Engine date codes and production dates

[wildy55]

No, not a Tinder for engine blocks but a simple question about the age of a L28. 
Is there any reference against the engine number to show the year of build?

Looking to order rebuild parts and it’d help if I knew when my 457xxx - numbered engine was made. 
 

Cheers

Martin

[gav240z]

Not really sure it matters with L28s.

What parts are you ordering?

[wildy55]

Mainly gaskets for a rebuild. On a previous car (with a L28) I was sent the wrong head gasket so I know that there are some differences over the lifespan of the engine. 
hoping to order the gaskets before stripping the engine down. But I might have to wait until I have it apart so I can visually match it. 

[gav240z]

What cylinder head/block have you got? They should all be similar.

[HS30-H]

Production date is cast into each individual block, semi encoded. Look on the inlet side, down near the skirt, after the (in L28 case) N42 or F54 block code.

You'll see a long number and (usually) at least one letter. First number is the year (EG: '2' = 1972) and then the month. Format for double digit months is a letter.

For example, I have a 'P30' L24 block with the code '1Y22A' cast into it. The '1' is 1971, the 'Y' is November (1 through 9 is Jan. through Sept. and X, Y & Z are Oct. through Dec.). The next two digits are the day of the month (22nd), and finally a casting batch code letter.

They dated the castings as part of the QC process so that they could trace faulty batches should that be necessary. Machining was - obviously - the next stage.

 

[wildy55]

16 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

Production date is cast into each individual block, semi encoded. Look on the inlet side, down near the skirt, after the (in L28 case) N42 or F54 block code.

You'll see a long number and (usually) at least one letter. First number is the year (EG: '2' = 1972) and then the month. Format for double digit months is a letter.

For example, I have a 'P30' L24 block with the code '1Y22A' cast into it. The '1' is 1971, the 'Y' is November (1 through 9 is Jan. through Sept. and X, Y & Z are Oct. through Dec.). The next two digits are the day of the month (22nd), and finally a casting batch code letter.

They dated the castings as part of the QC process so that they could trace faulty batches should that be necessary. Machining was - obviously - the next stage.

 

Thanks for that. Both my L28s are 1979 according to this. Makes or sing less of a guess. 

[Oliphips]

That makes my l26 a 76 and my l28 a 76 too, means the l28 came out of a skyline or similar i suppose.

 

[gav240z]

On 3/13/2022 at 9:45 PM, HS30-H said:

Production date is cast into each individual block, semi encoded. Look on the inlet side, down near the skirt, after the (in L28 case) N42 or F54 block code.

You'll see a long number and (usually) at least one letter. First number is the year (EG: '2' = 1972) and then the month. Format for double digit months is a letter.

For example, I have a 'P30' L24 block with the code '1Y22A' cast into it. The '1' is 1971, the 'Y' is November (1 through 9 is Jan. through Sept. and X, Y & Z are Oct. through Dec.). The next two digits are the day of the month (22nd), and finally a casting batch code letter.

They dated the castings as part of the QC process so that they could trace faulty batches should that be necessary. Machining was - obviously - the next stage.

 

Really this information should be a sticky post somewhere on here. I recall hunting for it on Classiczcars a while ago.