The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 283 engine numbers

I have a 283 engine that I think is a 1962 corvette engine. the drivers side of the rear block reads 3789935 the passenger side reads E42. the serial number is F0508MA. Any info would help, everybody has a corvette engine not a regular car engine of course.

The suffix letters (MA) should identify the vehicle the engine was installed in originally. There are several engine number conversion websites available, so that's where I'd begin looking. Other than the stamped number, I can't think of anything different between a "Corvette" block and any other 283.

Of course, I've also got a few WW II vintage Mauser rifles that were the personal favorites of Hermann Goering, and a set of USAF pilot's wings that once belonged to Chuck Yeager! (The wings are the real thing- - - -given to my father-in-law by Yeager himself back in the 1950's!)

Edit:
The 3789935 casting number references a 1961-64 283

A 283 with an MA suffix code is supposed to be a 160 HP 1958 year, with a 2 barrel carb and a manual transmission.

The MA code was also used on a 1967 283, 2 BBL with a Powerglide, 175 HP. Neither engine matches the 61-64 casting number.

I don't think Corvette ever ran a 2 BBL carb. There are also MA codes for 327 engines, but those blocks would have a 4" bore and a different casting number.

Here's a link to the suffix codes:

http://www.1968ss.com/sbcsuffix.asp

Jerry

Thanks,
I couldn't find the MA suffix on the sites I was looking at. Probably not from a corvette, with the two barrel. That's what I was thinking also.
I came up with it was made in Flint May of 62.
I did meet Chuck Yeager a few times at the air shows around here, very nice man to chat with. Last time I saw him was at the air show at Forbes field in Topeka Kansas.

If this loads for you, it shows the MA engine code suffix for several years. It looks like most information is from Chevrolet Specifications Manuals?

I love the sellers on Ebay. Every Chevy part they are selling is a "Corvette" part or a "Chevelle" part.

Agree bartamos, neighbor and long time friend is doing a restoration on a 65 big block corvette roadster. He has done many corvettes over the years and I'm appalled at what they get for their reproduction parts versus what we have to pay on our trucks. Seems the entire industry takes of advantage of the name corvette. Case in point this week he was telling me that his brake switch was faulty and it needed replaced, So he looked on ebay and found lots of listings for nos corvette that were three times more than the exact same one found for a 64 oldsmobile. It behooves a person to search by part number, better deals are found that way and many gm parts cross over between models.

I found that out earlier last week when a member here suggested searching by part number on ebay. Easily found and purchased and less time spent too.

It's the same sort of situation in the firearms collector's world. There are so many outright fakes of vintage and collectible guns that even the legitimate stuff is suspect. In the case of the facetious comment I made about Mauser rifles, there is a whole cottage industry dedicated to creating stamping dies for phony proofmarks (called "Waffenampts") and faking collectible guns. I was involved in facilitating the purchase of a real collectible, a pristine example of a rifle issued to the Luftwaffe and virtually unfired, sent home one piece at a time by the uncle of a close friend who was in engineering school with me. All the proofmarks on that one matched, except for the bolt, which is another story by itself. It commanded a very nice price, and both the buyer and the seller came out in good shape.
Jerry