72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

I just saw a 72 Chevy van ambulance in the yard. I wrote down the suffix code or at least what I thought it was. Can anyone tell if its worth anything. It had 4 barrel intake and a 4 core rad. I should have took off a valve cover and wrote down the head casting no. Would this be a good bulider(4bolt main)engine?

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

The suffix code was TQ or at least thats what I saw.

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

Another "ambulance engine " story......................I was involved in this subject in another posting. The chance that it is a 4 bolt 350 is very high. I would venture to guess that there isn't much special about that engine however. If you stop and think about it, ambulances weren't pursuit vehicles and I can't see any real reason to have a performance engine in one.
Who knows though.:lol:

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

Also don't forget that the 4-bolt main thing is not a neccesity for a street performer engine...............just some old urban legend bragging riual with the 4 bolt factory engines.
I have read and geard that many machinists have tore down the 4 bolts only to find on occasion that the second set of bolts on the main caps had worked loose. I personaly think studs on a 2 bolt is actualy better than a stock 4 bolt set up.

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

There was a "TTQ" in 1970 that was a 2 and 4 bolt 350 used in conversions and C50s
http://www.nastyz28.com/gm-chevy-cod...s-suffix-8.php

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

regardless of what it was, it was ragged on and beat on hard. It'd sit in a garage all day, get fired up, and 20 seconds later, wide open throttle.
You can find a better 350 somewhere else. Try and get a late model one with a roller cam. They are 10 times better and will live a LOT longer than a flat tappet cam would with the new crappy oils.

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

[QUOTE=prg machine;2652803]If you stop and think about it, ambulances weren't pursuit vehicles and I can't see any real reason to have a performance engine in one. QUOTE]

Cannonball!!!???

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

All the badass ambulances back in the late 60's and early 70's were Cadillacs. Those mamas could move. I think they were 472's?

The vietnam war brought us para-medicine- many techniques learned in the trenches. Before para-medicine was widely practiced, the prevailing thought to ambulance service was "get'em to the hospital as fast as you can" The top-shelf ambulance providers (usually hospitals) had caddy ambulances and NASCAR wannabe drivers. Soon after the war, it was recognized patients had better outcomes if you stabilized, then transported. Ambulances got bigger- because they carried more equipment.

The new ambulances in Austin are the size of small moving vans. About as fast as a shed...

So- to get back to the thread, If the engine came out of a suburban, it isn;t any different from an engine out of our truck. If you want to scoot- find one of those old caddy's.

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

I went and looked at the engine today and its a run of the mill 350. Block casting is 3970014 and heads are 333882.

Re: 72 Ambulance engine decoding help
 

I have the same block number in my 69. It's a 2 bolt main. The heads show as 75cc 1.94/1.50 valves from 1974-80. True smog heads on a low compression engine.

How good the engine is will depend a lot on how big the city was. The smaller, rural services didn't get near as many miles in most cases. And if it's a low mile engine, it should be okay. But I am concerned about the later model heads on it. Tells me they had some problems.