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#1 torry nut

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Posted 21 June 2006 - 01:12 PM

As I am no expert on cast dates I was wondering if somebody could give me a refresher course.

I am looking at building another 186 block up at the monent so I can moth ball my original and one of the blocks I am looking at has the following cast date

K187 with the cast clock in the 12 oclock position

cheers

L :spoton:

#2 torry nut

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Posted 21 June 2006 - 01:36 PM

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#3 _gm3300_

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Posted 21 June 2006 - 02:47 PM

The casting date code breaks down as follows;

The letter is the code for the month, so
JAN-A
FEB-B
MAR-C
APR-D
MAY-E
JUN-F
JUL-G
AUG-H
SEP-J
OCT-K
NOV-L
DEC-M

You'll notice that the letter "I" is not used as it can easily be confused with the number "1". Your example would be October.

The two digit number that is no higher than 31, is the day of the month, in your example the 18th.

The single digit number is the last number of the year, in your case it would be 1967, as no "186" blocks would have been cast in the 1977 or 1987.

Putting it all together the block you have was cast on the 18th October 1967. The engine number prefix will establish what particular vehicle it was used in.
This date code is shown as K187, these codes can also appear as 18K7.

The clock you refer to is often thought to be the time of day, this is not so, it refers to the batch of metal that was used to cast the block. The reason it's used is that test ingots of material are made at the beginning of each batch, and should a problem occur with a batch of castings( for example porous casting) the ingots are used to carry out testing on. If the test showed the material was bad, the batch of blocks would be scrapped.
My father is a patternmaker who worked in a foundry for nearly 40 years, said they often would reuse the scrap material, after adding the neccesary ingredients to bring the iron back to specification.
hope this helps
grant
P.S. Maybe we should get the mods to make this a sticky?

Edited by gm3300, 21 June 2006 - 02:49 PM.


#4 torry nut

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Posted 21 June 2006 - 04:46 PM

Extremely informative Grant !

many thanks and yes I agree that this should be sticky'd somewhere !



cheers

L :spoton:

#5 torry nut

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Posted 16 July 2006 - 07:51 PM

Can admin please make these engine cast date info a sticky ???????

Some great info right here !!!!!


cheers

L :spoton:

#6 _MAWLER_

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Posted 17 July 2006 - 12:44 PM

I agree, is this system of numbering the same as used for 253/308's? If not, adding that info to the post as well will create a great sticky!!

#7 makka

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Posted 17 July 2006 - 01:07 PM

its the same for all red onwards holden engines, not sure about the grey's

#8 torry nut

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Posted 04 August 2006 - 03:46 PM

I keep spitting on the back of this thread but it still won't stick !!!!!




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