Can you tell what model of car an engine came in just by the stamping on the side of the block? Ya see, I have this 340....

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Kern Dog

Kern Dog

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340 D.JPG


...Dated 7-9-69:

340 C.JPG


With that, I first think that this is a very late casting for a very early 1970 model car. The only 1970 year model cars that I know that could have had a 340 were the Barracuda, Challenger, Dart and Duster.
Can you tell what model by this stamping?

340 A.JPG


340 B.JPG


I can't tell if that is an OR or a QR150915. They sure didn't care about the crappy angle of the stamping either.
 
Wouldn't "OR" be zero for 70 and R for the Windsor Plant? What all did they manufacture up there?

One hit claimed that Windsor did not produce 70 Challengers, EG

If so that would mean "A" bodies

By the way shouldn't it be orange? Previous rebuild?
 
It is OR so it's from Windsor Ontario plant, from an A body only. There are numbers guys that can tell you what A body it was, Dart or Duster.
 
67Dart273 said:
Wouldn't "OR" be zero for 70 and R for the Windsor Plant? What all did they manufacture up there?

One hit claimed that Windsor did not produce 70 Challengers, EG

If so that would mean "A" bodies

By the way shouldn't it be orange? Previous rebuild?
Click to expand...

This block is .030 over.
From what I have read, some 1969 340s were blue. Maybe this one was so early in the 1970 model, it was a carryover and as such, was painted blue?
Or.... It was painted blue for the previous build.
I love stories where someone finds the original engine to their car. It would be great to find the owner of this one.
 
413 said:
It is OR so it's from Windsor Ontario plant, an A body. There are numbers guys that can tell you what A body it was.
Click to expand...
That would narrow it down. I thought that the only Plymouth A bodies that could get a 340 were the "Duster 340" models. As far as Dodge, since there was no Demon in 1970, the 340 was only available in the Dart 2 door coupe.
 
That's 50,000 cars into 1970. Not sure what month that would be at the R plant, but it's not all that early.

Again the numbers guy could tell you more.

69coronetrt is not a member here
AlaskanTA has vanished from here.
 
New cars came out in September, so that could be a very late 69 model year and would be correct to be blue.
 
My understanding is that most engines were built approximately 2 months after the blocks were cast.
If that is true, a block cast in early July would be assembled in early September.
Yeah, we have all heard how Ma Mopar didn't always stick to hard-and-fast-rules so I'm looking to others for advice here.
 
Kern Dog said:
My understanding is that most engines were built approximately 2 months after the blocks were cast.
If that is true, a block cast in early July would be assembled in early September.
Yeah, we have all heard how Ma Mopar didn't always stick to hard-and-fast-rules so I'm looking to others for advice here.
Click to expand...
I've always heard if a bullfrog had wings he wouldn't bump his ***. Since we're talkin about a time when we were still in diapers, who knows?
 
I was not wearing diapers at 4 years of age but thanks for the visual, man....

01 A5.jpg
 
RustyRatRod said:
New cars came out in September, so that could be a very late 69 model year and would be correct to be blue.
Click to expand...
The fact it says 0R means it was installed in a 70 MY Vehicle.... If it had been in a 69 it would be stamped 9R..

And for KD as far as

My understanding is that most engines were built approximately 2 months after the blocks were cast.
If that is true, a block cast in early July would be assembled in early September.

I've seen blocks assembled days after they were cast & I've seen blocks assembled fully a year plus after they were cast....

Fact is my green Challenger's original block was cast the day after my car was scheduled to be built... And assembled two days later... The car was built over two weeks late as it was scheduled for Oct 11th but per the door sticker it was built in November..
 
I've never been a "numbers" guy so on the issue of casting dates and assembly dates, I can only go from what I have heard.
Magazine guys, Ehrenberg, Magnante and others have often commented that for an engine to be date coded, the casting date always needs to be earlier than the build date, often by a couple of months.
I'm willing to accept that this is just a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule.
 
Kern Dog said:
I've never been a "numbers" guy so on the issue of casting dates and assembly dates, I can only go from what I have heard.
Magazine guys, Ehrenberg, Magnante and others have often commented that for an engine to be date coded, the casting date always needs to be earlier than the build date, often by a couple of months.
I'm willing to accept that this is just a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule.
Click to expand...
If you have the car it came in, great. If not, screw it.
 
I have never owned a pedigree car where the matching engine would be important but some people do care about that stuff. It would be nice to help someone put the pieces back together if they really wanted that.
 
Ok here is one 7,289 vins off, which is pretty close. SPD is 10-30-69. So this is 3 months into the 1970 model year.

Took them 3 months to get 58,204 cars in

Not very close to a 1969 car.

F24DEBDB-D612-44A2-B103-2E0FBFCB8CD3.jpeg
 
I currently own a numbers car and a clone, both cars have their good & bad points... End of the day the clone is more fun, I can change it any way I want & have little effect on it's value, I can beat on it & if I hurt something no real loss, I'll fix it & likely improve it....
 
Kern Dog said:
I have never owned a pedigree car where the matching engine would be important but some people do care about that stuff. It would be nice to help someone put the pieces back together if they really wanted that.
Click to expand...
Neither have I. I likely never will at this point. Although that said, when I bought Vixen, she still sported her original 170. I still have it in the corner of the shop.
 
I've only owed one numbers matching car and it was way to original and nice for me to modify. I sold it and bought my first A body.
 
Kern Dog said:
View attachment 1716389928

...Dated 7-9-69:

View attachment 1716389927

With that, I first think that this is a very late 7/9/69 casting for a very early 1970 model car.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It is very possible it was for an early 70 model car. Production began the first of August. The blocks are cast, stored, machined, assembled, and installed all at different times with a chance of sitting in the warehouse until it's time for the next operation.
 
70 Swinger 340 is what it came out of about 99% certain. Duster 340's came out of Windsor but not in the numbers of Swingers

Front of the block, drivers side just below head will give you the engine build date
will look like this
FW340P xxxx xxxx

How to ID a Small Block Engine Block:

Many people ask how do I find out what a small block engine is? You can find out alot about it if you know where to look.... The first question is: "How do I know what size it is?" That can be easily found out by looking at the driver's...
www.forabodiesonly.com

I had a 340 car where the engine build date was after the scheduled production date by a few days.
 
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Guys, the partial VIN tells us for certain this was from a 1970 car. No question about it, no mystery, nothing out of the ordinary.

Yes they built 340 dusters there at Windsor also.

@Kern Dog get the full number from front of block below drivers cylinder head.
 
crackedback said:
70 Swinger 340 is what it came out of about 99% certain. Duster 340's came out of Windsor but not in the numbers of Swingers

Front of the block, drivers side just below head will give you the engine build date
will look like this
FW340P xxxx xxxx

[/URL]

I had a 340 car where the engine build date was after the scheduled production date by a few days.
Click to expand...

413 said:
Guys, the partial VIN tells us for certain this was from a 1970 car. No question about it, no mystery, nothing out of the ordinary.

Yes they built 340 dusters there at Windsor also.

@Kern Dog get the full number from front of block below drivers cylinder head.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks, guys. I never noticed a stamping there. I'll look today and report back.
 
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