ' asterisk symbol
as this example does. However I've found varoius codes here Starting with a Blank Box, Then 2 asterisks * *
I also have * * 05, * * 06, * * 19, All on top end models.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Next,

Box 15: "Front Springs" RH / LH... This ones pretty straight forward and easy to understand..

Our example Sunbird was a no a/c 4cyl originaly. And it got a set of 4cyl, no a/c springs. "AXJ".

There was a yellow tag on the springs as they were installed, displaying the AJX code in large letters with the GM part number in smaller print. Some times this tag is still around - one thing to check for on a "low milage" car. It would be interesting to know how the exact details on what the factory did to get them installed in under a minute.
V8 no a/c cars usually got 'AOS' code.... A factory restoration guide lists all the codes and their respective rates.
There were around 16 different possibilities.

Box 16: "Rear springs" RH / LH.. Here again pretty straight forward.

In this example we have FN / FN. - Each rear spring was the same. I have a build sheet that had 2 different rear springs.. This car was a 6cyl Sun.hatch with a full size spare. Requiring a stronger rear spring on one side.
Although another Sun. hatch buildsheet with a v8 and a full size spare tire, with matching rear springs.
Both cars had the N73 Rally Wheels..

[marco_1978_spyder]

Today's Episode of Buildsheet Bonanza:

Box 17: "Front Shock"

This box has a 2 letter code that corresponded to a 2 letter code found on the original shocks.
This example got a set of "LJ" shock's. This car was a 4cyl , with the Y99 handling packg

Other shocks codes incl,
AP - 78 v8 auto w/ Front Sway Bar.
BB - 78 Monza Spyder V8, 78 Sunbird Formula V8.
SK -78 v6 Formula, with Y99 handling pkg.
MM -79 sunbird Coupe 4cyl ,
NE - 80 sunbird hatch 4cyl
AM - 78 - 80 4cyl, V6 W, front sway bar.
GG - 78 V6 sunbird w/ WY5 Radial Suspension
AX - 80 V6 Spyder

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box 18: "Rear Shock"

And again, this box lists what contains. Codes to get the right shock matched up with your car.

In this example we have LJ. So some shocks labled LJ were set to meet this car down the line, when car 6449, rolled up to the place in line where they were installed.

Other shocks codes incl,
BK - 78 V8 auto non spyder
BB - 78 Monza Spyder V8, 78 Sunbird Formula V8.
SK -78 v6 Formula, with Y99 handling pkg.
XR - 79- 80 sunbird hatch 4cyl
AG - 78 - 80 4cyl/ V6 W, front sway bar.
GJ - 78 V6 sunbird w/ WY5 Radial Suspension
GL - 78- 80 v6/v8 Spyder

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box 19: "STRG. KNUCKLE" aka steering knuckle.

This example lists "01 1" in the box.

If your car was a 4cyl, it will have an 01 as this one does. Most standard 4cyl cars, have an "01 2"

V6/V8 cars, have a "79 1" in this box.

So this example has an uncommon mix of parts. The difference between the 4cyl iron duke 2.5 motor cars and the V6/V8 cars has me thinking this is the idler arm set for this car.
Not sure about the last code, possibly the pitman arm and/or idler arm setup, chosen for your car.

All spindle/brake hub assemblies were the same for 78-80.

[marco_1978_spyder]

BOX 20: "STEERING" Subheadings "GEAR" and "LKG".

The codes appear to continue to correspond with the heading here..This car got an 'HM' steering Box. and '85' under 'Linkage'. This could be the the Pitman arm. HM 85 also found on 78 V6 Forumla.

Here's some other codes...

"CA 04" - 1980 4cyl... 1980 V6 Spyder
"XX 85" - 1978 Sunbird, coupe 4cyl. 1978 V8 All.
"FF 85" - 1979 3.2 v6

[marco_1978_spyder]

Box 21:

Labled: "STAB BAR" FRT / RR

This box does contain codes for the front and rear stabilizer bars installed.

Examples codes:

80 sunbird 4cyl with no bars " ** ** "

78-80 monza V6 with front bar only " FT ** "

80 monza v6 spyder 78 monza spyder V8 78 Sunbird Formula V8 "FA 78"

78 Sunbird Formula 4cyl , 78 V6 Sun Formula " FA 02 "