Hello, I have a 340 still in the car and I'm trying to ID it before I pull the engine out of it. It also has headers on it so reading the side of the block would be a challenge. So I went to the front of the LH head and wire brushed off the blue paint so I could read those numbers to help me ID the 340 block. Here's what I got.

EW340P28420079

Could someone please break these numbers down? I'm assuming that the 3rd, 4th & 5th characters(340) represent that it is a 340. If I'm wrong on that please explain as well as what the other characters represent.

Thanks in advance

69 model year

EW340P: E=69 model, Windsor engine plant, 340 engine. P also signifies a 1969 340 as found in the VIN of 69 cars born with 340s.

2842: assembled Friday, May 9, 1969 (on Chrysler 10,000 day calendar).

0079: daily sequence no. Maltese cross, if any: undersized main bearings.

Blue paint eh?

Yes blue, now I'm puzzled because didn't the blue 340s start in mid 1971?

Here's a pic. The PO painted the 340 green over the blue lol.

Is it possible that some 340s got blue paint in 1969? Or did the POs strip the orange paint to paint it blue?

Definitely some 69 340's were painted Chrysler Corporate Blue.

http://www.moparaction.com/Article/JUNE/JUNE.html

crackedback, kentj340 and DARTH V8R thanks for your input.

I pretty much thought I had a 1972 340 due to the blue paint and the intake cast #3614025-1 (see pic below) which states being on a 1972 340-4 instead of cast #2531914.

But that's not to say at one point that this 340 had it's original intake removed and then eventually replaced with a '72 340 intake.

Here's the link where I got my 340 intake cast # info.

http://www.mymopar.com/intakecastnumb.htm

Thanks again, Bryan

The P in the digits designates Premium Fuel.

Yes you are correct. After hours of web surfing I finally found a site that actually breaks down the codes for Mopar small block engine stampings. Although the site is focused on a 318, it has chart with the code breakdowns.

Earl Ham Legacy

http://legacy.earlham.edu/~byersjo/info.htm

Thanks again for all that replied and now I know that I have a 1969 340 that was painted blue from the factory and managed to end up with a 1972 intake. I'll get to know more about it when I can read the castings on the side of the block when I pull the engine out.

Bryan

What's the cyl.head #'s?

Uncertain at the moment. What's the best way to find out?

Take the valve cover off and look for an 7 digit number eg: 3418915. It'll be cast on one of the intake runners.

Another site for engine number decoding. This one gives more info on some of the stamped symbols:

http://moparcarparts.com/engineident

Pretty simple.

You have a mutt. Parts that wouldn't have come on the engine are now on it. It's a 69 Model year block, should have X heads. Who knows what's been swapped around on it.

The block would have been out of a 69 Dart or 69 Cuda

[/quote]
Take the valve cover off and look for an 7 digit number eg: 3418915. It'll be cast on one of the intake runners. [/quote]

Okay thanks for that info. It looks like 2531894. 1st pic shows all but the 4. 2nd pic was the best angle I could get to capture the number 4. It also looks like there's another character past the 4 but I can't make it out. So I'm going on the 7 digit factor you suggested.

So does that match the 1969 factor? I guess I could search the web but you've been a big help so I will wait for your reply.

Thanks

2531894 is a "X" head

Looks like you have a 69 engine with a 72 intake. Good engine. Get it up and see if you can get the VIN off of the passenger's side pan rail. Get a picture of the balancer to confirm a steel crank (original to 69 engines).

Okay will do. I do have a pic of the balancer but it's not dead on. I had to crawl underneath to get it (see below).

Looks like a forged steel crank balancer and an A/C pulley.