Hi everyone, this site is awesome

[1983Camaro61T]

I have found the stamped numbers and letters on the front left side of the engine block in my 1983 Camaro.
They are as follows.
V1207CDJ
2FL610341
Can’t figure out what it is. The books I have don’t show this set of numbers. Also I checked the back of the block and it was as follows.
GM5.0LG.
Any help would be very much appreciated I want to make sure I understand what engine is in the car.
Thanks very much.
1983 Camaro.

 

[63Half-ton461]

Well we know the engine is a 305 ... is it carbed or injected, 4 spd or auto, casting # of the cylinder head under the valve cover ?

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Hi all

I have figured it out it is a 1985 305. Suffix code CDJ is only 1985 and the second set of numbers means it was a Pontiac division motor assembly plant is Van Nuys California.
Don’t no why the motor is in the 1983 camaro but at least I have a good idea now what I’m dealing with.

Thanks for the help.

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Also it has a 4 barrel carb and auto transmission with overdrive.

 

[63Half-ton461]

So gen 1, 2-piece rear main seal flat tappet cam block .... not sure what heads are on there till you lift a valve cover and cheak casting #'s
Interesting that #'s com back as a 2 years newer engine, so the car has some history and someone was monkeying around under the hood.
You should run your RPO #'s from in the glove box, that's your build sheet .... see what it was new, it will also tell you what gears are in the back.
The soft spot in the 305's is the cam, stock they are incredable mild, amazing the motor can even breath.
I would put a comp cams high energy 260H in it, basicly a RV cam that should wake that little mill right up !
Summit has a line of cheap house cams if your on a budget.

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Hi everyone please help.
We have purchased a 1988 Camaro for parts and was told that a 350 engine was swapped in and only ran for a few hours before the fuel pump died. The car sat for 8-10 years after the swap. I put marvel mystery oil in the spark plug holes and then pied the valve Covers to find that you could eat off the heads as the engine definitely looks brand new. Turned the crank and turned fine.
I have found that the deck of the block was ground down and only part of the suffix code is visible. And also wrote down the casting code on the heads. Here is the info I found the back of the block on the drivers side says GM 5.7 LT and SG1. The front pad can only see a V——FSX. The head casting stamp is 10110810. I tried to find a reference to the FSX but no luck. I know from your site that these can sometimes be mis stamped. The heads seem to be 1991 and up 350 63 cc chamber. But the block is just not making any sense. Please help.

Thanks

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Also would like to ask. Is there a different casting number on the other side of the block? And what does SG1 stand for. Ok thanks for any help in advance you are all awesome.

 

[63Half-ton461]

Its a 350 no doubt, there should be a casting number at the back of the block ending with 638 , probably was a TBI truck motor and with the 810 casting heads was not a swirl port motor (193 castings) so could be from a 3/4 or 1 ton which means it could be a 4 bolt main, with the valve cover off look down past the pushrods with a flashlight and see if it has a flat tappet or roller cam .... What's the casting # at the back of the block ?

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Thank you
I will look with a flash light as you suggested and get back on that I will have to get to the passenger side back I think to find the casting number on block the pictures I have posted one is the drivers side. Will post the passenger side when I can. Any idea on the FSX ?

 

[63Half-ton461]

Small Block Chevy Engine Block Identification ....

This might help. Let me know what you figure out

http://nastyz28.com/sbchevy/sblock.html

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Hello
I found the casting number on the block. It is
14093638 also looks like it has flat not roller lifters. I couldn’t see any thing but metal on metal with my flash light. So what does this mean? Also still having trouble with the engine suffix being FSX. Nothing on the site that was suggested. All help is very appreciated.

 

[63Half-ton461]

When looking down there if it has a roller cam you will see the lifter tie bars that keep the lifters alianed, the tops of roller lifters are like a flat sided double D, if its a flat tappet you will see the top of the lifter bore casting with the round top lifter inside

 

[63Half-ton461]

638 castings are pretty common in 90s era trucks

 

[63Half-ton461]

V	Flint (Engine)

It was built on the first (1) day of an unknown mouth
And the FSX is a mystery
The V rather than K (camaro, firebird) tells you it was a truck SUV motor, the heads (non swirlport) tell you it wasnt light duty, all you have left is drop the pan and if it's 4 bolt main that would confirm 3/4 or 1 ton ... in my opinion ....
I kinda doubt the block was decked cause in the photo that looks like the original factory broaching and usually even a small clean up cut wipes off the numbers.
If you ever drop the pan let me know what you find, in my search for late model 350 4 bolt main motors i find your best chance is coming from the heavier trucks, i think 2 bolt main is standard in the C1500's, take another look at the cam see if you see what i described earlier, cheers

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Thank you

I did not see lifter alignment bars. Just the lifter and block. I used a endoscopic tool that I just got to find the casting numbers. I had a little trouble with it working but I will try to get a couple of pictures from the cam area. And post them after the holiday.
Thank you so much for all your help I haven’t been wrenching for a good 30 years now so I’m a little rusty. LOL. But hey for 600.00 we got a complete car with a rebuilt motor in it that looks like it ran very little so I’m very happy about that. It’s the best Christmas present in a long time. I will pull the motor in the spring and we will go through it and put it in the 1983 camaro. We will take the interior to from the 88 and swap that in to the 83 as well so thank you again and have a great holiday.
Tom

 

[63Half-ton461]

Your welcome, So its a flat tappet then, and a mystery cam at that til ya fire it up and see how it runs. sounds like ya got a great deal and you'll be havein some fun in the spring. best a the season to ya. Pete

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Hi everyone
Update on 88. The 350 is a 4 bolt main Yea the crank is a stock Chevrolet and the cam is now the mystery. The bore is .060 over 4.06 still looks very good. I measured the cam lobes and it looks like the lift is .272 .273 area. The numbers on the end of the cam 838640 no numbers in the middle of cam. Looking at putting some aluminum heads 64 cc and a bigger cam. Any Idea what this cam is? Also lifters looked new. But was surprised to see old style rods in it as date code on block is A214 I’m assuming it is a 94 because it has the spider bolt holes for a set of roller rockers. Any help would be awesome. Hope all are well With all this crazy stuff happening.
Tom

 

[63Half-ton461]

Your cam is similar to one of these factory grinds , could be a Melling or seal power universal replacement cam, ive seen at least 3 part number superseds your number might be hard to trace, GM's higher performance cams where in the the mid 400 range.

3896929

Hyd.

195/202

.390"/.410"

8.0:1

112

12353915

Hyd.

194/204

.401"/.423"

8.0:1

114

12353914

Hyd.

180/194

.378"/.401"

8.0:1

114

Score on the 632 block in 4 bolt main , i find i come across way more in two bolt main 632's, with that block you have the option of going roller cam which given the option is worth serious consideration, nice cam and heads and you could bump up on 400 hp

60 over on the block makes me wonder if it had a scored bore at rebuild cause 30 over would clean up even a high miler. she's got some kinda checkered past. I think the PM rods only go into the Vortec" and then only the the 4 bolt main one's , i have a 880 vortec casting that is 4 bolt with PM rods and a 880 with 2 bolt with standard rods so yeah not as common as ya might think.

 

[1983Camaro61T]

Thanks 63Halfton.
I appreciate all the help. Just bought a new set of aluminum heads with 2.02/1.6 valves and 64 cc with 220 flow numbers on the intake side. Had them made from my local engine builder. I calculated the numbers and depending on what cam I go with we are looking at above 450HP. Not a bad little investment well I let you all know what I pick for a cam soon.
Tom.

 

[63Half-ton461]

They probably flow their peak numbers in that .450 to .500 lift range so if you run a cam that is say .530 max lft that gives the heads more opportunity to flow air in that .450-.500 area see where im going with this, if you run a .470 lift cam you barely spend anytime in your optimum flow range and dont make use of the new heads.

As its a street engine you what max torque so go easy on your duration which means your gonna run a cam with some pretty fast ramps, this were the rollers win the day, they can run usable duration with big hairy lift and take full advatage of whatever flow your heads can deliver.