Help with engine code please!

[Werewolf]

Big block. Don't know what it is. Can't read the rear casting numbers easily. Do have the block pad data: T0606TRK

I'm 90% sure these are the correct numbers. If anybody can help, I'd greatly appreciate it! Hope it's a 396.

Can you decode the stock engine a truck had from the VIN? If so, could you check CE140B117794 please? Thanks.

[Werewolf]

Google turned up the answer to my engine question. Given the engine's setup, no emissions whatsoever, it's definitely old. In this case TRK = 1973 454, 240 horsepower, out of a series 10 or 20 truck.

Crap. Anybody wanna trade for a X-coded 396?

[Longhorn Man]

CE140B117794
C 2 wheel drive
E V-8 (not specific)
1 1/2 ton
4 Cab and bed (not specific)
0 1970
B made in baltimore
117794 17794th one built in blatimore for that model year.


You'd pick a baby small block over a 454?

[72armyswbtruck]

Hey Andy,
Just noticed you changed your avitar, cool

[Werewolf]

396 ain't a small block! ;P

No intentions of a keeping the 350 that's in my CST .. in my CST. I just don't know what I'm going to do with it yet.

Thanks for the reply. It's got a '70 front clip, but the guy kept telling me it was a '71. I just know it's, like, 4 different trucks.

Anybody know if this '73 454 has oval or rectangular port heads? I'm wondering how easy (and worthwhile) it'd be to build this engine up into a decent street engine that seems as if it belongs in my CST.

And one more question. Did different factories use different VIN plates in these trucks? I keep coming across VIN plates down here, in NC, that I always thought of coming on the '72 only. It looks more modern than the other plates I'm familiar with (from Michigan built trucks.)

[franks72]

Any 454 could be a nice street engin..The heads are what make the power...Need to know the casting number on the heads?? And if it is out of a truck they will be oval ports ...

[Longhorn Man]

Wow, I can't believe I said small block... I ment baby big block, but heck, if there were small blocks that were bigger than the big block, does it even matter anymore?
The VIN plates should be the same. The only thing on a 72 that would stand out from a 70 - 72, would be the extra C (or T on a GMC) in front of the normal vin.

[Werewolf]

Well I meant the actual look of the plates themselves. I'll have to nab a few pics of my two '68's and then this "new" truck once/if I get it. I probably will, figure a running 454 is worth something.

But yeah, I'm not trying to really go all-out street with this truck. I wanted to get it as close to factory as possible, really, and in the back of my mind, if I go 454, I may as well upgrade everything else, too .. and then the truck won't be stock anymore. 8)

[Longhorn Man]

Just make the 454 look like the baby big block.
it's not like it would be stock if it came with a small block in it anyways. you're just making it look stock... so how much worse is it to rebadge the engine in the rebadged truck?

[Werewolf]

Eh, I know. Only I would know. Yet oddly enough, just knowing kinda bites at me. I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist, that's all. But at least the truck I'm planning on sticking the big block in came with a 396 .. which is why I'm trying to go for the stock approach.

It was a factory BB CST. Truck's nice. Somebody probably pulled the engine for a blown BB in a car, and just stuck a 350 back in this.

If it were a 427 it'd be different. Then I could put the cool 427 racing flag logos under the front sidemarkers .. like I was planning with the 396. Those things look really cool on our trucks.

[Karl Hoh]

Cyl heads are oval port. If the cast # is 069 they are "peanut heads"- junk
Rect. heads are only found on BIG hp engines.

[70rs/ss]

Peanuts are not junk, they make good torque down low, hence them being on trucks! If you are dead set on a 427, pull the crank out of a 396 and put it in your 454, then you have a 427. As for I want stock, from the outside no one will know, but if you have to have it that way, well it is your truck. I come from the camp of, "there is no replacement for displacement." Therefore destroking a 454 (to make 427) is sacreligious, besides a 396/427 will cost more to build than the more "common" 454. Good luck either way, BTW I have 502 badges on my 454 and I'll sport 454 badges on my 572 (in the future, keep watching!!)

[FIVE 0]

A great site for checking GM casting numbers, Mortec.com. They cover BBC SBC Heads and even Holley. Ror

[Karl Hoh]

Originally Posted by 70rs/ss

Peanuts are not junk, they make good torque down low, hence them being on trucks! If you are dead set on a 427, pull the crank out of a 396 and put it in your 454, then you have a 427. As for I want stock, from the outside no one will know, but if you have to have it that way, well it is your truck. I come from the camp of, "there is no replacement for displacement." Therefore destroking a 454 (to make 427) is sacreligious, besides a 396/427 will cost more to build than the more "common" 454. Good luck either way, BTW I have 502 badges on my 454 and I'll sport 454 badges on my 572 (in the future, keep watching!!)

Maybe I didn't say it correctly. IMO, peanut (069) castings are junk. You'd be far better off with 241 or 820 castings. Still makes BALLS of torque at low rpm and they breathe to just under 7000 rpm. Unless you want to feel like you're driving a bbc with a 2brl carb.

[Werewolf]

Well I've decided to get the truck... and more importantly the engine. Hopefully somebody on here will have use for an iffy cab and a newer 4wd drivetrain with the ol' Granny Low and NP 205. All I want is the engine! And a door. And other odds and ends.

454 it is. I'll look at the heads sometime, see what I got. I wasn't actually planning on keeping much original on the top end, anyway. Like I said, it seems to run great, but I'll probably tear it down and go through it anyway. I'll need to if I want to make good power.

Thanks for the replies!