Numbers....

[Mac]

Can someone decode these engine numbers for me?

Stamp pad: V1119C2R
171144780
Casting # (back of block) 3970010

Thanks in advance!!

-Mac

 

[Billybeau1]

Mac, Google 3970010. There is a lot of information on this casting number there. The other numbers didnt come up.

 

[Mac]

Thanks, Billybeau1. I was hoping someone would have better luck than I did... 69 to 79 all purpose 350 is a pretty wide open definition. I was hoping the other numbers might help narrow the definition.

-Mac

 

[Tom Bryant]

Mac,

RE:V1119C2R

V= Flint
11= November
19=19th day of Nov
C2R does not compute (should be 3 letters)

The 2 has to be an error in reading the stamp or possibly a error in the stamping. The only C*R suffixes I can find are mid 70s L48s with CLR code. It has to be 3 letters.

I thought it may be a Z instead of a 2 but any stamping with a Z in the second location is a LS5 BB and does not end with a R.

Can you verify the stamping and get the casting date too. That would narrow down the search.

Tom

 

[JohnZ]

Can someone decode these engine numbers for me?

Stamp pad: V1119C2R
171144780
Casting # (back of block) 3970010

Thanks in advance!!

-Mac

Mac, the VIN and casting number says it came out of a 1977 Chevrolet vehicle with a 350 built at the Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant; I can't find that suffix either.

 

[Mac]

I'll check again... Thanks, guys!!

-Mac

ps: the guy says it's out of a 1969 ElCamino and looks all original...

 

[Mac]

Mac,
I checked it again and it is V1119C2R. I took pics but they didn't turn out very good.
I think the lower number on the stamp pad, 171144780 is a derivitive of the serial # for the vehicle the engine came out of. Original block paint was Chevy blue. It ain't much but it is a good project and I think 500 hp is not unreasonable. I just hate to see stuff like this go to waste in a junkyard.

Grant feels confident the numbers are as posted earlier and he felt it was original in the 69 ElCamino which it was pulled from.

-Mac

 

[bossvette]

I think they still painted the engines orange in 69 I don't know for sure when they switched to blue, but being a die-hard old fart I always paint mine orange :L

 

[paul67]

They switched to GM Corporate Blue in mid-1977 after some fellow found a Chev Orange Chev 350 in his Oldsmobile in the mid-1970s. He sued. I think he won. But he never got an Oldsmobile Rocket engine. But all GM engines shortly thereafter were Corporate Blue and sourced from "various Divisions." That disclaimer was on the window stickers for several years. And that was the beginning of the end of GM Division engine offerings.

In recent years, Cadillac had the very pretty Northstar offering and Oldsmobile had a great FWD V8 in the Aurora (took about 7 liters of oil). I don't recall the displacement. I just remember looking in awe when I saw those engines. They were so pretty.

 

[bossvette]

So in answer to Macs post if the engine in question is blue then it is not an origional 69 and the stampings and color match what others had posted about coming from a 77 chevy

 

[Mac]

That pretty much clinches it. I'll break it to him gently... Thanks guys!!

-Mac