Quick engine ID (Chevy)

This is an early 3rd gen, Camaro. The PS pump isn't in the same place as the 305 in my truck, and I'm no SBC expert by any means.

What can you tell me about this engine, detectives?

as I recall there is a number on the back of the engine that tells ya if it's a 305 or 350... google will answer... and i'm sure GRM will also lol

i can tell you that i can't tell you very much with the amount of info you've given,l and if you want us to be able to see your pic you gotta post it somewhere else online besides your gmail account. your facebook account is good for this....

does it have a carburetor, TBI or TPI?

are the valve covers perimeter or center bolt? this narrows down the year range, since they started the center bolt heads in 87.

is it a manual or automatic trans? if it's stock, only the 305 came in front of the manual.

serpentine belt or v belt?

you can find the identification number stamped on a pad on the deck surface right in front of the passenger side cylinder head, right above where the water pump bolts to the block. 76 and older blocks had a pad that was as wide as the cylinder head, 76 and up the pad is only about 1" wide. if it's original to the car, the last 6 or so digits of the VIN will be stamped there, along with a 3 letter suffix code that tells you exactly what year, model, induction, and trans that engine was built for. post up that code here or use some google-fu to find out what it means.

you can also put the VIN of the car into a few different online VIN decoders and find out what engine that car is supposed to have, but if it's been swapped out that won't tell you anything.

Forgot about the image link, should be fixed now.

That's pretty much all the info I have on the car at the moment, unfortunately. Just got a couple emails from a guy looking to trade. It's a 'parts car,' by which I think he means it's pretty much yard art at this point. But if it's got a 350, I might take it for my truck.

I'll have the dude poke around for some numbers if the picture's not enough to ID.

see that flat machined surface just in front of the passenger side cylinder head, just above the water pump bolt? that's where the engine code will be stamped. unless the block has had the deck surfaces machined, you should be able to read the stamping pretty easily.

from the pic posted, the only thing i can say is that the heads are pre-86 because they don't have the center-bolt valve covers.

You can also look on the side of the block, drivers side. You want to see 010, which means 350, 4 bolt mains.

If you care about the engine, get the suffix code and look it up. If it's gone that means it has been rebuilt already and you likely don't want it anyway. It looks like either a lg4 305 with a lot of the smog stuff gone, or an older car engine from who knows what.

cwh wrote: You can also look on the side of the block, drivers side. You want to see 010, which means 350, 4 bolt mains.

not true.. pretty much every 350 block cast in the 70's has "010" on it, which means nothing more than that's how much nickel or carbon is in the alloy. or something like that. the really good blocks also have "020" cast next to the "010"- this means that it was an HD block for an industrial or heavy truck application. these are probably 4 bolt mains.. but generally there is no way to tell a 4 bolt block from a 2 bolt block without pulling the oil pan and looking at the main caps.

back to the OP- tell the guy to scrape the gunk off that pad on the passenger side deck surface and snal a pic of it. .

I'm gonna go with the LG4. Carb'd 305, computer controlled carb at that. Might be the HO version. Depending on how early, I don't think the 350 was available until 85 or so.

Buy it, give me the shell.

BoostedBrandon wrote: I'm gonna go with the LG4. Carb'd 305, computer controlled carb at that. Might be the HO version. Depending on how early, I don't think the 350 was available until 85 or so. Buy it, give me the shell.

the HO was called the L69, and had some of the best heads ever put on a small block from the factory until the vortecs came out.. they also had flat top pistons and a little bigger cam than the LG4, and exhaust manifolds that had bigger outlets for the amazing almost 200hp they put out..

That's not a motor, its an air cleaner, a fan shroud, and an alternator.

SVreX wrote: That's not a motor, its an air cleaner, a fan shroud, and an alternator.

And hoses. You forgot the hoses!

cwh wrote: You can also look on the side of the block, drivers side. You want to see 010, which means 350, 4 bolt mains.

Not always. I have an 010 2-bolt. With chevys the ONLY way to know if its 2 or 4 bolt is to pull the pan and look.

Not to mention... who knows if its been rebuilt with a stroker crank, a 327 crank, overbored...

Main places to look are the pad in front of the passenger side head for a stamp code. That will tell you important things like what vehicle it was originally in, what year, and what application. The block casting number (behind the intake immediately in front of the bellhousing) will tell you how it was originally cast.

Get those numbers and then go HERE to check the casting number and HERE for the stamp code. That will tell you what it originally was but you can't really know anything until you tear it apart.

One other vague clue as to its guts would be the head casting number which is under the valve cover. There are basically three common possibilities - a 56cc chamber which would have originally come on a 305 or smaller (or installed on a 350 to raise compression), a 64cc chamber which was used on most hi-po engines 327 and larger, or 76cc which was used on low-po smoggers.

One thing I will say from the photo is that there are no obvious clues to its identity. Its a heavily duct-taped installation with all kinds of redneck fixes. That's not a bad thing, but it might be different if all the factory stuff were still intact which would lead me to a better guess.

If it is the factory engine, it will either be a 125-hp 305 or a 170 or 180-hp 350 with 8.5:1 compression and a tiny cam.

SVreX wrote: That's not a motor, its an air cleaner, a fan shroud, and an alternator.

where do you see an alternator in that pic? the spot where it's supposed to be is jut a big empty hole..

Ooops- you're right. Its the AC compressor.

Still don't see a motor.

Irks me when a local yokel says: what motor ya got in thar?

as I think to myself... it's an engine... it's an engine

Well, here's what I just found in my email: numbers on the stamp are V0223SUJ and 2EL234722. I'm not finding a match on either site above - what am I missing?

if that "SUJ" is actually "SUI", then the decoding site from above says it's an L69 from a Monte SS.

which is probably the best of the 305's.

fasted58 wrote: Irks me when a local yokel says: what motor ya got in thar? as I think to myself... it's an engine... it's an engine

Geez you guys are annoying!

Ok, Ok I stand corrected again!

While I know the difference, I claim an exemption having spent 22 years living in the South.

novaderrik wrote: if that "SUJ" is actually "SUI"...

That's what I was thinking.

SVreX wrote:

fasted58 wrote: Irks me when a local yokel says: what motor ya got in thar? as I think to myself... it's an engine... it's an engine

Geez you guys are annoying! Ok, Ok I stand corrected again! While I know the difference, I claim an exemption having spent 22 years living in the South.

I've read that the term 'motor' was coined into the lexicon in order to distinguish newfangled internal combustion engines from previously extant steam engines.

This is probably best resigned to a tomato tomahto debate.

Have fun driving your enginecar, smartass!

i thought an engine was a motor, but a motor wasn't necessarily an engine..

someone with more need-to-know than me should really hit the all knowing and all wise 9and never wrong) repository of all online knowledge- Wikipedia- and research this for me..

IMHO if it spins and makes power it is a motor.

If it spins and makes power with "Fire" it can also be called an engine.

Although, technically, I think electric = motor and Internal combustion = engine.