Interesting (to me) how the engines went down the assembly line.
The blocks (and the heads) were marked with the engine HP designation (which is also marked on the pad stamp along with the VIN)so that the guys/gals on the like knew which innards that particular motor woild receive.

The blocks also has a "bore size designator" stamped on the oil pan rail to match the pistons to bore (cyl. clearance).

There is also blue paint on the rear of the block, I want to research that a bit.

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340 hp with manual trans..........nice!

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Actually marcus, a 300 with manual.

One of them there horsepower challanged Vettes.

IIRC thought, HE was the 340 in 63 & maybe 64.

Very cool find, Bill!

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Thanks, I got really greasy finding those marks.
I enjoy the "how the factory did it" stuff.

It would be nice if that block was completely rebuilt and painted though.

Going to duplicate the marks?

Historically correct.

Though after a rebuild they might be confusing, don't you think?

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Maybe, probably, since I'm doing the other markings on the car - frame stencil, body shim marks & suspension paint marks.

Though I no intention of having the car judged at this point in time, I do like the "way it left the factory" thing.

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Opps...my bad...for some reason I had 63's on the brain....are you going to spice up the internals a bit or leave it box stock...?

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I don't particulary care that the pistons have to be GM but, stock compression. I'll use the origional crank & rods. Origional heads of course.
I may throw in a 350 horse cam so it idles a bit lumpier.

I would....and clean up the intake and the heads so it flows a little better while still looking like a 300 hp engine....Did those have the 2.5 inch rams horn exhaust headers or the 2"? I think I put 2.5 inch on my 63 when I redid it. It was a 300 hp car.....I was not going to have it judged.

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2 in for the 300, 2.5 for the 350

And my current 2in. sidepipes are reusable so the conversion to 2.5 would be over a grand.

I wanna see it repainted and rebuilt already

Still neat, Bill. Any more info yet on the blue paint?

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So do I.

I only had 2 responses on the NCRS forum as of this morning. One guy who was on the line in the 80's said that some of the air torque wrenches had a paint spritzer that shot a bit to show that bolts were properly torqued.

I thought maybe it was a designato foe manual trans vs auto ( so that a pilot bearing would be installed???).

There's a couple guys on the forum who were there in the 60's including the production engineer that was on the factory floor every day. Cool guys.

Originally Posted by Bill Hetzel (53669)

Also, the bore size designation on the oil pan rail, is there info on what the numbers mean size wise?
Bill -

I don't have the old cross-reference charts, but Ken Kayser might. In those days, there were eight different bore sizes within the nominal bore size tolerance range, and the pistons for each engine were size-matched to each bore; the bores were measured by an air-gaging system in the first station on the engine assembly line. Those size codes were stamped on the pan rail, and were also teletyped to the Piston Department, where the pistons were machined and cam-ground to precise size, ringed, and assembled to the rods. The eight piston/rod assemblies for each engine were placed by cylinder number in a wire tray on an overhead conveyor that took them in engine sequence to the engine assembly line, where the installers "stuffed" them in the bores (see photo below) and installed the rod caps and nuts.

Improvements in machining processes and in process control since then eliminated tolerance-sizing of bores and pistons decades ago; modern engines have one bore size and one piston size, and there's no longer a need for selective fitting of pistons.

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That's cool info.