so crawled under car.
2468310 8 was on it 383 of course and it was stamped 8 18 for sure think the next was 68 but it had bumps on the 8 that made it to hard to read for sure
Would that be a non stamped correct date for a 69 roadrunner? Anyone know how I tell what month the car was built in? would the sequence number tell me? If yes where can I find data on sequence numbers?
Mid August 68 would be about right for a early model year 69 car. Your build sheet should tell you when it was scheduled/released to be built as well as the fender tag. According to what I can find, you have the 105283th Vehicle to be built at St. Louis at that time.
Also, check the front passenger side of your head/block. prior to 68, they stamped the date it was assembled in that area on the B series blocks.
no njrr is dont think that does answer my question. I need to explore all options before I just say oh well guess it is a warranty engine. Had too many people tell me that quite a few 69 mopars had blocks put in them with no vin. That it wasnt until 1970 (built in late 69) that ALL engines had stamps on them. I guess my question is now- "exactly what month/year was the absolute last non stamped vin engine put in a roadrunner??" and where can I find documentation of this question?
I am pulling engine out between now and next Wednesday, will clean and repaint engine for sale anyway so I will get a few good pics then
Do you have any pictures of the pads where you scraped the paint off?
Yes Dukeboy I understand I may not be able to verify it as MATCHING, but I at least want to be able to verify without a doubt it Could be the original engine. I don't want a Mopar expert to come up to me at an auction I'm listing my car in and say, for example, " this is not an original engine, here is documentation that says all engines built after 06-01-68 Will have a stamp on them and your says 08 18 68 so it is NOT original."
Just trying to clarify all angles.
Where I think you're getting confused, or someone is giving you confusing information is that Mopar did a couple weird things in regards to the Vins from 1968-1970.
First: For model year 1968, all Chrysler engines that were assigned to a vehicle received just the last 8 digits of the sequence number, which matched the last 8 digits on the VON (Vehicle Order number).
Starting in Early 1969, the engines were stamped with the full 13 digits of the VIN. This was later changed, mid model year to just the 8 digits that were the Sequence Order (SO) number from the VIN.
For what little its worth, I have 4 big block mopars sitting here, one is a 62 413 max wedge, the others are a 68, 70 and 73. All three have the 8 digits stamped just above the oil pain rail as mentioned earlier in the thread. The 62 doesn't.
There has never been an exact day/time that it changed. Simply that engine stamping of either the SO or the VON/VIN started on ALL cars in 1968. There are RARE cases of some early 1968 cars/engines/trans not being stamped consistently. That is per credible sources which include ALPAR, Mopar's Collectors Guide, Rick Ernberg
If you still can't find a VIN after you pull the engine, I would suggest date coding everything, taking pics of all date codes on all components such as exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, heads, alternator etc. To be a true " 100% Numbers Matching Car" means more than just the Vin matching on the Body,Trans and Engine. To be "numbers matching" means that everything that is date coded is correct as well. Most people think numbers matching stops at just the drive train and body though. So even if you can't find a VIN stamped on that engine somewhere, if you can date code all the components including the heads and block to being date correct for the build release date of the car, you'd be able to correctly claim it is a Date Code Correct engine, even without the VIN.