I decided to pull a head from the supposed 350 that came with Stella. The engine was supposedly pulled cus it was smoking, in need of a rebuild. I pulled the drivers side head using my torque wrench. Suprised to find one loose bolt on the bottom/back for #7 cyl. All other bolts were about 65 ft/lbs. i was pleasantly suprised to find no ridge on any of the cylinders and a water stain on #7 where the loose bolt was found. I went no further because my initial find could be a game changer. I may do a performance rebuild instead of ordering a crate.
Looking at the rear block stamp (3970010) and the front pass side stamp(F0620CKL) the engine appears to be nothing special from 1973. The part that makes no sense is the original color was blue and it was repainted orange at some point. Chevy was not painting 350’s blue in 1973. There was a rebuild on it cus it is currently bored .030 over.
Im putting this to you folks in case i am missing sumpin.
Last edited by KevinS; 10/03/202312:36 AM. Reason: Added photos
Yup, it decodes as a plain jane 350 originally found in a 1973 passenger car equipped with a Turbo hydro. trans and a "California" smog engine to boot.
In looking at your 3rd picture, there appears to be other numbers of a different font/size stamped farther to the left of the original ID number.
That could be a good indication it was rebuilt once already. Only full measurements and deeper inspection will tell the tale.
No idea about the paint, unless maybe "California" designated engines were being painted blue back then.
Maybe another Bolter can shed some light on the subject???
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Thanks guys. I’ve found a local machine shop that’s gonna build an engine for Stella. They asked me to pull the pan on the 350 that came with Stella to confirm it has two bolt mains. If yes, it will serve as a mockup motor and an eventual core. I already confirmed the heads are original low flow junk. I’m
