Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Hey Fam, I’m trying to figure out why the id stamp pad on the front of this 73 440 is blank. Is that normal? Maybe a warranty replacement? Any info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Thanks
73 440 block ID stamp pad is blank
- Thread starter Dave Huth
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Oldiron440
Well-Known Member
The block might have been decked.
Decking wouldn't effect where a RB is marked. It's on a pad at the front of the block. My Guess is a warranty block.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Thanks , that’s what I was thinking too.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Come to think about it, if they decked the block, wouldn’t they have to mill a little off the top too?
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Here’s what I’m looking at.
No, why would they need to cut there. When they deck the block it is the head surface of the block.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
To keep all the gasket mating surfaces on the same plane? So the intake gaskets/valley pan stay symmetrical? Maybe I’m thinking too much into it.
Yup there is not a reason to cut there.
Oldiron440
Well-Known Member
It depends on how much you cut the block and how anal your machinist is about blue printing the block , I have two 440s that the top was cut because of decking.
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RB intakes for the most part don't have a valley plate. Why would you need to cut the china wall? Even if they do have a valley plate, that is part of cutting the intake.
Most likely machined down during a rebuild. Is the block 0.030 over? If it is standard bore then there might be some other reason. Hard to know for sure with stuff that is 50 years old.
Those machining marks give it away. Never that coarse of a cut from the factory.
mcodecuda
Senior Member
The block could have been decked to a point where the end rails no longer meet the head and the valley pan doesn’t fit properly. Machining the end rails corrects this. I had to do this on one of my blocks which wasn’t numbers matching to the car. Most machinists don’t care about numbers so they take the easy way out and just machine the whole surface including the pad. If it was a numbers matching block I would have just machined the rail and left the pad alone.
33IMP
Well-Known Member
Very much agree with Murray. That has been decked, likely for no reason, and with a dull cutter at too fast a feed speed. Not something i would be proud of if it was my work.
Here is the ID pad from the 426W in my '65 Coronet. The machine shop had to deck the rails to get the intake to align properly so pad was machined smooth. Then we restamped the block to get it back to being somewhat correct looking.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
We just bought this engine, so we are out of luck on the numbers. The upside is, it has a purple camshaft.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Where is the vin on the block?, we didn’t get a car , just the engine out of a storage shed.
33IMP
Well-Known Member
The casting number and date are cast into the side of the block, the vin is hand stamped into a pad just above the oil pan rail. I cant remember which side offhand, but there is only two!
Edit: lots of info on blocks, casting numbers and how to read date codes on 440 source website.
Edit: lots of info on blocks, casting numbers and how to read date codes on 440 source website.
Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I’ll take a look tonight. Let you guys know what I find. All the help has been much appreciated.
33IMP
Well-Known Member
The vin on the block will likely be eight characters, if truly a 73 block will show 3, a letter for assy plant, and six numbers coresponding to the vin of the car it was put in.
Assy plant code might tell you whether it was in a rr/sb or a big car.
Assy plant code might tell you whether it was in a rr/sb or a big car.
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Dave Huth
Well-Known Member
So I got, 3D320687 off of the lower stamp on the block. Cant find a site to decode the numbers though.
3 is the year D is engine plant last 6 matches last 6 of the VIN
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