The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 292 date code

So I'm trying to date the 292 that was in my truck before starting a rebuild. Casting numbers on side:
CON 2 M28. 352194. now I know from the 352194 it's a 1973 to 1984 Chevy 292, but what year exactly?
On machined pad by distributor is F06008XTA and under that CE019800
It may well be some Canadian coding... Help????

Look on passenger side, about #5 cylinder location, under side cover, should be a casting number like CON2 then the four number date code (month, date, year), example A127
January 12, 1977

Joe

Ya, but as noted the date code on mine is M28. Still not helpful. Anybody knowable to shed some light, or point me to a definitive source of info?
Also now I have a head casting number of 331184, seems to be from a 250, anybody know for sure?
Date code on it is F 1 6. I'm guessing June 1, of ?, how do I confirmm decade?

I would guess it's a December 2, 1978 block with a 250 head. The original head would have had the exhaust manifold cast into the head.

In the date code sequence, GM skips I, so it won't get confused with a 1, therefore, M = December. I would guess that date code corresponds to December 28, 1982. The E in the CE is a portion of the VIN and corresponds to 1984. I'll have to verify in my manuals at work. I used to be a California Smog Check Referee technical supervisor and we maintained engine Identification manuals for engine changes. I'll let you know tomorrow when I get back to work. I still have some engine ID reference.

sick leave today. Won't be back to work until tomorrow. Will have answer for you tomorrow evening. Sorry.

Me and co-workers poured over many manuals today to no avail. We could not find a match to suffix code XTA. Sorry I could not help you. If you know what kind of smog check equipment was on the engine, that might be another way for me to decipher the engine year. Also if you could provide a carburetor number, I might be able to narrow it down that way too.

Hi all, thought id post a picture that I found of the numbers on the pad on my block now that we can.
I'd appreciate it if anybody is able to dig up any better info now that wasn't avaible before??? Even more info on the head numbers would be great.
From what i can tell It seems like I've got quite the hodgepodge powerplant. A 78 (or82)? 292 block with a 250 head of unknown date, with a distributor (model. 1112369 ) from the original 248/270 in 1952, the Rochester B from the 270 possibly, mated to the original sm420 ( 591665, L298 2 GM) it seems.

The head will be correct to the block, all 250 - 292 heads are the same and interchangable. Really doubt the distributor is from a 1952, they are totally different with different mounting design. Carburetor, could be older.

I'll try to remember to get you a better photo, but the number I quoted above tracks to what I'd said, unless someone can get me better info. All this mismatch is why I'm asking for more info.
Here is best photo I have of distributor right now. Notice the octane selector and grease cup of old school, also lack of vacuum advance, I expect due to being on a big bolt.
From your download JoeH, I guess the head is from a 66 or 76, 250 CID, made June 1.

Not sure what to think about the distributor, sure looks old, could be some firetruck / heavy duty application type distributor, or farm mechanic make do.

Great engine number reference Joe H. Thanks for posting.

Does anybody know where I can dicipher the block numbers on the pad by the distributor? Would love to know where this block came from, especially since everything bolted to it is so, well, mismatched.
However, with a good tuning it runs like a top. I don't know about farm mechanic, but it spent a lot of years in the mid north mining back country.... maybe even crazier things happen there.

JoeH, the number I gave originally for the distributor, that's on its ID plate tracks to "Distributor model no. 1112369 serial 2J22 = 1952 GMC 228, 248 & 270 motors;" but I forget where I found it. That's not to say it hasn't been modified in some way. When we had engine rebuilt with new 292 stock cam it was a drop in fit. The door plate on the truck shows it originally had a 248 or 270.

I know the distributor swap goes backwards with some modification so the older engines can have HEI ( electronic ignition ), I guess you could go forward as well and keep the older distributor for a newer engine.

http://chevellestuff.net/qd/engine_stamp_numbers.htm
http://www.nastyz28.com/chevy-engine-code-stampings.php

These two links are mostly about the small and big blocks, but the same numbering system works on the inlines.

I may have found some info on your engine block. On a Camaro forum there was a discussion about engine codes beginning with "CE" and one poster was quoting from a
Chevrolet Dealer Service Information Bulletin 69-I-1 dated 19, Sept, 1968, https://www.camaros.net/forums/15-tag-team/148784-ce-engine-code-ce9b44296.html.

The gist of the bulletin was that the "CE" stood for Chevrolet Engine and was a designation for a warranty replacement engine. The first digit after the CE stood for the year produced and the following 5 digits were a production number.

So is it possible you have a "regular" engine code F0608XTA which decodes as
F = Flint Motor Plant
06 = June
08 = Day of Month
XTA = Unknown L-6 engine suffix. It shows up as a 350 engine suffix in 1995 but it was obviously also used in your earlier application.

And might you also have an engine code signifying a replacement engine CE019800 which decodes as

CE = Chevrolet Engine
0 = last digit of year (1980? since your block is a 73-84 block)
19800 = production number of engine block (Flint numbers were 00001 to 19999 each year)

I don't believe the CE019800 is a partial VIN because it doesn't begin with a 1 as I understand a Chevrolet partial VIN number should. Please correct me if I am mistaken. It simply decodes much easier as a warranty replacement engine.

Why would there be two engine codes in the same area? Beats me. Nothing about this engine is easy to understand.
.
Hope this helps to narrow things down for you.

Thank you everyone for your help. The links and summaries given are terrific, thanks. Sorry i didn't say so sooner, but finally have the time to answer. It does answer some questions.
Just one thing that is still confusing me... the block casting has M38, decoding to Dec 3, 1978, or so I think, and discussed here before, but the stamping is as noted probably 1980. Could this block have been cast in '78, but not assembled into a replacement engine until '80?

I believe your idea that "M" represents December is incorrect. Months are represented by the letters A-L as indicated by the chevellstuff site that Joe linked to above. Tim Lederman's website gives a clear example of the letter "I" being used in a date code disproving the idea that "I" was not used in the A-L month code. http://www.1954advance-design.com/Web%20images/casting-code-photos/codes-ser-nums.html. What is "M38"? Don't know. Good luck with your build.

Why would a 1952 Chevrolet truck originally have a 248 or 270 GMC engine?

Because it's Canadian?