C1 "519" Block

[Kevin Riel]

Did GM skip a letter for certain months when they dated the castings on 519 blocks like they did on certain bolt on parts? I just took a 519 block out of my car in order to install the correct one. The casting date on the back looks like "/198" and the pad on the front is "F924CQ". I'm assuming that on the casting date the forward slash looking digit is an "i", so does that makes it a September casting? This makes the most sense, since it would have been cast on September 19, 1958 and assembled on September 24, 1958. Am I right? (My car has a Powerglide, so this block doesn't work anyway......)

Kevin Riel

[Mike M.]

Re: C1 "519" Block

crooked alphas or numerics are common on casting dates. mike

[John H.]

Re: C1 "519" Block

Kevin -

GM casting date codes didn't skip any letters - "I" was used for September.

[Kevin Riel]

Thanks Mike and John! *NM*

[john nuzzo]

Re: C1 "519" Block

John, this is really confusing to me. For years I've heard that GM skipped the "i"; just saw a post later than this date about a '61 dist. and again, it said they skipped a letter. Is the answer that they did not skip letters on casting dates of blocks and heads, but that they did on various "parts"....Or am I mis-reading cause I'm old and it's late in the day....? I know that my '62 block has a casting date of 1K?? which I always thought was Oct '61....

[John Nuzzo]

Re: C1 "519" Block

Error, actual casting date is K201 on my '62

[John H.]

Re: C1 "519" Block

John -

We're talking two different types of date codes. "Casting dates" are "cast-into" the part, and appear as raised numbers on the casting surface (they're raised numbers on the pattern, become depressed numbers on the sand mold made from the pattern, and appear as raised numbers on the finished casting that's poured in the mold). All GM-manufactured castings use this method, and the GM foundry standard was to use all of the first twelve letters of the alphabet for the month portion of the date coding.

Stamped date codes, which are actually "stamped" into the surface of the part (rather than being raised above the surface), were used by Delco-Remy on all electrical parts (alternators, voltage regulators, starters, and later aluminum-housing distributors, etc.), and the Delco-Remy date coding standard called for the "I" character to be omitted, so it wouldn't be confused with the "1" character which could also appear in the date code. Thus, Delco Remy-manufactured parts have September as "J" instead of "I".