Time span between engine date and truck date

[72BBChuck]

I am looking for a correct engine block for one of my trucks. I am wondering what the accepted time span is from the date the engine was assembled to the date the truck was assembled would be? In my case the door VIN sticker says the the truck is a 72 model assembled in December of 71. What do NRCS and other judges feel in a normal range? Would the engine have been assembled 30 days, 90days, ?? before the truck was assembled?

Anyone know anything about this? Thanks, Chuck

[Keith Seymore]

Need to know where your truck was built and what engine.

Trucks built in Fremont with an engine from Flint or Tonawanda would obviously be longer than a Flint truck with a Flint engine. Engines were shipped by rail (or truck) and you would have to allow for that transit time.

For Pontiac motor division passenger cars the engines were cast, machined and assembled on the same piece of property as final vehicle assembly. The time from engine casting to ship date for my 65 GTO was nine days.

K

[ghackett1]

Agree with above, but typically for Chevrolet within 30 days of car build date (usually less). I have seem some further out but they are not typical. This has been my experience.

[72BBChuck]

Keith, thank you for your input. That is valuable. The truck in question is a Fremont truck with a big block so we are talking rail transport time from Tonawanda, NY to Fremont, CA. I will start looking for unmolested Fremont big block trucks and check the time span. Anyone have such an example?

[Steeveedee]

I have a '70 built in Fremont and has a big block. It is the original, but has been rebuilt. Where would I look for the dates?

[mr.mud1]

i have a 1972 big block Cheyenne Super built in Fremont,California,Sept 1971.i can't seem to find any other pictures while it was apart other than the cylinder heads,they're both F 25 71.you'll find letters and numbers like that on most if not all of the castings.that's how GM date coded them.the letter,F on my heads is 6th letter of the alphabet,stands for 6th month,June,25th is the day and 71 is the year.every casting in my engine is May,or June and the truck as per the build sheet says Sept 22nd as the scheduled built date.Tonawanda,NY built engine and a Fremont built truck.hope that's a help.

[Steeveedee]

Yeeaaahh, I don't want to remove the valve covers on mine just to look for a date. I'm considering doing only a valve job, and slide in some rod and main bearings, since it smokes on hot startup and only holds about 25 psi on hot idle.

[mr.mud1]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Yeeaaahh, I don't want to remove the valve covers on mine just to look for a date. I'm considering doing only a valve job, and slide in some rod and main bearings, since it smokes on hot startup and only holds about 25 psi on hot idle.

there is also a date on the intake manifold,no trouble to find and see that.

[Cali72K20]

Here's my 1972 Custom Deluxe that was built at the Fremont plant in December of 1971. Looks like it was all built within November and December 1971.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by mr.mud1

there is also a date on the intake manifold,no trouble to find and see that.

Good to know. I'll check it out tomorrow.

[72BBChuck]

mr.mud1 Thanks for the input. Very helpful. So the heads were cast June 25 and the truck was "scheduled build date" was Sept 22.I have often wondered what that term "SCHED NO. DATE" in the upper left corner of my build sheet indicated. So you understand that to be a scheduled build date? Sounds feesable. Anybody know what "NO." indicates?

Also, mr.mud1, If I could get the engine assembly date from the machined pad in front of the passengers side cylinder head, that really tells the story. It should read something like TO815TKX, indicating that the engine was assembled 8th month 15th day, as an example.

[mr.mud1]

Originally Posted by 72BBChuck

mr.mud1 Thanks for the input. Very helpful. So the heads were cast June 25 and the truck was "scheduled build date" was Sept 22.I have often wondered what that term "SCHED NO. DATE" in the upper left corner of my build sheet indicated. So you understand that to be a scheduled build date? Sounds feesable. Anybody know what "NO." indicates?

Also, mr.mud1, If I could get the engine assembly date from the machined pad in front of the passengers side cylinder head, that really tells the story. It should read something like TO815TKX, indicating that the engine was assembled 8th month 15th day, as an example.

i did just go out to the shop to see the number on the front of my block.it says "TO831TKX" there was a grease pencil mark on the back of the pass side head,said "TKX" i put it back on after painting the engine.the blue vin decal on the drivers side door says "Sept 71" for production date.i assumed(i know you're not supposed to assume anything) that the schedule no date on the build sheet,says "27 9-22-71" meaning sept 22/71 build date?i have no clue what the 27 or NO means?take care.Greg

[72BBChuck]

Greg, thanks so much for that data. Because your BB truck is a 72 from Fremont, this data is very valuable to me. This tells me that your engine was assembled on August 15 in Tonawanda, NY and installed in your truck at Fremont, CA 37 days later. I have 5 of these BB 72 trucks. Two have incorrect blocks. I hope to correct one of them but this data makes my search more difficult than I imagined. I had hoped to have about a 90 day window. Ok, the search is on! PS. sent you a PM

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Just as an example for my Fremont built 1971 402. The truck's "build date" is May 19, 1971, the block's date is April 13, 1971, and the intake manifold's date is April 22,1971.

Most of the date stamps on my truck reflect April 1971.

Hey man, no kidding, you figure judges look at an engine's date code? Yeah they don't have shows like that around here, but then I'm just a novice.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Just as an example for my Fremont built 1971 402. The truck's "build date" is May 19, 1971, the block's date is April 13, 1971, and the intake manifold's date is April 22,1971.

Most of the date stamps on my truck reflect April 1971.

Good data. Thank you for checking into that and posting.

K