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The 340 hp engine in my 1962 C1 has a casting date of March 28, 1962. Casting # 3782870
The production date of the car was about 4 1/2 weeks later-5-3-62.
The engine pad is stamped: F0425RE and 2110704 (last 6 digits match the VIN)
Apparently the engine was assembled on April 25th, 1962.
Hopefully these are as they should be.
Thanks
Frame is stamped S110704
VIN: 20867S110704
[QUOTE=LRGO;1598891574]The 340 hp engine in my 1962 C1 has a casting date of March 28, 1962. Casting # 3782870
The production date of the car was about 4 1/2 weeks later-5-3-62.
The engine pad is stamped: FO425RE and 2110704
Hopefully these are as they should be.
Thanks[/QUOT
It means its OK for NCRS. I reality, most engine blocks are cast a week or two prior to car build date.
Doug
Certainly true for small block cars. The big block engines were cast in batches in Tonowanda foundry and have more date spread with the car build date.
It means its OK for NCRS. I reality, most engine blocks are cast a week or two prior to car build date.
Doug
That is correct, although there was no “ljust in time” inventory and first in first out like there is today so occasionally an engine could get stuck back in an inventory rack for sometime.
Certainly true for small block cars. The big block engines were cast in batches in Tonowanda foundry and have more date spread with the car build date.
Four weeks seems to be an abnormally long time for a block to be sitting around, waiting to be assembled. Normally you expect the assembly date to be closer to the casting date. That said, I don't know how good GM's inventory control was in the 60's, and work stoppages and strikes seemed to be regular occurrences back then, so it's possible.
The dates are all acceptable by today's judging standards, but I'd want to see what the pad looks like, before I said that everything is lines up and is correct.
Certainly true for small block cars. The big block engines were cast in batches in Tonowanda foundry and have more date spread with the car build date.
Larry
What about the all the BB passenger cars, they made a lot more of those than all Corvettes combined, by several fold. Were those cast in batches also? if so, why? Don't they both use the same blocks? Or do you mean a batch of blocks was selected for certain Corvette builds every so often, and assembled in batches and then stored for installation as needed?
What about the all the BB passenger cars, they made a lot more of those than all Corvettes combined, by several fold. Were those cast in batches also? if so, why? Don't they both use the same blocks? Or do you mean a batch of blocks was selected for certain Corvette builds every so often, and assembled in batches and then stored for installation as needed?
Doug
Doug:
I am reporting what Noland and a few others have said and documented over the years. The words that were used was "cast in batches". Probably assembled into engines the same way........in discrete batches. You can read about this in Noland's Book and also look at his survey cars to see engine casting date, engine build date, and car VIN.
I do not have enough first-hand information to provide any better explanation, other than to refer to the folks that know more much more than me on this subject.
Tonawanda cast and assembled a LOT of engines in all sorts of sizes and configurations for GM. The big block Corvettes and big block other models that shared the same block casting were in the minority.
I am going to guess it is matter of semantics of what cast in batches was meant to convey.
I am also going to suggest what happened was Chev woudl forecast production requirements and decide that say 750 L72 motors would be needed in the next 6 weeks , or 500 in the next four weeks in say 1966 ,and divert small batches of blocks off the normal daily casting line over a few days or a week and assemble those into L72 motors and install them over the next 4-6 weeks as needed.
I do not have any info on the casting dates vs assembly date vs car production date of motors that were sampled, this is strictly a conjecture by me.
I am going to guess it is matter of semantics of what cast in batches was meant to convey.
I am also going to suggest what happened was Chev woudl forecast production requirements and decide that say 750 L72 motors would be needed in the next 6 weeks , or 500 in the next four weeks in say 1966 ,and divert small batches of blocks off the normal daily casting line over a few days or a week and assemble those into L72 motors and install them over the next 4-6 weeks as needed.
I do not have any info on the casting dates vs assembly date vs car production date of motors that were sampled, this is strictly a conjecture by me.
Doug
Doug:
I don't want to prolong this since we are a bit off topic from original OP thread, so this is my last post on this................but your reasoning is not what Noland and others have stated. Tonawanda was a huge facility and the BB V8 for Corvettes and various muscle cars was a small part of the total production. So the production was not done daily for these blocks, but scheduled as you stated based on GM input...........and then days were occasionally set aside on one of the casting lines to meet this request/quota.
Does Corvettes use specific casting number blocks vs what went in Impalas? If yes, I agree it would be done in a 'batch"; if it is the same block, why would they suddenly cast a bunch of blocks destined "only" for Corvette vs just pulling a bunch of the same block off the normal everyday BB casting/machining production line over a few days or a week or two and sending those to turn into L72s or other lower HP BB Corvette motors? Does the L72 have a diff casting number vs its Hyd lifter 427 counterparts? Do lower HP Corvette BB also show the same few clusters of casting dates?
Or were so few 427 motors put in Pass cars the 427s for all cars (including Corvette) were only cast as a true batch several times during the year? Vs say 396 motors which were much more common and probably cast every day?? Do Pass car 427 motors show the same "clusters" of dates, or are they cast on a daily basis like the SB motors were?
Reference point: 1972 Corvette SB water pumps were only cast in four or five discrete batches, there are only that many date codes ever found, BUT it is NOT the same water pump as used on passenger cars.
What about the all the BB passenger cars, they made a lot more of those than all Corvettes combined, by several fold. Were those cast in batches also? if so, why? Don't they both use the same blocks? Or do you mean a batch of blocks was selected for certain Corvette builds every so often, and assembled in batches and then stored for installation as needed?
Doug
They made a lot more full size cars, 1,499,676 in '66 but with both L36 and L72 427cubic in. production combined the total was only 5145. While the '66 Corvettes with both 427 motors totaled a production of 10,374. So the 427s were not a highly produced motor and most were used in the Corvette
They made a lot more full size cars, 1,499,676 in '66 but with both L36 and L72 427cubic in. production combined the total was only 5145. While the '66 Corvettes with both 427 motors totaled a production of 10,374. So the 427s were not a highly produced motor and most were used in the Corvette
Thanks. I see now why they were 'batched". I had no idea the 427 was so rare in pass cars.
I guess I should have kept that '66 Impala SS 427/390 I had in HS and college.
Doug
When I was with Chevrolet Engineering in 1966, Chassis Engineering special-ordered a '67 SS427 with the L-72 engine and 4-speed for evaluation; the L-72 was not a retail-available combination (SS427's came with a 385-hp hydraulic-lifter engine), but Engineering got it built anyway.Turns out it was the ONLY L-72/SS427 built, and I "tagged" it for employee purchase as soon as I found out about it, before it was built at Flint Assembly. It was identical to the Impala SS in the photos below except it was an SS427. Wish I still had it today, but it probably became a pile of iron oxide in the 80's. I removed the tag from the left fender reinforcement before I sold it and threw it in my toolbox.
Did your car have the faux front fender,behind the wheel "gills", and the center hood chrome piece? I have only seen the fender gills on one car, back in 1972, when a neighbor had one. i think they were factory and not add ons.
When I was with Chevrolet Engineering in 1966, Chassis Engineering special-ordered a '67 SS427 with the L-72 engine and 4-speed for evaluation; the L-72 was not a retail-available combination (SS427's came with a 385-hp hydraulic-lifter engine), but Engineering got it built anyway.Turns out it was the ONLY L-72/SS427 built, and I "tagged" it for employee purchase as soon as I found out about it, before it was built at Flint Assembly. It was identical to the Impala SS in the photos below except it was an SS427. Wish I still had it today, but it probably became a pile of iron oxide in the 80's. I removed the tag from the left fender reinforcement before I sold it and threw it in my toolbox.
02-16-2019, 06:22 PM
Engine block casting date
Certainly true for small block cars. The big block engines were cast in batches in Tonowanda foundry and have more date spread with the car build date.
