'65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

[James W.]

Am I correct in placing the "IF" identification in grease pencil on the left front and right rear of the cylinder heads on my '65 396 engine? I assume this ID mark was in place when the engine left Tonnawanda... correct?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

James West
Omaha, NE.

[Joel F.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

James,

I thought a grease pencil was used to write the suffix under the paint?

I am sure Michael Hanson or someone else will know!

[Keith B.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

Here is a picture of my car. This is on the drivers side facing out and the on the passenger side is against the firewall. When the car was judged everyone believed to be put on at the factory.

Keith

[Wayne M.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

James,

I thought a grease pencil was used to write the suffix under the paint?

I am sure Michael Hanson or someone else will know!

TTT -- this thread deserves greater discussion.

Ref. 'State of the Art' by Burroughs; page 65. There's a pic of the unrestored area on the driver side of the block (above the water jacket drain). There remains a visible letter 'I' (probably the 'F' was there as well, but obscured by subsequent block painting). Because the exhaust manifold was in place before painting, the 'I' missed being painted over.

OK; the following is just my opinion -- I profess no expertise, and welcome comments. Why the crayon code on the starting bare big block ? To instruct what components to install at Tonawanda, right ? In the 1965 MY, there were only three variations on 3855962 four-bolt blocks (one Corvette - code IF; one Passenger - code IE; and one Chevelle - code IX)

Once these completed engines left Tonawanda, with their suffix stamped on the pad, there was no further need for an additional visible crayon identifier. At St.Louis, there was only ONE version of the 396 -- pretty hard to mistake it for one of the 18 versions of the 327 .

In subsequent years, at St.Louis, when there were multiple BB's to chose from, it makes sense to put a valve cover sticker or scrawl a crayon code where it is visible to the assy. line worker responsible for pulling the correct engine assy from inventory.

So I don't see why a crayon 'IF' code would be found on either head. Just my 2 cents.

[Dick W.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

No to be a smart azz but that could have been/was there to identify the engine to the line worker pulling the engine from storage racks.

[Bill W.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

not all assembly line workers are created equal . BIG crayon letters are easy to read for people with not so good eyes and people who didnt give a darn .

[Michael H.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

TTT -- this thread deserves greater discussion.

Ref. 'State of the Art' by Burroughs; page 65. There's a pic of the unrestored area on the driver side of the block (above the water jacket drain). There remains a visible letter 'I' (probably the 'F' was there as well, but obscured by subsequent block painting). Because the exhaust manifold was in place before painting, the 'I' missed being painted over.

OK; the following is just my opinion -- I profess no expertise, and welcome comments. Why the crayon code on the starting bare big block ? To instruct what components to install at Tonawanda, right ? In the 1965 MY, there were only three variations on 3855962 four-bolt blocks (one Corvette - code IF; one Passenger - code IE; and one Chevelle - code IX)

Once these completed engines left Tonawanda, with their suffix stamped on the pad, there was no further need for an additional visible crayon identifier. At St.Louis, there was only ONE version of the 396 -- pretty hard to mistake it for one of the 18 versions of the 327 .

In subsequent years, at St.Louis, when there were multiple BB's to chose from, it makes sense to put a valve cover sticker or scrawl a crayon code where it is visible to the assy. line worker responsible for pulling the correct engine assy from inventory.

So I don't see why a crayon 'IF' code would be found on either head. Just my 2 cents.

Wayne, you are exactly right. The letter code was written on the sides of the block WAY before the block was painted orange. In fact, there weren't any components in the block at all when the code was added.
AND, it was written upside down. That's because the block began it's journey down the first part of the engine assy line on it's back.
The crankshaft, rod/piston assy's were installed while the block was still in this position.
The code would be used to select the correct internal components for each engine option.

The code that was on the end of the cyl head(s) of most engines was for ID in the engine rack, as mentioned earlier.

I don't remember a code on the cyl head of my old 396 car though. I don't remember one on the 3000 mile Krughoff car either. That doesn't mean there wasn't one though.

[James W.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, I will wipe the mark back off the cylinder heads.


Thanks,

James West

[Dick W.]

Re: '65 396 "IF" Identification on Engine

I restored a low mileage '66 small block car, guarntee the engine compartment had never been touched and the suffix code was on the RF cylinder head, front and back.

I have seen a few engines with the code, but not all originals that I have seen did have them