I am in hopes that you can help a novice mechanic in the correct identification of an engine that I just purchased. The owner is deceased so I can't go to him for help. This is what I know about it, it was purchased as a crate motor from GM. I need to order some parts for the engine as it was taken apart by the prior owner. I plan on installing it in my 48 Chevy 1/2 ton. Here is what I know about the numbers: 1. It has a paper sticker on the oil pan that says ZZ4 with a bar code. 2. The intake is a cast aluminum GM with part number 12464340 (cast), it also has on the bottom side Cast 2463 and 09906, with a stamped number of 1871. 3. The carburetor is a Holley with these numbers stamped on the plane in front of the choke, 19172229 under it 80717 and under it 2958. 4. The aluminum angle plug heads have GM Performance Parts stamped on the front of them. The following numbers are cast in the head on the rt bank. 0-12367712, black marker 101069, cast 13401. The heads also have provisions for both types of valve covers, and have bow tie chrome covers. The spark plugs are AC Delco MR43LTS 5. The block has a casting number of 10243880, GM5.7, cast 314, cast on both sides 088, Hencho Mexico is also cast and the back of the block. The block is stamped on the Right block pad (in front of head) 1M1212 and below that 0P04. There is also a number stamped on the left rear of the block deck above the oil filter boss 0610125. The block also has a painted strip above and below the casting 088 of blue (on top, white on bottom) on the right side of the block.
Ok Chuck.... What parts are you needing to order ? You have supplied enough info to locate any part that could bolt on externally. It is a factory roller cam.. Internal parts would need disassembly and measurements. PM me and I can put my 55 years of parts and racing to work for you.. Dave
Really need the information as to the actual motor that I have. Is it an actual ZZ4 crate motor, and when it was put together/made. Thanks Dave
I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure the ZZ series engine blocks weren’t “Hecho en Mexico”. At least the first ones weren’t?
That block casting number comes up as: 1995-1999 350, 4 bolt, crate engines and ZZ4, roller cam, one piece rear seal. According to the interweb.
Gary , Did you read the analysis in that article ? It was hilarious ! It would say that if you could find one it was worth a pretty penny,,,,,and then it would quote how pitiful some of the components were and how you had better watch how hard you were on it,,,,lol . I got from the article that it was a good medium performance engine,,,but if you wanted to run it hard,,,,look out . Im sure it’s still a good foundation for a strong engine,,,,,but not very rare,,,,,Chevy made a million of them in Mexico . Tommy
I’m sure it s a good foundation for a dependable engine . People don’t realize that these things are built from many components that are manufactured in many facilities . And that all can lead to some problems with portions of a final assembly . Imagine if you built a million engines ? That’s a million blocks,,,,a million cranks,,,,,8 million rods ,8 million pistons ,,,16 million pushrods,,34 million head bolts,,,,,and on and on . It’s easy to see that sometimes even a few out if spec parts can cause issues. Maybe a run of components were off,,,that run might be a hundred thousand parts . Not blocks or cranks,,, but smaller components,,,,,the small ones are easy to miss . I’ve been in stamping for well over thirty years,,,,,,I can’t begin to count how many hundred million parts I’ve seen. We currently ship over 56 thousand door hinges to GM every day,,,,,that’s assemblies ! And that’s just the door hinges . We make a ton of stuff for everybody ! And we’re a small stamper really,,,,,I can only imagine how much other factories do . And that’s not counting the machine centers,,,,,someone makes all the machined parts somewhere that go into the vehicles ! It’s a big system,,,,and until you see it up close,,,,you can’t imagine how much it takes to do it . Henry Ford at one time had 80,000 men that worked at the Rouge ,,,,that’s a lot people in one factory every day ! The cars we love,,,,,I guess we need more of them,,,lol . Tommy
I did note the curious stuff...I offered the link only as a means to identify what he might have. I don't pay much attention to brand x stuff but for years it has been no secret about the quality of the engine assemblies coming across the border so my suggestion would be to disassemble everything and do a cautious inspection. Actually, I recommend that to anyone contemplating use of an engine that someone else assembled if you don't have some history. Recently, I fielded a call from a guy who bought a 'rebuilt' 276 DeSoto and he could not get any compression. He said it had been bought/sold several times before he got it and had no history. After about 4-5 phone calls it was determined that all 8 intake valves were too long...they never closed so no compression. Trust but verify.
Wouldn’t most parts for that be the same as any other SBC? I honestly know very little about that engine specifically, but SBC’s are pretty basic when it comes to any parts that might be needed unless you are rebuilding the engine or something.
I want to freshen up the engine and it needs a new piston and one was hammered by a washer that somehow made its way on top of it. It has some mahle numbers on it.
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