[Doug Garland]

I picked up a couple of 350 blocks from a friend today, who owns a junkyard. The one block is a 1970, 010 block, and nothing anywhere on the pad. No #'s or letters, nothing by the oil filter, nothing by the starter. He said it came out of a 4 speed Nova, with double hump heads, and 12 bolt. The car is long gone, and I only got the block, and a std/std. cast 2442 crank. The other is a 1971, 010 block, he says came out of, to quote him, " An old 71 or 72 Z Camaro , that was T-boned. " He only had the bare block left, and it is a 4 bolt main, with windage tray, stand off studs, and 3412 main caps. Neither have any marking anywhere, except but both block casting dates. They were cast L-16-9, and L-3-1. I thought it was weird getting one with no stamps or codes, but 2, and from the same junkyard. They both still have the factory broach marks also, so I know they haven't been decked. I had another block that was a CE code, and these have no codes or stampings like that block did. But that one was cracked, between freeze plugs, so I picked these up. These are weird. Anyone seen something like this before?

 

[NickeyChevelle]

I could see the guys on the assembly line saying "screw it" when they were suposed to be stamping VIN's (especially after a "liquid lunch" on a Friday). I've heard people speculate that when the location of the VIN stamp was moved from the pad to the oil filter boss, some workers may have inadvertently stamped the VINs on the bellhousing (you'd think they'd get it right by 1971). However, I'd have thought the guys at the engine plants would be far less likely to fail to stamp the assembly date codes on their engines.

BTW, it might have been worthwhile to get that CE block, you could have it repaired and still have sold it at a profit.

 

[Terry454]

Back in the day if you bought a bare cylinder case, or a fitted cylinder case, from the parts department -- it came with no stamps. No VIN because it wasn't installed in a car and no assembly stamps because there was no way for the engine assembly plant to know what horsepower the engine was going to be. As the engine became more complete, perhaps a "long block" for example, there would be engine assembly stamps (depending on the year it might have a CE stamp on it) but of course still no VIN stamp.

You just found two cylinder cases that had been replaced as either empty case or fitted cylinder case back when. Nice find.

Terry

 

[Dave Birdwell]

I'm not sure about smallblocks, but some bigblocks were stamped above the timing cover on a flat machined spot.

 

[elcamino]

Back in the day if you bought a bare cylinder case, or a fitted cylinder case, from the parts department -- it came with no stamps.

any engine or block built from 1968 was required by law to have a stamp of some king identifying the source. Georgia passed a law in 1968 and that was the reason the CE codes started to appear.

If there is nothing on the pad then its possible those blocks were not used in automotive applications. Chevy sold engines to many sources, industry, generators, irrigation pumps, off shore, etc

reference

 

[Doug Garland]

Thanks for the info. They both are completely blank. I spoke to a retired service manager, and also a retired parts manager from local dealerships, and they both said the same thing. They should have some kind of CE code. But they also said they had seen many that were the same as these, with no stamping at all. The one service guy said he had one mechanic who would stamp the code on the deck,of replacement blocks, but none of the others bothered to do it. They would just send the car out the door , as is, with no stamping. He told me to pressure wash both blocks, and see if I could see any crayon marking residue on the side of the block, and look on the oil pan rail for stampings, a part #, or an application code, as he had seen that also.

 

[fasteddies68]

I have a '68 010 block that has a VO509ES on it with no Vin number. I can't figure that one out.
Ed

 

[Doug Garland]

I just saw the parts guy again, at a restaurant here in town, so I asked him some more questions. He said only the big block crate/counter engines that they got in at the dealership were stamped, CE, XCH, or XAA . He said there were a few more codes, but those were mostly what he ordered. None of the small blocks he ordered had stampings. He told me he ordered a DZ 302, when it was still available in the late 70's, and the pad on it was blank. HE told me the year, the guys name, and the car he put it in, along with it's drive train. He has a good memory. He said the dealer ordered 4-5 1971 LT-1 short blocks, and they all were blank as well. He then told me the same thing the service Mgr. said, the mechanics were told to stamp the codes, if they were installing them in the cars, especially through service /warranty work, but almost none ever did. He named off several more people who ordered Hi-Po small blocks through the parts dept., and said no one ever stamped them, or cared that they all were blank pads. He said this 1971 block probably was one of the order of LT-1 short blocks they had in the late 70's/early '80's.