Stamped right here Greg... this is a 69, hence the E vs an F.
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....
- Thread starter Kern Dog
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Oh, and the warehouses don't rotate their inventory like say a grocery store does. FIFO is "first in, first out" so the oldest get's used first. LIFO is "last in, first out" is what the blocks probably are. They probably don't move all of them out of the way to get the bottom one out clear back in the stacks, clear back in the corner by the wall. So, there could be a block that was cast months ago that finally got pulled to be machined. I have heard of blocks installed within a week or two of casting and as long as 2 months.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
Some engine block must have been stored for some time. For instance, '78 was the last year they made 440's, but, you could get 1980 motorhomes with a 440. I don't know if the engines were all assembled in 1978 and then stored before they were dropping into a MH chassis, but, I would think the engine would have been built closer to when they were installed. From what I've seen in old photos, bare block castings were left outside to be "seasoned" before they were machined. I sounds pretty likely that they were not likely to be out there in exact numerical order. Getting one out of sequence would be easy to do.
Here is what I see.
FW 340P31000126.
That makes it a 1970 Dart ?
FW 340P31000126.
That makes it a 1970 Dart ?
I think you figured it out.
You’re too kind. I knew nothing for sure. I got help from you guys.
3100 = Jan 22, 1970 build date
150000 would make the likely SPD around late october. The tag in this thread shows 8K cars later and oct 30 SPD
They made Darts primarily in that factory. No guarantee it came from a swinger, just most probably with the vin and factory. The VIN stamp and build date make me wonder.
Hammy and this factory made Dusters with Windsor producing fewer.
The earliest Duster 340 in the list I saw was 179xxx
My Swinger is a 179xxx with a 11-69 door sticker and a Dec build date on the tag. IIRC the engine is a few days after the SPD. I'd heard that they had issues in that plant with getting 340's and the production runs got jumbled up a lot. Maybe it is a Duster as the SPD's may have been done in batches and then when they got the line going, possible delays with the Duster line, spit out some of the early vin/spd stuff in Jan.
150000 would make the likely SPD around late october. The tag in this thread shows 8K cars later and oct 30 SPD
They made Darts primarily in that factory. No guarantee it came from a swinger, just most probably with the vin and factory. The VIN stamp and build date make me wonder.
Hammy and this factory made Dusters with Windsor producing fewer.
The earliest Duster 340 in the list I saw was 179xxx
My Swinger is a 179xxx with a 11-69 door sticker and a Dec build date on the tag. IIRC the engine is a few days after the SPD. I'd heard that they had issues in that plant with getting 340's and the production runs got jumbled up a lot. Maybe it is a Duster as the SPD's may have been done in batches and then when they got the line going, possible delays with the Duster line, spit out some of the early vin/spd stuff in Jan.
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70SwingerGuy
Long Haired Freaky Person
@Kern Dog you are lucky, those are really easy to read numbers, I had to do some real squintin to be able to decipher mine.
Thanks to everyone that chimed in. The numbers stuff is absolutely not my specialty!
TheRacerDave
Well-Known Member
I've owned two numbers matching cars.....if you count the '72 Chrysler Newport 4-door inherited from my dad
The other is a '70 AAR 'Cuda that I bought in 1975 when NOBODY gave a rat's patootie about numbers. It became a drag car that today would cost a fortune to put back to original - if I wanted to. In my defense, it had already been somewhat modified when I got it; missing the original hood and strobe stripe among other things. It wasn't until years later that I realized what it was. Racing it probably saved it though....it has been stored indoors ever since the late 1970s.
For what it's worth, my matching numbers(and build sheet) for my '70 Swinger 340 is 25579X, with a build date of April 10th.
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