283 casting number

Hi. A friend just got an old Chevy 283, and is trying to figure out about what year it is. It has the early, staggered valve cover holes, and the ID F030IM cast on the boss.

Any help on what this is will be much appreciated.
Tim

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Originally posted by SnakeHerder
Hi. A friend just got an old Chevy 283, and is trying to figure out about what year it is. It has the early, staggered valve cover holes, and the ID F030IM cast on the boss.

Any help on what this is will be much appreciated.
Tim

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That is not the casting number. Try again, I looked up every 283 casting number . They are all either 6 or 7 numbers long and contain no letters.It looks like what you have there is part of the vin number stamped om the block. Also look to see if it has side motor mounts( 3 bolt holes in a triangle on each side of the block)
:whacked:

Hi Denny,

Yes, this is the number stamped on the boss, passenger side, where it extends forward of the head. Steve's looked at it a number of times, and that's what he insists it is.

I vaguely remember that this stamping told what the engine was originally installed in. Thirty years or so ago, when I was learning how to do smog inspections, I had to look one up. The first few characters told what car it was for. It's been long enough I've forgotten what I know. But it isn't a casting number. It's the application ID that they stamped in.

And it definitely had front mounts on the engine. Don't know if it has the side mount holes, but the friend who has it is the local Chevy bigot, and he thinks it's a really early block. He's hoping for an early '57 - he says the engine's general features match pre-1959.

Thanks for the comments so far.

:) SnakeHerder,

Tell your friend he's looking on the wrong end of the block for the casting number. 1958 and later had side motor mounts ,but they also could be used with the front mounts on a 1955 thru 1957.
You could not use a 57 block in a 1958 or later model.
So You could use a 58 and on block in anything, but a 57 block was only a bolt in for a 55 --56--57.

Hi Riverhorse. You're right - it's not the casting number. It's the application or ID number. I misspoke - it's stamped, not cast. But the block does have side mounts, so it's probably a 1958 or 1959. Denny probably has it right - the "F" was probably for full-sized Chevy. That all seems to fit.

Thanks for all the help and input.

My chevy truck has a similar stamping on the right front of the motor. Mine says Fo41IM. I found a website (can't remember where) doing a google search on "how to identify a 283 chevy engine" that called that number a casting date. The F is for the 6th month, the 04 is the day of the month and the 1 was for the last number of the year (1961)