[Dogfishlake]

What is a typical difference between the engine casting date and the car build date for a 70 ss? thanks

 

[DaleM]

What is a typical difference between the engine casting date and the car build date for a 70 ss? thanks

No definate answer. Could be anywhere from just a few days to 3 or even 4 months depending on how the particular plant managed its inventory of parts. There could be a run on 396 engines at a particular plant depleting their stock faster than expected causing a delay in getting replacements resulting in a relatively long lead time for those in waiting and maybe only a few days for those that got started on assembly just when the shipment arrived.

Take a look at some Protect-O-Plate warranty cards shown on http://www.chevellestuff.com/1970/chevelle/tags/pop.htm and http://www.chevellestuff.com/1970/elcamino/tags/elky_pop.htm then compare Line 2 dates for engine/transmission/rear end and build months. A few have the same month for all 4 and some may be 4 months apart.

 

[Dogfishlake]

Thanks, for the info. It's amazing how much interest and mystery surrounds our chevelles now when at the time they were built it was no big deal. The help and support here makes owning my car a lot more fun.

 

[philipswanson]

The Protect-O-Plate information does not fully answer your question. You asked the timeframe from the engine cast date which is not on the plate. The number on the plate is the engine build date which is not the same. Several days or weeks could also be between the engine casting date and the engine build date. Phil Swanson

 

[Verle]

While the delay between casting date and engine build date could possibly be "long" (several days), typical delay is from less than 24 hours (rare) to a "few" days.

Neither the foundry nor the engine plant had room to store raw castings and there was no reason to store them. They normally were cast and moved to the machine shop and were machined fairly quickly.

As stated, the POP does not give you the casting date but is typically is quite close.

 

[68chvlss396]

While the delay between casting date and engine build date could possibly be "long" (several days), typical delay is from less than 24 hours (rare) to a "few" days.

Just an FYI. The 71 402 block I have was cast on D 26 71 and assembled on 0514. That is 17 days between casting and assembly.

 

[Verle]

Didn't say it was not possible, just not common for casting date and build date to be far apart.

 

[philipswanson]

A delay between casting and bulid dates of 1-3 weeks is not uncommon. Apparently, they cast a bunch of blocks at one time before machining. Storage was not an issue because they often stored them ouside to "season' the castings. My 396 was cast on J-12-07 . Engine build date is 11-08-67. Three weeks difference.

 

[elcamino]

The time span depends on the usage of the engine. High volume engines (standard V8 and I6) would see a fast turn around because they were being constantly produced. Other lower volume engines were batch built. But there were blocks that got pulled off the line for every reason you could think of and got sent to a repair area to be fixed. Sometimes they sat for weeks or months until they were repaired and shipped. So who knows what ended up where?

 

[LS7]

The time span depends on the usage of the engine. High volume engines (standard V8 and I6) would see a fast turn around because they were being constantly produced. Other lower volume engines were batch built. But there were blocks that got pulled off the line for every reason you could think of and got sent to a repair area to be fixed. Sometimes they sat for weeks or months until they were repaired and shipped. So who knows what ended up where?

^This^ makes sense :yes:, FWIW my limited knowledge and understanding is; it wasn't always first in, first out.

 

[Dave Birdwell]

I had a 69 Z28 that the block (618 casting) was cast late January, 1969, and assembled April 15th.

 

[philipswanson]

Makes sense to me except for the repaired motor. If a block is cast on a certain date, assembled on another, a repair shouldn't change the engine assembly date because it's already assembled and stamped earlier. It's all hypothetical anyway, right? If the empty block needed a repair before assembly, that would make sense. Anyway, the original issue was the Protect-O-Plate which does not give you the engine casting date and may be several days or weeks off when you use the engine assembly date.

The time span depends on the usage of the engine. High volume engines (standard V8 and I6) would see a fast turn around because they were being constantly produced. Other lower volume engines were batch built. But there were blocks that got pulled off the line for every reason you could think of and got sent to a repair area to be fixed. Sometimes they sat for weeks or months until they were repaired and shipped. So who knows what ended up where?

 

[DougA]

If it helps my 70 original 512 block was cast on Dec. 18,69,heads cast Jan.17+21,70,engine built Jan. 23,70,car built,Baltimore Feb 1,70.

 

[97LT4SS]

My 454 was cast on J 11 71 or October 11, 1971 and assembled on Nov 21, 1971 so the block was in inventory for 6 weeks.