dragsta

i was poking around today with a mirror and flashlight trying to find the identification mark on my 350 engine. the car came originally with a 305. everyone says, it's at the passenger-side front, below the head but the AC compressor makes it hard to see. any tricks to read it without removing the AC compressor?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

If the engine has been rebuilt, those stamping codes are meaningless and useless. Don't waster your time, they're all about SOME OHTER engine, which NO LONGER exists, and is NOT what you have now.

About like the printing on a re-purposed cardboard box... it might say "HDTV" on it, but if somebody has opened it up and taken the TV out and put in leaves they raked up, what difference does the printing make any more? Would you still believe there was a TV in there even if they didn't cross out "HDTV" and write "leaves" on it instead? Same deal.

dragsta

yes, it's been rebuilt with a hot cam, headers, 4bbl et.... the thing is a street fighter. i took it out for a quick spin this morning and ran it through 1st and 2nd. the car is fun.... i just wanted to know what year was the original block.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

If it was a factory roller block it will say 5.7 on the driver side behind the rear head...

lotsofsparepart

dragsta

ok, i poked around some more and the block vin is: v09013wt . i googled it but got skunked. LINK?....

dragsta

ok, i looked again and found the casting number and here's what i found it's a vette motor with 2 or 4bolt mains. i'm assuming that it's drilled for a 4bolt but they also used 2bolt mains on this engine, right?
14010207 1980-85 350 190 & up 2/4 corvette

but i can't find anything on the vin v09013wt

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

No; the main cap step register is different, as well.

A block is machined for the one or the other, not both.

That block casting was used in virtually ALL 350s in those years, not just Corvette. Might as well leave that word off the description because it doesn't add anything useful. Yeah the Vettes got 350s, same as full-size and trucks; so what?

Not that it matters too much... the factory style 4-bolt setup isn't of any particular value for the kind of stresses we here would put on it. It's for trucks, not racing. All it does is add more bolts to keep detonation and other severe loads from pushing the crank out of the block when pulling stumps and the like. Doesn't do diddly about the kinds of stresses from high RPMs.

dragsta

if memory serves, pontiac 455 blocks all were drilled for 4bolt mains but some motors came with 2bolt caps. i was curious if the 350 chevy was the same... so looking up the casting numbers on my 350 was not very helpful. i thought that it'd tell me for sure if i had a 2 or 4 bolt. the engine is very strong though with a big cam. i'd be surprised if it was a 2bolt because the PO would have likely blown it up long ago.

AlkyIROC

v09013wt isn't a good number.

V = Flint engine plant
0901 = Sept 1
3wt = ???

The last 3 digits are normally all letters. I can't find anything that ends with a WT.

The 14010207 casting number is a 350 block. It was used from 1980-1985. It was used in 155-255 hp engines in cars and trucks. It could be a 2 or 4 bolt main. As mentioned above, normally the 4 bolt main blocks were put into trucks. Without a good suffix number, you can't tell any more specific information about the block.

Doesn't really matter what the block originally came from. It's not original any more. All you know is that it's a 350 block from 80-85 and not a 305.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Doesn't matter here; we're working on a Chevy 350.

dragsta

i looked at it many times because i had the same problem with the "3wt" but i'll go look again later to make certain.

thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone. at least i know that the valve covers that say "350" aren't lying...

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Get the cylinder head casting number. Thats going to be a lot more indicative of its current power potential.