engine decoding

[blyguy]

does this number make any sense? it is on the front pass. side of block? V032TBC

[blyguy]

all i can find on this is it was built in flint march 23. anyone know what the "tbc"stands for?

[Keith Seymore]

"TBC" might be the engine broadcast code. They are usually a three letter combination, and are applied to the larger components (engine, trans, axles, radiators) that have a lot of part proliferation due to options. It's usually a paper tag applied to the front of the cylinder head or valve cover.

Rather than having the worker on the line try to comprehend all of the build variations and choose the right part, the engineers/assembly plant does the hard part for him. They might assign a TBC code to a certain engine; when the build manifest shows up for the particular truck it tells him to grab a TBC (as opposed to a TAC or TAB or some other engine) and bring it over to the line.

I'm guessing, btw, in the absence of any other information....

K

[blyguy]

thanks for that, i am going try and get the casting number from the back of the block today

[john]

Scroll down to TBC suffix code.
http://www.nastyz28.com/gm-chevy-cod...s-suffix-6.php

[Keith Seymore]

Excellent chart, John, and it helps show what I was trying to convey.

You can see there are several engines listed for RPO LS9, a 350 cu in V8 (what they show as the "VIN" column). Within that RPO you have to have different part numbers for Federal emissions, California emissions, manual trans, auto trans, maybe even A/C vs non A/C, or even different product lines (ie, a C/K engine might have a different part number than a G van engine).

Rather than have the operator scan through all the different part numbers, he is told to simply choose a TBC (rather than a TBD, TBE, etc).

Axles are another good example, because even though they might have the same RPO for the ratio (ie, GT4), they might still vary by C vs K (number of lugs), brake RPO and posi vs non. Various part numbers and subsequent broadcast codes would be assigned so the guy selecting the rear axle can quickly chose the correct one and hang it on the line.

Same thing for radiators (A/C vs non A/C, manual vs auto trans, HD vs LD vs standard duty, etc).

Incidently (this is really super picky), it appears to me the column that they show as "RPO" is really incorrectly labeled, and should be labeled either "Broadcast code" or "suffix code". I recognize the LS9, LG4 and L69 codes as engine RPOs that we used to work with. Other codes you might see might be LB4, L18, LE8, L03, LO5, etc, for example.

HTH -

K

[blyguy]

ok so where should i be looking for the other casting numbers. i looked by the oil filter and didnt see anything?

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by blyguy

ok so where should i be looking for the other casting numbers. i looked by the oil filter and didnt see anything?

On the back of the block where the bell housing or trans bolts up. (drivers side)

LockDoc

[blyguy]

anyone know the site to decode an engine? my number is 3970010. i think it was mortin or something like that?

[blyguy]

looks like this casting number was used from 69-79. any way to tell if this is the original motor and numbers matching?

[JDL]

you can grt a lot of info here http://www.chevymania.com/

[john]

Originally Posted by blyguy

anyone know the site to decode an engine? my number is 3970010. i think it was mortin or something like that?

Another good info site.
http://www.mortec.com/