Thread: Milled block leaves strange stampings - Anyone able to translate?

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I bought a 1985 K10 pickup about a year ago from a dealer in Arkansas and learned it had a 396 shoehorned into the engine bay. I've been steadily doing some work on the truck, mostly drivetrain. As I went to swap out the valve covers, I thought I'd learn a little history on the engine, so I went to look at the block stamping on the front passenger side. What I found was definitely NOT a GM code, which leads me to believe the block has been milled...either from heat warping, or for performance reasons.
What's on the block now reads, '391 48 9140
Brad ACH'


Outside of this stamp, the only markings I was able to see was a casting number (was in the iron at the bottom...not a true traceable casting number) on the bottom of the block by the oil pan. This cast was '6T.'


Anyone out there smarter than me (not hard to do!) that can read these tea leaves? Strange marks for sure!

Thanks!!
Sean

Probably just a stamping from a previous rebuilder... Unless you know who the rebuilder was and could ask them about the engine (and they still had the records on it) they don't mean a thing....

the numbers you after will tell what the block was or is and the year will be in back of the heads top part of the block were bell housing is drivers side block CID other side top will be mouth date year like 4-22-69 . would be letter for month for the D-22-9 most all good shops will deck the block has nothing to do with over heating the block. as bbc have a very thick deck they do not move much . mosty to square the block up and put a good finish down for the head gasket to seal up on the deck. every engine i build i deck less it s a $$$ numbers block for a restore deal were pad numbers match the car trans carb . engine plant .

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

the numbers you after will tell what the block was or is and the year will be in back of the heads top part of the block were bell housing is drivers side block CID other side top will be mouth date year like 4-22-69 . would be letter for month for the D-22-9 most all good shops will deck the block has nothing to do with over heating the block. as bbc have a very thick deck they do not move much . mosty to square the block up and put a good finish down for the head gasket to seal up on the deck. every engine i build i deck less it s a $$$ numbers block for a restore deal were pad numbers match the car trans carb . engine plant .

What Pat said... It doesnt take much of a shave to remove any stock stamping on the front right pad, and it was common practice for us to stamp our own identification into this pad to help identify what we did to it at a later date.. I still have a file drawer of codes from 29 years ago.. the wife has tried to convince me to get rid of it... but.. its nostalgic to go back through that file and look at different builds. It is also shocking to see how differently engines are built today than they were in the early 80's