What are acceptable casting dates for block and heads?

[jims68z]

My car is a 2nd week of July car.  I picked up a March 10 dated block and my heads are dated February 7 and February 21.  Would these heads be considered a matched pair or are they too far apart in dates for that?  Would be be considered correct for the block?  Would the motor be considered correct for the car with the age difference?

[X66 714]

I have an 02E car that has B-16-8 block, A-??-8 head & a B-??-8 head which are correct from that car. I know of another 02E car that has a much earlier engine. Send a PM to firez on Team Camaro for info on his before you make a call...Joe

[68Zproject]

Doesn't really matter, if you don't have the born with engine, it's never correct.  It's the first question I get asked, " Is that the original engine?"  The answer is either yes or no.

[fireZ]

Yes there is only one original engine per car. Dates can be matched up I suppose but in the end guys are very educated in what is or is not the original engine.

[Oregonjam]

I would rather see more First Gen Camaros rolling around restored to factory specs with correct dates etc than full blown mods. That is just my taste these days. I do think it would be incredibly difficult to fake a totally original car and get it past someone who is knowledgeable but I know it occurs and I am totally against it. If someone wants to spend the time restoring a car to the way it rolled off the assembly line with or with out the original block, great. I don't think it is unreasonable to match date codes to make the car as correct as it could ever be again as long as they are upfront about the true identity of the major components and have that documented with out restampings. It would certainly be a challenge and would be fun with or with out the original block.

I do find it funy that a lot of people only consider the block and body as the important factors and ignore the transmission. The trans can be just as important a factor when looking at an original car but often overlooked.

jims68z - There are others on here that can answer as to what the normal acceptable range would be expected. You may try searching some of the other threads as they cover this subject as well. I have seen a large lapse in blocks to build dates of Camaros but they are rare. I even saw an M coded block that was cast 6 months before the car it went in. It looked original and I had many reasons to belive it was. That stretch of time is certainly well outside the norm. As for Heads, i do not have an opinion for you.

[68Zproject]

There's a lot written about dating of components in the CRG articles.  Click on the red rectangle at the top right corner of this page.

I agree that it is noble to try and get as close as you can to an original dated engine, parts and/or transmission.  What I feel is negative is, the way some people can seem to get stressed out whether or not their non-original engine is dated just right for their cars build date.  To me it just seems irrelevant, as I stated above, it's either the original one or not.  There are examples of dates that fall out of the normal guidelines and if your components are original to the car and you can back it up, that's just the way it happened on that particular car, etc.  For example,  If you have an original engine that is cast, say, 6 months before it was assembled, and you can prove it was the original engine, then you have nothing to prove anymore.  It's just the way it happened.  But if you have a non-original engine cast 6 months before your car was made, then you will have an endless supply of opinions that that is way too early for your car.  To me it just wouldn't matter if I didn't (and I don't ) have the original engine, what the dates were on it.  If you have a 69 Z and have a DZ 302 in it that isn't the vin matched engine, all that would matter, to me, is that it has a real 302 in it with all the correct parts.  It would be worth the same to me (less because it doesn't have the born with engine) if the engine in it was dated before the car was built or after.

[fireZ]

Well put

[Oregonjam]

Yeah I agree, but I can see how some would enjoy the hunt either way. I would find it more rewarding assembling the original born with engine with the correct dates, but again that's just me.

[fireZ]

I think we all need too remember to build these cars the way we want and can afford to do them. Build them and drive them as you wish.