Days Between Cast Date and Assembly Date

The engine in my Shleby has a casting date of 4L13 and an assembly date of 4L16. Doesn't seem possible, but I have double checked the numbers.

The engine in my car was machined and assembled in the third week of December 64 and the car has a build date of 12/30. The sheet metal in the car has date stamps from 12/4 through 12/14. It is amazing how they were putting them together so quickly. There are one or two items that predate 12/4, but not many. As I understand it, raw materials were going in one end of the Cleveland plant and finished engines out the other. I'd love to see some assembly line pics.

Edited by - round2K on 03/05/2007 17:23:06

I have found engines with intake manifolds cast the day before the engine was assembled. It just depends. Routinely they can be within three days. But, I have also seen almost a year between a block casting date and its assembly date. I believe this is rare. In this particular engine, the lower half of the thrust bearing was missing. Perhaps the engine was sidelined, then later released. Who knows? The engine got close to 100,000 miles, but I could move the crankshaft almost 1/8". Must have made one heck of a lot of noise!

Anyway, I generally figure all the components will be within two months of the assembly date (two weeks to 3 days more common). Car scheduled date could be before or after the engine assembly date, but is generally before and within a week -- but not always.

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I have found engines with intake manifolds cast the day before the engine was assembled. It just depends. Routinely they can be within three days. But, I have also seen almost a year between a block casting date and its assembly date. I believe this is rare. In this particular engine, the lower half of the thrust bearing was missing. Perhaps the engine was sidelined, then later released. Who knows? The engine got close to 100,000 miles, but I could move the crankshaft almost 1/8". Must have made one heck of a lot of noise!

Anyway, I generally figure all the components will be within two months of the assembly date (two weeks to 3 days more common). Car scheduled date could be before or after the engine assembly date, but is generally before and within a week -- but not always.

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Bob

I have the original block for my car with an assembly date of 4L16. I am looking for a set of heads. What do you think the time frame should be? I was thinking August thru October would work.

Love your book, do you still have Roush's old 4 door HiPo Fairlane?

Thanks

Bill

With so little data available to see specific trends, I wouldn't question any part dated within two months of the assembly date, but much better to be within a month, and better still if within two weeks. Two weeks is "numbers matching" in my mind, but I would not question someone saying their car is all original with the dates within two months.

Yes, I still have the 63 Fairlane 4-door.

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Yes, I still have the 63 Fairlane 4-door.

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It's gotta be an amazing car...<img src=images/icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>

The three hipo blocks that are in my cars all have different number of days between casting and assembly dates. Respectively, they were assembled 6, 14, and 10 days after being cast. All three blocks were cast in a ten day period starting on 6 May 1965. All three motors have heads dated 5D26, 5D27, or 5D28. What I have found most interesting is how varied and out of sequence the dates on balancers and distibutors have proven to be. Paul

>>What I have found most interesting is how varied and out of sequence the dates on balancers and distibutors have proven to be.<<

Would like to hear more about this...

Please do. Thanks, Paul.

The '65 San Jose K convertible I'm restoring has a late November casting date(4L30) on the block but a January assembly stamp(5A10) on the boss that shows and also on the bottom flat side where the oil pan attaches. Dates for the parts are generally December and January dates. The distributor is a 4M, balancer 5A, carb 5A. If I remember right, the heads are dated november and december '64. Timing cover was a December '64 piece. I have all this written down at home.

BTW, the block does have the VIN of the car stamped in the front where it should be. Trans also has VIN stamp on it.

Edited by - caspian65 on 03/30/2007 07:43:12