Cast Date

[L78 steve]

Can anyone make out this cast date? Its on a 65 or 66 396 375\425HP block.

[cook_dw]

Looks like I 30 5

[L78 steve]

I thought GM didn't use I.

[cook_dw]

I guess it could be a L also but sure looks like an I..  Whats the pad stamp say?

[L78 steve]

The pad was decked and now wears a bogus stamping.

[Gramps69Z]

May need to remove some paint to get a better look at it.
" I " was used on cast not stamped.

http://www.camaros.org/numbers.shtml#GM-InternalDateCodes

[bergy]

Those date tags were eventually relocated just because of the legibility problem (took a while though!).  The pattern spray would puddle in the tag & sand stuck in the number/letters.  Having the date in the drag would also allow loose sand to fall into the characters.  When it was moved to the cope, the mold machine operator would clean the date tag every time he indexed the hour tag.

[bcmiller]

That was great information. Thanks bergy.

[HawkX66]

Looks like it's upside down. G 09 7 maybe. If it's not upside down, it would have to be 1, 2 or 3 for the second digit because of the zero right? It doesn't like one of those.

[dannystarr]

Don't remove all the paint, just the tops of the numbers. That will pull them out better to start. Just my 2 cents. Here it is closer and upside down and sideways... D

[BULLITT65]

Maybe a rough cast E?

[dannystarr]

Whoops, was in a hurry to get to work. Here is the other pic up-side-down.. D

[firstgenaddict]

I 30 5 is what I see as well.