I bought a 1992 Chevy Camaro that has an engine swap previous owner said it was a 350 SBC in it so I've been trying to figure out where this engine that's in it came from so when I order parts I can get the right ones and I got the casting number off of the engine that sits right in front of the passenger side head (1M04206G35 was what was stamped) and I've tried a few websites designed to decode the (NastyZ/28.com, etc.) casting numbers but this doesn't seem to be on any of the sites or look like anything in any articles do you guys have any better ideas of how to figure it out maybe the way it sits in the car i cant really see the codes that sit on the bellhousing?

 

It's a Chevrolet small block.

Could be a 262.5, 265, 267, 283, 302, 305, 307, 327, 350, or 400.

It's orange.

Has 87-up heads on it. Can't tell what they are; if I was the guessing kind though, I'd probably guess that they're TBI of some sort (187, 191, 193 casting).

Looks like it has a TBI on it.

That's about all I can tell from those photos.

 

R U sure the engine has been swapped? It sure looks like it was a manifold swap or someone took it off and painted it. I didn't see that the block is orange. Everything else looks like the way it should be minus the smog pump air lines.

 

I am not 100% sure just going off of what the previous owner told me which probably isn't the best thing to do honestly but had to start somewhere I'm going to try and get the codes off of the bell housing because the one from the front doesn't seem to come back to anything I've seen anywhere

 

If it was your car's original engine, then the serial number in that location would begin with a letter, most likely the letter V, followed by 4 numbers indicating the month and day the engine was built, followed by three letters (the suffix) that would indicate the engine, model year and car. Also in that same location, stamped right below the serial number should be the 9-digit sequence of your car's VIN.

Clearly, your engine doesn't show anything like that, so it's not original to the car. It's been fitted with the appropriate 3rdgen engine parts, including exhaust manifold "logs," so it looks "factory," less the AIR system, but whatever it is, to discover its origin and build will require searching the internet. Other than that, the best you can do is confirm the size by looking at the back of the block behind the driver side cylinder head. If you can't see back there, then pull a valve cover to see what heads it has. But the heads would only help if they're correct for the engine, which you really won't know without confirming the size of the engine, and only you can do that.

Someone in the history forum recently posted about the same thing. The serial number he showed is very similar to the one you posted. But your model year and his are not even close, so it's not a model-year thing. Most likely, yours and his are crate engines.

 

Thing about those "stamping" "codes" is, they only tell you what THE BLOCK WAS part of originally, NOT what THE ENGINE, as a whole, IS NOW. It's even possible that they're not factory AT ALL, but rather, are some machine shop's work order or sales order number.

Any g00b could have taken any block and stuffed any pistons into it and slapped any heads on it and jammed any cam into it and THE BLOCK will still tell you it's a "69 302" or "70½ LT-1" or "76 truck 350 4WD manual transmission" or whatever. The ONLY way those "codes" mean ANYTHING of value is, if the VIN matches the vehicle VIN. Because then, you can know it HASN'T been swapped and therefore almost certainly HASN'T been "rebuilt", and all that has REALLY happened to it is, somebody took the intake manifold off and squirted abuncha orange paint out of a can all over it without even bothering to take out all the bolts. Which in reality, as Vinny points out, is a VERY REAL possibility. OTOH, if the VIN DOESN'T match, then it HAS been swapped, and the odds are at least 99.999% that it's been "rebuilt", in which case the "codes" are no longer of ANY VALUE WHATSOEVER. In that case you need to get the casting numbers because those are THE ONLY original markings left that contain any information. And even that, is far from "complete", since it doesn't tell you anything about machine work, cam, pistons, and so on.

A small block Chevy is not like some Nissan or BMW motor or something, where every single one is sufficiently detail-different that none of the parts interchange and no motor other than an exact duplicate of the original will even bolt all the way into the vehicle. With motors more of that sort, a "stamping" "code", or tag or label or the equivalent, means something, because you can't make something else out of whatever it was before. But with this kind of motor, they are SO interchangeable, and the external features are SO universal, and there are SO many of them of SO many varieties, that it's possible to create literally BILLIONS of permutations of mix & match out of all the SBC parts that exist, that will drop right into your car with little or no further effort. And the "stamping" "codes" DON'T get changed when somebody takes some random block and ... see above ... and plops whatever random mishmash they come up with into some unsuspecting customer's car. It's not like you go to the junkyard and get a whole engine out of a car just like yours and install it. The SBC is a VERY DIFFERENT ball game.

I'll give you a further hint: EVERY 3rd gen F body that's for sale, has a 350 in it, according to the seller. EVERY ONE. You'll hear all kinds of CRAP: "runs too good to be a 305", "guy I bought it from said...", "it's got this [random external part like a hose or solenoid or something] and I've seen 350s that have those so this must be a 350", "looks like one out of a Vette" (my favorite), and so on. It's nothing but DRIVEL and DIARRHEA OF THE MOUTH. Something you will surely learn, hopefully not The Hard Way, is the TRUTH contained in the old "used car seller jokes":

How can you tell the seller is lying? His lips are moving.
How can you tell he's stabbing you in the back and ripping you off blind? He's smiling.

May sound harsh but that's Just The Way It Is.

Get the block and head casting numbers and post em, if the VIN part of the "stamping" doesn't match the car's VIN, and we'll try to figure out what you've got. Don't hold your breath about the "codes" though.

 

Get the #s off the cylinder heads. 99% sure it will end with 187 which is the 305 heads or 193,191 which is 350 heads. Block could be either one though.

 

Even though it's not original and what it came out of doesn't really mean much, when you need to know at least what year and size it is to buy parts really helps.

It's got center bolt valve covers so it has later model heads. Unless replaced, that would mean that it's at least not a 1970's truck block etc.

The number you gave means very little. As for the block numbers, there are multiple places to look.

At the back of the block looking down on the drivers side there should be some casting numbers. These will help a little.
On the pad in front of the passenger head behind the AC compressor should be a bunch of stamped numbers. These can give a lot more information about exactly what type of vehicle the block came from. If the engine has ever been rebuild and the block decked, those numbers will be gone.

The newer blocks also have casting marks on the side of the block. They could at least tell you if it's a 5.0L or 5.7L block. Too many people sell an engine claiming it's a 350 and it's really a 305. They both look identical when looking at them.

The heads however, you'll need to remove a valve cover to get a casting number. Again, casting numbers don't always mean very much since the same casting could have been used on many different engines. Some heads may have the last 3 digits of the casting number on the outside of the valve cover. Finding 305 heads doesn't always mean you have a 305 engine. Some people think putting on low flowing 305 heads on a 350 will make more power because of the smaller combustion chamber. The ports just don't flow enough for a good 350.

 

weak05. Ls swap it

 

REALLY????

Any g00b, even me, can bolt TBI heads onto a 70s block. That's not any kind of "proof" of anything. Remember, it's a small block Chevy. ANYBODY can bolt ANY heads to ANY block and jam ANY pistons from ANY NUMBER of mrs into it and slide ANY cam into it and come up with ANY imaginable result. ANYTHING from a 150 HP 70s smogger turd to a 650 HP NASCAR kind of thing can be built out of ANY block (with the appropriate bore of course) and the appropriate other parts.

As Alky said, the block casting # is conveniently located in a conspicuous, obvious, and easily accessed location. [sarcasm off] On the top of the bell housing flange, right behind the driver's side head. It'll look about like this.



As said, get the block AND head casting numbers, and maybe we can help you figure out what you REALLY have, and/or, what you can (or can't) make out of it. Potential, not necessarily what it is as it sits NOW. No guarantees but it'll be a start. Block casting # will tell us what bore the block is, and therefore what the CID most likely is; head casting # will help identify ... the heads. I'm gonna put it up front though, odds are around 99% that those heads are TBI GARBAGE of whichever sort (187, 191, or 193 casting, most likely one of the 2 last because there's SO MANY of those in the world). Butt, get the casting numbers, and we'll move on from there. Maybe we can tell you what to throw in the trash and what to look for instead.

 

So found the casting number off the back 10243880 which comes back as a
96-up 350 2 & 4-Bolt Vortec RollerMade in Mexico block

 

So found the casting number off the back 10243880 which comes back as a96-up 350 2 & 4-Bolt Vortec RollerMade in Mexico block

 

Now get those #s off a cylinder head and we will know what you got. Atleast you know its a 350 block anyways.

 

Yup, a late model 350 block.

Get the head casting numbers and we'll go from there.