Thread: help me determine what ive got!

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hello all. i picked up a 327 from a guy on CL. he received it from some machine work so knew nothing about it. now the more and more i read online the more and more i get confused. the only thing i know is that it is a 1968-1969 327. nothing else.

i need to know what kind of numbers this thing is making so i know what ill need to do when building it. so maybe someone can give me a hand. heres the numbers off the block.

engine casting number: 3914660
head casting number: 3947041
intake casting number: 3913803, has a 4 bbl quadrajet on it
off the front of the engine, infront of pass. head: T0619HH 181165567

if you need any other numbers i can retreive them for you along with pictures. and as always THANKS!!

Also-since Mortec has shut down,might be helpful for future posts ref's to links that list later and earlier block number I.D.'s.

I really miss Mortec, they were such a good source of Chevy info.

Don

Doesn't really matter much what it was, it's a 327 with low performance heads and a 4 bbl carb that probably will need to be rebuilt. What matters is, what are you wanting for performance when the engine is together??? Street cruizin', street/strip monster, drag racin', light car, heavy car, and a bunch of other things....

There are 3 code HH's that show up on the nastyZ28 site.....

HH 1965 327 s h/p, m/t 365 4 Vette (Special High Performance, Manual transmission, 365 hp, 4-bbl carb, Corvette)
HH 1966 327 air inj. reactor 300 4 Vette (First of the emissions devices, 300 hp, 4-barrel, Corvette)
HH 1969 350 tur 400 300 4 full size (Turbo 400 auto trans, 300 hp, 4-barrel carb, engine used in full size car)

The heads are nothing special, so I'd bet this was, as Dave said, a run of the mill 300 hp motor. If the heads need anything more than a couple hundred dollars worth of work, there are other heads out there that will work better. You know first thing that you have to put hard seats in the heads. And I don't know or not if they are drilled on the front for bolt-on accessories. The guides may be worn out or the valves may be trashed. You know the springs are junk. And then, what does a good valve job cost in your area. In the end, I can see you spending around $700 to $800 to freshen these heads and you will still have a set of ho-hum production heads.

What I might be thinking to myself is that I bought a block and a set of rods. I think I'd install ARP rod bolts in the rods and have them re-sized. Then I'd ask the machinist if he had any 350 cranks laying around. I'd buy a set of pistons with a 1.560" compression height and have the machinist cut the block decks to zero piston deck height.

I'd call up Milodon and order up a 7-quart pan, good pump, windage tray and crank scraper. That would put the short block together. Now, share with us the other information that Dave asked for and we'll make up the long block.

i know for a fact it needs rebuilt. started to tear it down and its got a bit of gunk built up inside of it. now techinspector1 i dont plan on doing anything that crazy that you speak of. im just looking to get 300-400 hp outta the motor, 300 being more realistic but 400 would be nice. the motor is going in a 87 mazda rx7 and most likely will have a T-56 transmission behind it. it'll most likely just be a daily driver that will see the 1/4 once of so a month.

now as far has those three engines you showed be above it couldnt be any of those since its a 68-69 327. thats where i get confused, all the site i looked at online all said different things

Tech, there are five HH listings in my MSA-1 book...the three you listed plus 1967 300 hp 327 in a corvette and a 1968 Imp 327, 250 hp powerglide

The 3947041 Head casting number is listed for a bunch of applications
68-69 302 with 2.02 intakes
68-69 327 300 hp with 1.94 intakes
68-69 327, 325 and 350 hp with 2.02
68-69 350 295 hp with 1.94
68-70 350 with 360 and 370 hp 2.02

some of these listings are interesting since they span the heads with and without bracket mounting holes in the ends of the heads

mike in tucson

you know now that i think of it they guy did mention something about an impala. and also the heads that are on it now do not have the mounting bracket holes on the ends of them

ok so i got the motor all tore down this afternoon. that was pretty fun. never tore down a piston engine before. now i started to try and research the cam to figure out a little more about the motor but came up with nothing. the only numbers i could find on it were "E27" "GM96" and "6930x". so can anybody give me some insight on this?

1969 327 210/235 hp .390 intake/.410 exhaust exhaust lift 310/320 duration.

Originally Posted by thejallenator

ok so i got the motor all tore down this afternoon. that was pretty fun. never tore down a piston engine before. now i started to try and research the cam to figure out a little more about the motor but came up with nothing. the only numbers i could find on it were "E27" "GM96" and "6930x". so can anybody give me some insight on this?

Probably just your garden variety stocker cam. A high-perf aftermarket unit would be stamped on the rear face of the rear journal.

You can have some fun with this though, and learn how to degree a camshaft. You will need the block hanging on an engine stand, 4 main bearing halves (put the crank in the block on #1 and #4 main bearings), the crankshaft, the timing set (chain and sprockets), the cam, #1 piston and rod, a degree wheel, a degree wheel marker (piece of clothes hanger wire), a 0-1 inch dial indicator and magnetic stand and a steel bar that will replicate a lifter. Go down to your local machine shop and have them make you a steel bar, round, 8 inches long. Half the length (4 inches) will be 0.842" (+0.000", -0.002") diameter for checking SBC, BBC, LS cams. The other 4 inches of its length will be 0.875" (+0.000, -0.002") diameter for checking SB and BB Fords. Square off and smooth the ends.

The reason you want to make up this bar is that you can't use a hydraulic lifter to check cam timing with because the plunger will move in the lifter body, giving you an erroneous reading on your dial indicator. Some guys throw away the lock ring, turn the plunger over and use JB Weld to tighten it into the lifter body and use that, but it still leaves the lifter way down in the block. Making this steel bar will put the end of the bar above the block deck so that you can easily sit your dial indicator plunger on the end of it. It is also heavy enough that it will naturally follow the cam profile as you check the cam timing.

Here's the tutorial from Iskenderian about how to do the degreeing. If you're interested in doing this, just say so and I will answer any further questions you might have. I like to see fellows improve their knowledge, but I don't want to try to force something down your throat.
http://www.iskycams.com/camshaft.php

I will say this though, once you are proficient at degreeing in a camshaft, you will be able to lend assistance to others as they install camshafts and want to degree them. And if you do someone a favor, you have a favor coming.

oh jeeze thanks inspector, but i doubt ill ever need to do that.

well now that i have a general idea of what i got what is it going to take to get this motor in the 300-400hp range?

so now i need help to figure out the CR to pick the right cam for this motor. everything ive read online uses a motor that still together to determine the CR, and this is where i run into an issue. my motor is in pieces on the bench. so how do i go about figuring out cr if my motors not together?