Thread: GM Engine?

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Hey, Ive been working on cars for a while but mainly imports (japan and such), well ive been looking into building an old rolling camaro SS chassis that a friend sold me but didnt have an engine, until now, but i have no idea what it is...

It is in great shape and has been kept clean and free of rust.. this is the thing... it is still in the factory crate (which is def old, held together by solid wire spanning around the whole thing and bent into locking tabs where the lid locks closed), which is labled "general motors half engine 396921." i didnt look for any casting numbers yet but its brand new in the crate and im sure its the original crate because it was passed down to me in my family by a member who used to race professionally in the 70's... its def original still had the plastic on it.. came with two holly 4 barrel carbs and old (but also new) elbrock valve covers... not worried about the carbs yet just want to know what engine i have, any help appreciated! if i need to take it out and get castings i will, just wondering if anyone heard of this first...

If it comes with dual fours it's gotta be pretty good

six digits doesn't look like a GM part number

Some things don't add up here. The "Half engine" part is a term I've never heard, and why would a GM crated up engine have two Holleys and Edelbrock valve covers? To me a half engine would be a short block, whereas this one sounds like a complete pan to carb(s) engine. Do two Holleys even fit on top of a Chevy small block? I know they do on the crossrams, but.........

Very easy way to solve this. Take pictures, lots of pictures. Take the crate, the writing on it, what you can see of the engine, etc. Then we have something to validate what you are saying. Not that I am doubting what you are saying, but you are kinda new around here and we haven't had a chance to get to know you yet.

Post up those pictures, we're anxious to see this motor and try to help ID it for you.

Don

Haha i think i worded my first post very poorly judging by the response of some of my new peers here on clubhotrod... first of all thank you for all of your posts...ill clarify what i meant a little bit now..

when i said "came with two holly 4 barrels and valve covers" i meant came with as in, sitting on the garage floor next to the crate ...i dont know why i even included that in the post it was completely irrelevent as far as what i was looking for in an answer....for all i know they could have been for one of his other cars....

second, ill try to get pics up as soon as possible... but yes the only thing on the crate was printed "General Motors"...im going to have to dive in and take pictures tomorrow if i can... its 1 AM here and i have work in 5 hours

the only thing i noticed from quickly peaking in was that it has a timing chain installed on it already and looks like complete heads up to where a manifold would go, but again i havent opened the crate completely yet in proper lighting, just my dark garage corner...

as for the number 396921... i searched and searched and havent been able to match it to any engine casting number on the net... so its probably some kind of stock/serial number... anyway, pictures will tell the rest... any other input def appreciated though, i will get the pics up asap! thanks again guys!

Ok, that clears it up somewhat. Post as many pictures of the whole deal as you can and we will have a better shot at figuring out what you have. Sorry to be skepical but sometimes one of those 12 year old kids in Nigeria or wherever gets bored and comes on a forum to have a little fun with the locals. We've had our legs pulled a few times when we offered sincere opinions and then we find out the poster was bogus.

Don

IMO, the shipping crate may be factory original, but the engine as described sounds like it possibly was the engine taken out of the car when the crate engine was dropped in and the crate was used for storage. To my knowledge, there was never a factory GM crate engine that came with Edelbrock valve covers or 2 Holley 4bbl carbs. Even the twin Holley cross ram intakes used on the early Z-28 302 engines were dealer installed options, not complete engines. I agree with Don, pictures would tell the rest of the story.

Mike

All righty then - get us the pictures and we can get this think back on track!

JUST GOT PICS WILL HAVE THEM UP IN 45 mins- 1 hour

Hey Guys, here are some pics.....by the way the other side of the crate did say "Partial Engine Group .033"... its everything you said it was Robot...

The main number off the block is "26GM 3070010"

other random numbers on the block that i found include....
"F 101, 010, 020, H38, 371,338

Pistons Read 3959456

crank has GMT 11, and what looks like 1182? take a look at the pics and lemme know what you think! i gotta get to work! thanks guys!

More Pics!!!

LAst Few !!

I think that you probably have a 1969 to early 70’s 350. Look close at the casting number and it’s probably 3970010. That would match with the crank, i.e., 1182 is a forged crankshaft (3.480 stroke) for a 350 that uses a two piece rear seal.

Great motor to build. Have fun.

Regards,
Glenn

Well I see we're all on the same page, re; 350 - however, this is the same casting number used in the 370HP Corvette - that and the forged crank tells me it's not a "plain Jane", rather a good solid high performance base.

Here are the first 5 Glenn....continued on another post.....