Topic: Engine codes
in Forum: C3 Engines
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Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
V = Flint Assy plant
02 = Feb
22 = Feb 22nd
Check that next "0" carefully...it is prolly a "C". The last three letters are the engine suffix code, but..."OTL" ain't right. For 1970, "CTL" would be a base engine, 350/300hp, 4speed, Quadrajet carb.
02 = Feb
22 = Feb 22nd
Check that next "0" carefully...it is prolly a "C". The last three letters are the engine suffix code, but..."OTL" ain't right. For 1970, "CTL" would be a base engine, 350/300hp, 4speed, Quadrajet carb.
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56 
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
The date stamp on the engine pad is the engine assembly date...NOT the car assembly date. The date on the pad has to be before the car assy date. It could be just a few days before, but it could be weeks, or in some instances, months, but that is vary rare. The normal time span would be about two weeks.
btw...the engine casting date is used to determine the year of the engine...
Adams' Apple 2008-02-09 22:20:03
btw...the engine casting date is used to determine the year of the engine...
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
...unless I'm wrong the numbers on the back are raised and cast into the engine block; a coded date and engine block casting. The date would be prior to the build date
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Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
Yeah...the engine casting date would precede the engine assembly date. I guess the confusion was when I stated that to determine the year of the engine, you would check the casting date.
The VIN stamp only gives the month/day of engine assembly, but not the year.
For instance, say you have an engine cast date of 1-23-70. Your stamp-pad, assembly date would have to be after the cast date, so your stamp date might be 2-21. So in this case, it would be an engine for a 1970 car, assembled Feb. 22nd, 1970. This example gives the assembly date of the engine a full month after it was cast. Totally acceptable, but a little out of the norm. My '74 has an engine cast date of May 31st, '74. The assembly date is June 5th, '74, so it was a week after casting that it was assembled.
The VIN stamp only gives the month/day of engine assembly, but not the year.
For instance, say you have an engine cast date of 1-23-70. Your stamp-pad, assembly date would have to be after the cast date, so your stamp date might be 2-21. So in this case, it would be an engine for a 1970 car, assembled Feb. 22nd, 1970. This example gives the assembly date of the engine a full month after it was cast. Totally acceptable, but a little out of the norm. My '74 has an engine cast date of May 31st, '74. The assembly date is June 5th, '74, so it was a week after casting that it was assembled.
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
It worked this way:
Engine blocks, heads, intake manifolds etc. were cast at a GM foundry near Flint and were marked with the date they were cast. These casting dates appear as raised numbers on the castings. The raw castings were then shipped to the engine assembly plant at Flint where they were machined, mated up with the rest of their respective parts, and assembled into complete engines. The date the engine was assembled at Flint and the engine suffix code for it's original application were stamped on the pad at the front of the right head at Flint.
Smallblocks intended for Corvette installation were then shipped to St. Louis and were on hand before assembly of the car began. On the assembly line at St. Louis, the VIN derivative was stamped on the engine pad and the frame.
Casting dates must precede engine assembly dates. Engine assembly dates must precede the Time/Build date of the Corvette.
The original block in my '68 was cast on April 4, 1968; the engine was assembled on April 9, 1968 and received a V0409HO stamp. The car has a Time/Build date of April 20, 1968.
in Forum: C3 Engines
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