Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 410 Back to the Repair Shop

Chen Luyang laughed and said, "Our car repair business is just like your clothing business. We can't really smell the cosmetics and perfumes backstage, but you can tell the names just by taking a sniff."

Gao Xiaolin chuckled: "Wenwei, I don't think you're a car mechanic. With your skills, you could be promoted to section chief in our state-owned stores!"

Chen Luyang feigned sadness and sighed deeply, "I thought I could become a Party Secretary, but I'm just a counter supervisor..."

Gao Xiaolin laughed nonchalantly, "That's right! I still want to be the Party Secretary!"

……

Although Chen Luyang said that he would take his roommates back to the auto repair center to see what was going on during the National Day holiday.

However, the school organized a lot of fun activities during the National Day holiday.

The class leaders of dormitory 421, who were responsible for organizing their classmates to participate in activities, chose to stay at school.

Early in the morning, Chen Luyang rushed to the school cafeteria, bought a whole cloth bag full of steamed buns, carried it on his shoulder, and took the bus back to the West Railway Station.

Putting aside everything else, the steamed buns in the school cafeteria are absolutely delicious.

He had been thinking of buying more steamed buns to take home for everyone to try.

On the way back, Chen Luyang was like a walking, fragrant meat bun, and people nearby couldn't help but take a few deep breaths of her.

After finally getting off the bus,
Chen Luyang happily carried the big bun and rushed towards the repair center.

The repair center was bustling with activity at that moment!
Early in the morning,

Jiao Long and Li He, carrying brooms and mops, wiped the windows and swept the cement floor of the workshop until it was so clean you could see your reflection in it, muttering to themselves as they swept:
"Even dogs don't like to lie here normally, but today we have to make sure the director sees it as bright and clean as soon as he walks in!"

Director Lu happily carried two pots of poinsettia and placed them at the entrance of the factory.

The repair center originally planned to hang up some red lanterns to decorate for National Day.

However, there's no way around it; the city has regulations that only units located on the street or government agencies at the bureau level or above are allowed to hang red lanterns.

So Director Lu could only go to the flower market and buy two pots of poinsettias to share in the joy.

It seems they disliked the flowers because they weren't in good condition.

Director Lu shifted the position of the flowers and leaves, then picked up his teacup and took a big gulp of water, spraying it onto the flowers and leaves with a "pfft" sound, like a fountain.

In an instant, the flowers and leaves, glistening with water droplets, became crisp, tender, and bright red, looking exquisitely beautiful.

Zuo Zhuo, standing next to him, couldn't bear it and looked away.

This poor flower...

Director Lu, that old smoker, is practically soaked in tobacco every day; the water he spews out is no different from opium smoke.

In the kitchen, Zhang Guoqiang and his two fellow chefs stood guard in front of the stove, their eyes practically green with hunger.

"Red Army soldiers, when should these steamed buns be steamed?"

Above the large steamer, white steam hissed and billowed out through the gaps in the bamboo strips, and the aroma of noodles mixed with the smell of meat oil assaulted the three of them, making their mouths water.

Normally, everyone would have finished eating by this time.

But today is both National Day and the day Chen Luyang returns to the workshop.
Sun Hongjun went to buy pork before dawn and started making big steamed buns in the morning.

"Almost there, just simmer for another three minutes!"

Sun Hongjun squatted under the stove, diligently wiping it, causing black ash to fall off in a rush.

Today Chen Luyang is back, so we absolutely have to make sure the stove is spotless.

Upon hearing that the steamed buns would be ready in three minutes, the chefs couldn't resist taking bowls out of the cupboard and pouring in soy sauce and vinegar, or crushing garlic as needed.

Seeing that it was almost time, Sun Hongjun stood up, wiped his hands on his apron, picked up a large iron ladle, lifted the pot of millet porridge, and stirred it from side to side.

"The porridge is ready! Let's eat!!"

Upon hearing "Dinner's ready," Jiao Long, Sun Hongjun, Zuo Zhuo, and several others who were working immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed into the kitchen almost like madmen.

Just as Sun Hongjun lifted the pot lid, he heard a familiar voice coming from outside the door:

"Brothers! I'm back!!!"

Everyone ran out of the kitchen with their rice bowls in their hands, and saw Chen Luyang standing at the entrance of the car maintenance and repair center with a large cloth bag on his shoulder.

"Director, why are you back so early!"

Director Lu happily put down the vinegar bowl and went out to greet them.

Chen Luyang laughed and said, "I just wanted to come back early so I could bring you some breakfast from the school cafeteria, so you wouldn't have to cook."

"What good stuff did you bring?"

Li He, quick as a flash, snatched the bag from Chen Luyang.
Before it was even opened,
Then Chen Luyang proudly declared, "These are steamed buns freshly made in our cafeteria!!"

"Let me tell you, the steamed buns in our cafeteria are incredibly delicious. I got up early to queue up and snag one; I bought the whole pot..."

Talking,

He wrinkled his nose. "...Wait, what's that smell so good in this room? Did you make steamed buns?"

Chen Luyang peeked into the kitchen and saw that the steamer was bubbling with steam, and under the lifted lid, a steamer of plump, white buns were steaming with their folds open.

Chen Luyang's smile froze instantly.

"Why are you guys serving steamed buns too?"

Sun Hongjun was also quite embarrassed: "It's not a holiday. Usually, everyone eats steamed buns and rolls in the morning. I bought some pork this morning and was thinking of making steamed buns for everyone."

Director Lu said with a smile, "How wonderful! We're all here today thanks to the director. Otherwise, who would be able to eat these steamed buns from Peking University? Come on, everyone, have some steamed buns! Director, you should also try the Red Army's cooking."

There were plenty of steamed buns available today, and everyone ate to their heart's content.

After they had eaten enough, Chen Luyang asked, "How's things in the workshop lately? Is everyone's work going smoothly?"

Director Lu said seriously, "The work is going smoothly, but everyone is having a lot of trouble with the spare parts."

"Cock!"

This is exactly what Chen Luyang is worried about: "Tell me about it."

Director Lu led Chen Luyang to the back workshop and pointed to a large blackboard on the wall, saying, "Director, this blackboard is a frequency table of high-wear parts made by Xiao Zuo and his team. There are many car models in Pian'er City, and we can't find original parts at all. So Guoqiang and his team assemble them themselves and repair them themselves."

"Although it's usable, we're not a production workshop after all. All the splicing materials are supplied by Hessela industrial waste. But industrial waste isn't always available. If they can't supply it, we can't repair the parts."

Chen Luyang frowned and interrupted, "Sheng Haisen gave us industrial waste, did we pay him?"

"I gave it to them," Director Lu confirmed. "I went to the scrap yard to ask about the price. The repair center bought the industrial waste at a price that was 1 cents higher than the purchase price."

Chen Luyang agreed, "That's right, we're not short of that money."

He looked up at the "High-Frequency Consumable Parts Statistics Table".
The ignition coil (212), rubber gasket (121), clutch pressure plate (140)... the parts of the car that malfunctioned were clearly marked, and the number of replacements was also noted in the "Replacement Frequency This Month" column.

The ignition coil of model 212 was replaced the most times, a staggering 22 times.

"A lot of cars have come in for repairs this month?" Chen Luyang asked, somewhat surprised. "Quite a few," Director Lu replied, taking the repair logbook recorded by Li He and showing it to Chen Luyang page by page.

“We were in the newspaper before, and we were in such a prominent place at the West Railway Station. There are usually a lot of cars coming and going on this street.”

"In addition, the long lines at those old state-owned factories mean some cars are sent to us to try their luck."

Director Lu smiled憨厚ly: "Anyway, once it's fixed, we'll issue them an invoice, and they can get reimbursed when they get back, it's the same thing."

As Chen Luyang listened, he flipped through the car repair register.

Don't even say it,

The car maintenance and repair center is doing really well; they repaired more than 70 cars in September alone.

Besides the 20-odd cars belonging to the provincial machinery factory,
The taxi company sent more than 20 vehicles, the transport fleet sent 10 vehicles, the Ministry of Foreign Trade sent 3 old trucks, and the government vehicles sent more than 20 vehicles. There were also some postal vehicles that came to repair temporarily.

Director Lu explained from the side, "We currently receive about 2 to 4 vehicles per day."

"Last month I repaired more than 70 cars and earned a total of about 800 yuan."

"But after deducting the cost of materials, water and electricity, food and drink for everyone, and some miscellaneous supplies, there is still a little over 180 yuan left in the account."

Chen Luyang carefully examined the ledger in her hand, line by line.

To be honest, a profit of a little over 200 yuan is not a good result for a newly established repair and maintenance center, but it's not too bad either.

After all, the workers' wages are now paid by the provincial machinery factory.

Without the factory's support, 800 yuan wouldn't be enough to pay everyone's wages.

"Let me see the parts you made." Chen Luyang put down the ledger and turned to walk towards the machine tool.

Three workbenches lined up against the wall, each covered with an oilcloth and old newspapers.

Director Lu pointed to a shelf on the wall and said, "This shelf is our 'standard parts cabinet,' which contains our self-made general-purpose parts."

While explaining, Director Lu took out a "General Parts Replacement and Usage Registration Form" from the shelf.

“After each car repair, Xiao Zuo would sort the common parts by number and put them into the ‘standard parts cabinet’ with labels… Director Chen, look at this shelf, it’s full of ground metal washers, which are specially designed to fit the 212 clutch.”

Chen Luyang picked up a washer and examined it; traces of welding remained on the edges.

He blew on it and asked, "How many times has it been polished?"

"Three passes with the grinding wheel, then one more by hand," Zuo Zhuo said with a smile, sitting in the back corner, clamping a metal piece in a vise.
“These are all substandard copper coins that Sheng Haisen brought over. Others thought they were too thin, so we brought them back, sliced ​​them, and polished them. We could make three washers from one slice... Our hands were almost worn raw.”

Chen Luyang frowned slightly but did not answer.

Instead, he turned to look at the "modified fuel injectors" being assembled on the control panel.

These "modified fuel injectors" are made by re-cutting and welding two different models of old nozzle housings together to form a unified interface.

The joints are shiny, and the solder joints are very fine.

Chen Luyang picked it up and shook it; he could still hear a slight echo as the liquid flow channels inside were opened.

"Can these be used?" He looked at Zhang Guoqiang.

“It’s been tested.” Zhang Guoqiang nodded. “I installed it on the 121 and ran it for two laps. The firepower is quite even. It just uses a little more fuel than the original, but it’s better than not being able to be repaired.”

"These blanks are intended to be converted into shock absorber joints."

Zhang Guoqiang explained:

"This was cut from a connecting rod on an old farm machine. The size was just right, so we tried to make it into a universal connector so that the 121 and the small truck that overwhelms the West could be used together."

……

Chen Luyang held the washer in his hand, standing amidst a pile of half-old and half-new parts.

Not a single piece of material here is new; even the table legs are made from old tires as non-slip mats.

But even in this dilapidated little workshop, this group of people managed to repair cars that seemed beyond repair, hammering and filing away.

"Director Lu, Uncle Zhang, you've worked hard." Chen Luyang sighed deeply.

He had previously wondered how Zhang Guoqiang and his team could repair the car, but after seeing it today, he realized that these people had been working so hard behind the scenes.

Director Lu stood beside Chen Luyang, smiling and encouraging her:
"Director Chen, we don't have much money left, but if we can save it for three months, it will be enough to buy a grinding machine so we can grind the washers ourselves."

Chen Luyang shook her head.

"There are less than 10 of us in total. Everyone has to repair cars and grind parts. The workload is too heavy and it's not a long-term solution."

He glanced at the frequency table of high-wear parts on the large blackboard on the wall.

"Repair centers repair cars, they don't manufacture parts."

"If you want to keep the repair center running, simply modifying old parts won't work. You still need to set standards, draw up blueprints, develop designs, come up with ideas and data, and then have others do the manufacturing. That's the right way to do it."

Drawing blueprints?
Upon hearing these three words, Zhang Guoqiang and his fellow apprentices scratched their heads.

These people deal with parts every day.

Once the car is driven into the factory, you can usually guess what's wrong by listening to the sound and feeling the vibration.

But if you ask them to draw blueprints like engineers such as Cao Qinghang and Xiao Wu, they won't be good at it.

"Director Chen..." Director Lu noticed the tense atmosphere and breathed a sigh of relief for them.

“We can all draw blueprints based on experience. We can draw things like the approximate length of a place, which hole to fit, which side to file, and which side to weld. But if you’re talking about industrial drafting, that’s a different story.”

Industrial drafting is not a hand-drawn sketch; it's not simply about drawing an outline and marking dimensions.

Not only is a unified drafting language and standardized format required, but also the stress analysis, deformation calculation, standard structural dimensions, tolerance fit, material labeling, and other aspects of the parts must be considered, requiring the expression of precise data for complex structural components.

Zhang Guoqiang and his team can grind a small washer into a usable one in half an hour.

But if you want to "draw" it out and have someone else produce it according to the drawing, it would probably take a whole day to draw it.

They did consider sending these blueprints back to the provincial machinery factory, having the factory's engineers draw up new blueprints, and also manufacturing a batch of parts to ship back.

However, these standard parts are still in the "prototyping and verification" stage, and many dimensions and interfaces still need to be fine-tuned after they are made.

Using the factory's large equipment would be neither cost-effective nor too extravagant.

If possible,

Ideally, we should first find a small workshop in the city to grind a mold according to the blueprints for trial assembly.

We'll concentrate production when the scale becomes larger later.

"I'll take care of the blueprint issue," Chen Luyang said after a moment's thought.

"You guys draw up the experience drawings first, and mark the dimensions as clearly as possible."

"Draw out the interface mating points, hole spacing, and interface model. I'll go back to school and ask someone for help with the rest."

(End of this chapter)