Engine ID?

Rosco

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trying to get to the bottom of what year engine I've got. So far there are several clues but we haven't been able to crack the code.
-We have blue paint. It seems to be lighter blue indicating "turquoise", but it's so faded and rusty it's hard to tell for sure.
-We have what we think is a '68-'69 timing cover/water pump (which came with the engine from the junk yard.
-We have the imprint on the front of the block (from behind the pow.steering pump):
M318R 06 13 1947.
-We have "2536030" and "1283" cast onto the driver's side of the block
-"1283 again on the passenger side.

But, no obvious day*month*year marking.
This motor was installed onto a 1968 Fury sometime in the late 80's/early 90's from a junk yard. I had to swap my intake manifold at the time in order for things to work.
 
trying to get to the bottom of what year engine I've got. So far there are several clues but we haven't been able to crack the code.
-We have blue paint. It seems to be lighter blue indicating "turquoise", but it's so faded and rusty it's hard to tell for sure.
-We have what we think is a '68-'69 timing cover/water pump (which came with the engine from the junk yard.
-We have the imprint on the front of the block (from behind the pow.steering pump):
M318R 06 13 1947.
-We have "2536030" and "1283" cast onto the driver's side of the block
-"1283 again on the passenger side.

But, no obvious day*month*year marking.
This motor was installed onto a 1968 Fury sometime in the late 80's/early 90's from a junk yard. I had to swap my intake manifold at the time in order for things to work.

On the driver's side the whole cast number is:
2536030-318-2 BN
 
You don't state if it's a big block or a small block. On a big block, on the pad where the distributor goes in should be the displacement and assembly date.
440 STAMPING ON PAD MALONE NY.jpg


In this case, being an engine from 1966 based on the casting date (read on for more info on casting dates), the engine was assembled on December 20 of 1965

The CASTING Date is usually a month or two prior to the assembly date, never after... and that is found on the side of the block below the part number. In this case, the block pictured (not the same engine as in the picture above) was cast on the 28th of June 1965.

20190424_183155.jpg


I am not sure where that info is on a small block, but others will chime in who are better informed. Looking on the internet comes up with this info (you'll need to expand the image to read it):

upload_2020-5-8_11-59-8.jpeg

Essentially the information is all on the front end of the driver's side of the block just below the head. You should have a long number that will give you the info based on the Mopar 10,000 day calendar.
 
... You should have a long number that will give you the info based on the Mopar 10,000 day calendar.

The casting number indicates a 67-75 318, and I was thinking the "M318R 06 13 1947" number he gave was showing 1947 as the 10,000 day number. If that is the case, then day 1947 is Saturday, November 26, 1966.
 
The casting number indicates a 67-75 318, and I was thinking the "M318R 06 13 1947" number he gave was showing 1947 as the 10,000 day number. If that is the case, then day 1947 is Saturday, November 26, 1966.

The 10K date comes first in the string of numbers so it would be 0613 but that indicates a date of 4/2/63. that date doesn't jive with the casting date and is, likely, a mid read of the stamp.
 
M318R 06 13 1947
M- Mount road plant
318 - displacement
R - regular gas
06 13 - month and day engine assembled
1947 - sequential number for that day

There should be another letter before the M to give us the year of the engine. Plus with the 1283, I think a pic of this will help us work out what we are seeing here.
 
ok, I did some digging (and cleaning) and found another piece of the puzzle. Just below the drain plug on the passenger side there is another imprint reading what looks like:
36232990.
Photos of all to follow
 
3AA34342-E13A-4FDD-8662-EC016E5B48DD.jpeg
70BA6D94-77F1-4720-B7BA-7A1AB57657E6.jpeg
These are the numbers on the driver’s side-the 1283 is to the left (closer to the front) of the longer number
 
C19ACEE2-4834-4C31-9911-B343A3EA626E.jpeg
This is the stamp on the front of the block, driver’s side behind where the power steering unit mounts. As you can see it doesn’t look like there’s anything before the “M”. No sign that I can see of any remnant of a letter.
 
0ADABF7A-67A7-4070-83B9-8D1D6A33A4C2.jpeg
504B9B29-A8B4-4598-A0B5-7178F0BEBFD2.jpeg
These are the markings on the passenger side of the block. Again, the 1283 is on the right closer to the front of the engine and just to the left of the motor mount.
 
BB841BBD-6430-4558-96DB-2BE520069FA0.jpeg
Here is a shot of the same side of the engine (passenger side) cleaned up to show the blue paint
 
23C1BCBF-4A33-4874-B768-844F101DCD72.jpeg
098DEE08-10E5-405D-B2E4-90EAA8C94632.jpeg
Here are a couple of views of the stamp I discovered on the passenger side just below the drain plug. It appears to read 36232990
 
That’s 3G232990 I think in which case this is likely removed from a ‘73 model built in St. Louis. The block casting number is that of ‘67-75 318 and that VIN on it would mean it’s ‘69 or later.
 
That’s 3G232990 I think in which case this is likely removed from a ‘73 model built in St. Louis. The block casting number is that of ‘67-75 318 and that VIN on it would mean it’s ‘69 or later.
I'd agree that does look like a G.
G for St. Louis, 3 for '73?
What do you make of the stamp on the front of the block? Starts with M but most folks want there to be two letters there before the 318 mark.
 
That’s 3G232990 I think in which case this is likely removed from a ‘73 model built in St. Louis. The block casting number is that of ‘67-75 318 and that VIN on it would mean it’s ‘69 or later.
Too, can you tell at all on the computer what type of blue we have?
 
I'd agree that does look like a G.
G for St. Louis, 3 for '73?
What do you make of the stamp on the front of the block? Starts with M but most folks want there to be two letters there before the 318 mark.
from what I found online I think you're right. But, this motor came with the '68-'69 type timing cover, etc. so I wonder what's going on. I thought if we knew '73 blocks had that blue painted on them that would help determine year. But then other folks have thought the M on the stamp behind the power steering unit meant Mound road engine plant??? It's like the numbers don't jive.
 
1283 maybe 1-28-‘73 or 12-8-‘73.
These cars and parts are going on 50 years and people have been swapping parts on and off of them out of necessity for almost the whole time.
 
Yes. I’m going with 1/28/1973. The closer I look at the stamp it seems like the 28 is close together with a larger space to the 2 and 3.
And, I found a page online that lists moose engine colors and shows ‘73’s as being blue. So we have the vin sequence, engine cast date and blue paint pointing to ‘73. I also vaguely remember the guy at the junk yard stating that it was from a ‘73
Thanks for the great interpretation. I was hoping others might chime in to confirm because there just isn’t much more to go on- those are all the fricking numbers I could find.
Too, you must be right that someone had swapped the timing cover before I bought that motor in the late eighties. Who knows.
Thanks for your response.
1283 maybe 1-28-‘73 or 12-8-‘73.
These cars and parts are going on 50 years and people have been swapping parts on and off of them out of necessity for almost the whole time.
 
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