Picked up another unusual 440 block and crank.

Well the unusual stuff seems to be coming out of the woodwork this year as I have gotten another parts find. I was at a shop loading up my bed with big block parts they wanted gone and seen some unusual stuff. Two of these 440 cranks are kind of diffrent. One looks like it was new at one point and has some very shiny spots on it. Not unusual, maybe a fluke. The second crank has this weird type of machined riddling on the front, something I’ve never seen before. It looks kind of beat up, thus why the other crank looks new as it could be a replacement for it.

2nd weird thing is the block. It’s very clean and notice it has at least twelve 1970 vin numbers stamped into the id pad, vin pad and around the entire oil pan rail surface! What is even more unusual, this is a late 1972 block? The font and placing is correct for factory, so I’m more confused than ever. Has anybody encountered anything like these items before?

here is the block stamping

Interesting. Pretty nice haul there....

Here is the bottom of the block. Never seen a vin on the bottom, or that a vin would be stamped a dozen times on the block for any reason. Totally baffled here.

yeah, it was interesting with three sets of 1970 manifolds, 906 heads, two cranks, three timing covers, 440-6 damper and two air cleaners made for a decent scrap run. Still ot to look up what that chrome looking air cleaner is from. Motorhome?

These guys must have been smoking something. Nobody in their right mind gives away parts like that especially HP exhaust manifolds. Great find.

It's called knurling, used to expand/restore the diameter of a shaft that's been worn undersized or otherwise damaged.

John nailed it

Thanks John. I was trying to call it rifling, but auto correct don't love me.

One mystery solved, now just have to figure out now why the multi stamped on the block.

to be honest, I get about 10-15 calls a month for stuff and cars like this. I've been trying to get less into it to concentrate on health, but it's easier to move than cars so I decided to get it.
Last month I got a running 340 engine with matching 727, 3 speaker dash pad and rallye gauges from a friend needing to clean out a garage. Month before that was a fully loaded v8 Duster and speed parts. Prior to that was five 400-440 motorhome engines. I would like to quit this parts stuff, but people just won't stop giving me stuff.

Probably no more then someone with a set of the right stamps playing around since we all know how the assembly and when stamping process works. Could of just been a block restamper getting some practice.

If we seen that in 2023 we just might chalk it up to too much booze one night or some paranoid meth head. No real logical reason to stamp a block over 10 times.

Air cleaner with the chrome top looks to be an aftermarket 1969 Camaro cowl induction air filter, or at least the chrome top wasn't included on original cars.

not sure if a meth head could get correct font lettering, much less keep everything straight and tidy. It's so bizzar, there is no logical reason to do it.
yes, air cleaner aftermarket camaro air cleaner.

I dropped the block and cranks off at a local shop to check them out. If they spec out, will be the new starting point to building an engine for one of my cars.

Search that vin and see if a “numbers matching” car has been out there for sale.

I was going to say a Chevelle cowl induction air cleaner.

Camaro upper ring was oval shaped, Chevelles upper ring had a flat area cut off that went toward the A/C box area. Otherwise, they were interchangable.

I have an NOS 440 crank with the snout knurled from the factory.

If it was done at the factory, the snout was probably ground undersized and the knurling saved the crank from being scrapped.

that would be my guess as well, as knurling raises the diameter xxx amount during the process, then if oversize to print, it can be re-machined to the desired diameter.
during my extensive machinist career, many, many shafts of all sizes for a vast product line were saved using the same process.
incidentally, this process is very simple, using a simple tool that is just touched against the intended surface with a minimal amount of force needed.
many designs of knurling wheels are available for the same tool, thus only changing out the wheels is the only thing needed to get the design and depth of knurl desired. the amount of wheels for the tool can vary from one to as many as 8 [that was the maximum amount of wheels my shop used] or possibly more, depending on the object and type of material being knurled.

That I would like to see.

I have several small block cranks that came from untouched motors, very very common to knurl things.

Migs, im sure you know there are many many people around with the correct font stamps and ways to use them. I know a couple who will stamp any block any way you want it but ya got to go to them. If I ever got close to them id melt the tips off.

Knurling piston skirts was a common thing rather than replacing the pistons when doing a refresh on an engine back in the earlier days.

I was actually recently looking for a machine shop that could still do the work. But haven't found any that do.

i forgot about piston knurling. thanks for shaking the cobwebs !

Knurling on parts that see constant friction movement (like pistons, valve guides, etc) has a down side, knurling reduces the contact surface area and the part will wear quicker. Knurling a part like a crank snout to restore its diameter is different since the balancer is a press fit and there's no constant movement.

As I said earlier, the factory was reluctant to scrap a part if it could be saved with a simple procedure.

I have one similar to this. I used to do many old farm tractor ring jobs and valve jobs/clutches and knurling was the norm.

I recently pulled a 318 apart and they were all knurled. From a rebuild.

Seen better days.

watching that video you posted kinda reminded me of my machinist days, when someone would get the stop set a few thou too close to the chuck.........