Butternut the Gumball Camaro

[AEGIS43]

Kind of unbelievably, I found a craigslist posting for a suitable block for $550 Also surprising, it's standard bore and never been decked. Very clean and magnafluxed. Luckily for me it was at Chuck's Speed Center in Phoenix.

A1 83 ... so, January 1st, 1983 casting date? So the foundry was pouring iron on New Year's Day 1983? Is that like a U2 song??

V0202TJ0 ... was an '83 Blazer born with this engine?

So I just decided to ask Chuck's Speed if they would assemble, or reassemble, the engine for me. Seemed logical to not have to haul the replacement block away and just have to go find another builder to assemble it. I don't have the proper environment and everything necessary to do it myself in my garage. I can clean up parts, bolt suspension, rear ends, steering linkage, etc. together, but I'm not a real mechanic. I more like watch them on YouTube and think "someday when I retire ..."

The other bummer is it's going to take 8 weeks .

When they take my engine apart I'll get and post some pictures. I assume it won't look like nothing ever happened now.

 

[BARNFIND]

Kind of unbelievably, I found a craigslist posting for a suitable block for $550 Also surprising, it's standard bore and never been decked. Very clean and magnafluxed. Luckily for me it was at Chuck's Speed Center in Phoenix.

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A1 83 ... so, January 1st, 1983 casting date? So the foundry was pouring iron on New Year's Day 1983? Is that like a U2 song??

View attachment 151704

V0202TJ0 ... was an '83 Blazer born with this engine?

So I just decided to ask Chuck's Speed if they would assemble, or reassemble, the engine for me. Seemed logical to not have to haul the replacement block away and just have to go find another builder to assemble it. I don't have the proper environment and everything necessary to do it myself in my garage. I can clean up parts, bolt suspension, rear ends, steering linkage, etc. together, but I'm not a real mechanic. I more like watch them on YouTube and think "someday when I retire ..."

The other bummer is it's going to take 8 weeks .

When they take my engine apart I'll get and post some pictures. I assume it won't look like nothing ever happened now.

Are you sure that is not a "TJC" 1973 Truck Engine?

 

[AEGIS43]

Are you sure that is not a "TJC" 1973 Truck Engine?

No, not at all. Actually, that digit does look like a "C" now that you point that out. But that definitely looks like an "8" in front of it. Isn't that where the decade indicator is located? Had to edit this post (12/2/22) because I just cracked the code in my own head. It's not A1 83, as in January 1st, 1983. @BARNFIND has to be correct. It's A 18 3, as in January 18, 1973. I'm a freakin genus. A real species.

Sort of different subject, shouldn't there be five or six numerals at the end of that stamp which represent the year-to-date consecutive unit that was produced in whatever plant that vehicle went down the assembly line in?

 

[70RamAirIII]

I believe that the GM casting dates were month-day-year written as:
MDDY
So A183 would be January 18th, 19-3;
I believe that typically there are other ways to discern the decade in which the casting was made - generally the casting number is the give away - GM did (as I understood it) change the casting number with every block revision, so sometimes the casting number alone can pin it to a couple month window of time.

EDIT: I just noticed that post #113 mentioned this, but at the very least I can hit "post" to confirm your suspicion.

 

[tom3]

Looks like the dipstick is by the oil filter so it would be a pre 1980 block.

 

[70RamAirIII]

again, wouldn't the casting number be of use?

I am not familiar with Chevrolet casting numbers, but I am sure many members here are well versed in it.

HERE is a link I just found that seems to have an extensive list of block (casting) numbers, and information one can glean from that single number.

 

[hd_cat]

I dearly love the vintage (patent pending 1976) Eddy Torker that came with the pile that I drug home, and really, really wanted to use it.

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But my buddies were like, "That thing's not going to work. 50 year old technology, and that EGR cross over sucks." I knew I wanted the best aluminum heads for the car, so reluctantly I agree. In the end I did not get the best intake for my choice of parts, but that's later in the story.

Man, what a find! I'm Jealous! To clean the intake, try etching mag wheel cleaner and one of those "Dollar Store" stainless bristle brushes, let the cleaner etch a bit, then burnish the finish with the brush, you can also get to the tight areas with Dremel and a stainless cup brush with a 1/8" shank. It worked very well on the 30-some year old Victor Jr. on the '73, here are a couple of shots

 

[AEGIS43]

Okay, the triage ...

So when the builder went to getting the broken thread chaser out he ruined the bolt hole. Stripped the snot out of it. His fix was a threaded insert (which failed). But obviously he knew he couldn't get the insert fully down in the bolt hole because his fix for that was to wallow out the bolt hole in the brand new AFR head.

 

[AEGIS43]

So that bolt never fully torqued. I can't remember for sure, but is that head bolt location one that enters the water passage? The water leak, which the guys at the shop assumed was a cracked block, had to come from here.

 

[tom3]

Ouch!