69 L48 (SS350) - 2 or 4 bolt mains?

[KurtS]

I wanted to know if others have seen 1969 L48 engines with 2 bolt mains. Most have 4 bolts, but some are 2 bolts. How common is this??
Reposting as a poll.

[JohnZ]

Kurt, the L48 350/300 used in the '69 Corvettes (base engine) used the 3932386 (early), 3956618 (mid-year), and 3970010 (late) blocks, and all were 4-bolts. From then on, they used the 010 block for all 350 applications thru 1979, and starting in '71 the base versions were 2-bolts and the optional versions were 4-bolts.

[KurtS]

Problem is that in practice, that's not true for all L48's. I have a L48 block and it's a 2 bolt main and I've heard of others. Most were 4 bolts, but 2 bolts were used sometimes. Trying to put a finger on how common 'sometimes' is.

And relatedly, trying to figure out if there was a difference in the LM1 and L48 shortblocks. Components are the same, so they should be the same except LM1's seemed to get more 2 bolt main blocks.

[waynechipman]

Had a LM1 with four barrel and it was two bolt and was a 388 block, car also had the lower sitting engine frame mounts.

[cib12]

for the record i purchased a new 69ss350- had it for 90k miles- (late production) it had 4 bolt mains

[Jerry@CHP]

In 1971, my best friends's parents had a 1969 Impala, 350-300.  I helped install a new rear main seal in this vehicle.  This engine was a two bolt block.  When we started on the job, we were thinking it should be a four bolt block.  I have no clue what the BD is as this car is long gone.

Jerry

[rich69rs]

.....also, a lot of 3932386 blocks were 2 bolt 327 cid applications - base Camaro in '69 for example - I have one in my RS.   It seems perfectly plausible that this same block could have been used for either base 327 or base 350 builds.....and then just to confuse things a little more, there is the 4 bolt version of this block which sometimes got stamped DZ.

Although this engine is not original to my car, it was original to VIN: # 124379N551248

Engine Numbers:       
Casting: 3932386
Casting Date: J 31 8
Engine Pad: V1122FJ (69 Camaro, 327, 3 spd manual)
                  

[click]

My 10C of 68 built LM1 camaro (69) has the ...388 block with 4 bolt mains.

[hotrod68]

Before all this stuff started getting documented, the general rule from '68-'69 and early '70s was if it was a 350 4-barrel with a 4-speed it had 4-bolt mains, but the automatic 350 4-barrels were generally 2-bolt, excepting, of course, the '70 and later LT-1s. I saw enough 350s torn down around this time to say it could be true--every 4-speed car I saw had 4-bolt mains, Camaro or not. Co-incidence? Who knows. Just throwing another Wive's Tale out there...chuckle