sorry if this isn't the correct spot to post this.. but im having a really frustrating time trying to figure out the exact code on my engine. previous owner swapped in a 350 to my 85z28 supposedly out of a 89-Caprice. looking up the engine cast number shows its a 86-88 2-bolt form a truck. no problem but made me curious to know more cuz im crazy i guess. so the code on the front of block under the alternator clearly is V0522DKA. meaning Flint MI Plant, May 22nd ..... and DKA usually says something about its intake or something which on my friends corvette shows its L98. all the lists ive found go DK to DKB and so on. any ideas?

 

The "engine" "code" is stamped on THE BLOCK, not THE ENGINE.

A motor swapped into another vehicle is VIRTUALLY CERTAIN not to be as-manufactured. The things that turn a BLOCK into an ENGINE are virtually ALWAYS changed; pistons, heads, cam, intake, and so on, as well as any number of external items like exhaust manifolds, bracket systems, and so forth, that "adapt" an otherwise identical motor to fit a particular vehicle chassis.

This makes those "codes" WORTHLESS, for all practical purposes, unless you're a "numbers matching" restorer; you know, the kind that digs up a block with the right stamping for his 38 Hupmobile, then finds heads with the right casting number and production dates to have come in that vehicle, rubber hoses with the "original" 1938 markings on them, and so forth.

Any resemblance that your ENGINE might have to the one that originally was built using that BLOCK is almost certainly pure accident.

The BLOCK from a Caprice 350 (the L05, TBI) and a truck 350 (also L05, TBI) are the same. For that matter, so were the heads, intake, cam, pistons, and whatever all else, EXCEPT FOR certain external dress items like accessory brackets and exhaust manifolds (which tend to be highly chassis-specific). Since the sum total of those from either other car won't fit YOUR car, the distinction indicated by the suffix code (which is basically a production part number for the ENTIRE assembled engine package, ready to mate up to a chassis in an assembly plant) is gone and forgotten. It is of no longer of any consequence which one it came from, because it is no longer either one, as distinct from each other.

For that matter, the BLOCK may have come out of a truck, but the PO may have then obtained it after it was ALREADY SWAPPED INTO a Caprice. Meaning of course, that its "stamping code" identity has been erased TWICE... even if it hasn't been "rebuilt", which is also very highly probable. I'm reminded of an incident I had the pleasure of enjoying some years ago where someone advertised a set of heads "out of a Vette", and being young dumb and inexperienced in this matter just as you are, and expecting actual high-performance heads of some sort, I jumped on it. I drove out to his place, where he led me into his back 40 wherein a number of 60s Vettes were crumbling to dust, opened the door of one, and pulled a set of 307 2-bbl heads ... you guessed it ... "out of a Vette". The back floorboard to be specific. I wasn't even polite when I declined to buy them.

I strongly suggest dropping this line of inquiry, and instead, just look at the parts that the ENGINE you have is built out of, rather than the provenance of the BLOCK

 

thanks for the reply and information. I was mainly hoping i would be able to know for certain if it has a roller cam or not without pulling my intake. the engine has gone through some refurbishment for sure being that it is painted Chevy Orange and has an aftermarket intake and generic chrome timing chain cover haha.

 

the length of one of the pushrods will be a good indication of roller vs flat tappet

 

It most likely would not have come with a roller, since neither truck nor Caprice L05s generally had them (although exceptions are occasionally reported somehow); but it should be equipped for it, as far as the casting provisions. Many of those blocks however were not fully machined for the roller stuff.

Like naf said though, push rod length will tell what's in it NOW right away... a stock non-roller cam & lifters uses 7.8" long, a roller will use 7.2" to 7.4" depending on what kind of roller lifters it has.

 

hmmm thats a good idea. once I figure out what is causing this sticky gas pedal, ill pull one out and see!

 

Also I don't trust the PO... lol I know he is a shady character, I saved the car from rotting away and im sure my payment for it went to supporting his vices. anyways, If it was a TBI engine, the heads have been swapped for 882s orrrr maybe that caprice was a cop car? just trying to decide if I should be build the '71 block 010 block and 487 heads I have on a stand right now or just cam and heads on existing engine. it runs great (after alot of fixin.) I want to go roller with this car just from the fear of all these horror stories being more frequent of flat tappets going bad on break-in and not worry about the type oil I use because I plan on this car being my Daily

 

No, 882 is a 70s smogger casting. TOTAL GARBAGE. They would not, in any case whatsoever, have come on any motor from the early 80s or newer, cop car or no. A L05 would most likely have had 193 or similar "swirl-port" heads. A police car might have had 083.

My guess though, is that if somebody built a motor with a random late 80s block and 882 heads, it's a "rebuilder special", with the absolute cheeeeeeeeepest of everything. I'd put the odds of it having a roller cam in it as having many zeroes to the right of the decimal point before arriving at a non-zero digit. Like, a .00000003% chance or some such.

I would not build and install a 010/487 motor in a daily driver, in 2020. While I built more of that sort of thing than I can count in the late 70s through the early 90s, because even though AT THAT TIME it was The Way To Go, it is no longer the first choice for a street motor IMO. (although I always preferred 186, 492, and 041 head castings) You touched on one reason for that, namely, the flat-tappet cam. But, inferior and sloppy casting and machining at the factory in the 70s is another, even greater, factor; you probably have no idea how many such flaws there were, and how common and pervasive they were. Later 350 blocks with roller-tappet cams and something resembling quality control, in a positive way, make VASTLY more sense. But neither is really competitive with a modern motor (LS series); hard though it may seem at times to believe, we have, as a species, learned a thing or 2 about how to make ICEs better in the 65 years since the original SBC was introduced.

 

okay, so I am now in a rush to swap in an engine... I have an engine ready except cam which I have a used one but not sure its good, i pulled it from a running 400 i had so it was fine then and doesnt seem to worm flat anywhere but it sorta looks discolored. If i post pics of it recon its possible for one of yall to tell if i can use it?

 

Probably not. If I was going to guess, not that I ever would but if I was going to, I would guess your cam is a 929 replica. Same thing that came in 262.5 / 267 / 283 / 305 / 307 / 327 /350 / 400 motors from around 66 to 80. .390"/410", 194°/204° @ .050" more or less. Was used in virtually ALL small block Chevy motors in those years except for Z28s, L79s, L82 Vettes, and a VERY FEW other applications. Total GARBAGE just like 882 heads. BY FAR the most common "rebuilder" camshaft; not because it "runs" "good"; but because it's CHEEEEEEEEEP, doesn't cost much, can be bought for very little $$$, and is profitable to install because most people won't know or care the difference. Oh and did I mention, it's CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

If it's not a roller, which it probably isn't, it's probably not re-useable. Trying to re-use a used flat-tappet cam is pretty much a recipe for destroying a motor to the utmost and needing a hole other one. Only way you can successfully re-use a flat-tappet cam is if you have the lifters it was broken in with, AND the break-in was successful, AND you're putting it and them back into the same block, AND you have all the lifters identified as to which lobe they went on. Otherwise, ... metal chips, instead of cam & lifters. Within 200 miles. Probably less.

Sit down, take a deep breath, compose yourself. There are more solutions in the world besides sweeping up the crap off your floor and thinking it's going to make a motor. Why the rush? What happened? What have you REALLY got besides ... a pile of 882 heads and a 929 repop cam and other such trash?

 

its a Elgin E-923-P. flat tappet. I did keep the lifters in a block of wood where I marked each hole for if i wanted to install them back to the same lobes if i wanted. but yes. diffrent block... though i have used a used cam with new lifters prior and treated it like a new cam and it did fine for a boout 6 months before I sold the vehicle. If I bought a cam it would be of similar specs. I have some 487 heads I done a little "port work" on ( just cleaned bowls and casting crap) and a short block (355) with flat top pistons that i built a few months ago for fun. just no cam.

basically. my overheating problem in my 85 has gotten worse and judging by the bubbles in coolant and blackness, its a head gasket that is leaking combustion into coolant. (already tried the mechanic in a can) this engine smokes and leaks oil like a siv. its way easier for me just to swap the engine then screw with this one till it blows..

 

Yeah that's just yerbasic generic copy of a generic copied copy of a copied generic copy of a generic cam... same thing as the Summit 1102 or Melling MTC-1 for example, as well as about a hundred other vendors. Not worth the risk of trying to re-use it. If it was going back into the same block, maybe; but in a different block, not worth the possibility of it going flat and filling your "new" motor with metal chips. You can get the kit with the identical cam, and lifters, for not much over $100. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-k1102

 

oh wow, thats basically identical! haha. I just know when it was in that K5 Blazer it would smoke that 33 mud tires like nothing. should I not be worried about a cheap cam like that having the dreaded chinese lifters likely to go flat during break-in? i know i heard some guy say his prefernce for most reliabkle brand for this but cant find it anywhere. if it is a thing of brand where they source there lifters or just a crap shoot idk... i usually go with the howards set of 16 with good luck :/

 

No it's not "basically identical"; it IS identical. Generic. Your doctor may prescribe Bayer, but ANY brand of acetylsalicylic acid pressed powder is IDENTICAL too. Same principle here. For all I know there's one company that grinds em all; and everybody just buys it from Cams-R-Us and puts it in their own box. Iunno but wouldn't surprise me.

No idea about the Summit (or anybody else's) lifters and "Chinese". No idea about "brand"; I do know however, that virtually ALL flat-tappet cams these days, especially the cheeeeeeeeeeeeep ones like this, are ground on cores from the same source (CPC I think it is?). No idea whether Howards gets their lifters from anywhere any different from anybody else (Sealed Power mostly). Being as how they're pretty much a "budget" brand though, I doubt there's anything special about them.

IMO ANYTHING to do with a flat-tappet cam these days is a crap shoot. The best you can do is manage your odds and avoid taking unnecessary chances. Who's to say that you'd be "guaranteed" a success with a new cam... not me. I DO KNOW FOR SURE however, if I was building an obsolete antique motor with an obsolete generic cam of an obsolete design in 2020 with my own money which I wanted not to have to spend a 2nd time due to parts failure, I would NOT take a chance on re-using old lifters that acquired a wear pattern in some OTHER equally obsolete block with the potential of the lifter bore alignment in the 2 blocks not matching and therefore the "wear-in" patterns on the lifters being different. That being one of The Problems that afflict 70s blocks so heavily. Butt hay, it's your call, do whatever you feel most comfortable with.

 

it's deffinetly getting an LS/T56 swap sometime next year. just has to hold up till then lol im just worried by the time i take the heads off to replace the gaskets, thee block needs decking and will need to be pulled anyways ya know.

 

Also it's almost certainly a motor from an 87 truck as the heads on it have the different style of valve covers with 4 bolts in a line where 86 was different. According to the guys who help me figure these things out over at oreillys