Chev 350 history

While I wait to start work on the Chev 350 engine from the donor ute, I thought I'd track down some of the history and find out exactly what I've got to work with.

These are the numbers on the block:

Engine casting Number: 3970010
Engine ID: K0315TKB

First, the casting number. A "3970010" is:

Year 1969-79

Casting 3970010

Capacity 350

Low Power 185

High Power 370

Main Caps 2 or 4

Application car, truck, Vette

So, the casting number doesn't narrow it down much - if i was lucky, the engine started as a 370hp Corvette engine. If not, a low power pickup truck engine. In some ways, a low power engine wouldhave less stress, so that might be a good thing.

Next, the Engine ID:

K = Ontario, Canada Engine Plant
03 = March
15 = 15th day of the month
TKB means the following specifications:

Code TKB	Year 1976	Capacity 350	Application conv.cab	Engine Code L LS9	HP 165	BBLS 4	Body C-10 & 1500
TKB	1979	350	conv. cab, m/t	L LS9	165	4	C-30 & 3500

So, it seems that my engine was made in Canada in 1976 or 1979. It's a LS9, built as a 165HP 4 barrel unit, for pickup trucks - one of C-1, C-30, 1500 or 3500 depending on the year.

Not very exciting, but perhaps it's had an easy life - sometime soon I'll be stripping the motor down.

Thanks to Dave for sending me the numbers.
References I use to decode the numbers can be found here:

http://www.nastyz28.com/sbchevy/sblock.php

Chev 350 running!

Last weekend it was time to start stripping the donor ute, but before we started we decided we should try and run up the 350.

Edward, our intrepid camera man, caught the action and I've included the short video here.

The engine fired up and ran, although it was missing on one cylinder which we think may be a stuffed plug. At some point we will give it a thorough check and assess the health to see if any work needs to be done.

Thanks to Ed for his help in stripping the ute, and to Dave for helping with the pickup and storage.