After all the help and research, I called my friend and told him I think it is a fake. However he still dud not get hurt on what he gave for it! He bough it from a family member who said it was 302. Sent from my SM-S327VL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Z28 crankshaft trivia. 1967 Z28 302 engine was a small journal and used a nicer prepped 283 steel crank. The 68 was a large journal and they had a unique forged steel crank, casting number 3279. Lastly the 69 was also large journal and the crank used in those is cast 1178. All were 3" stroke.
I've seen several legit 69 model 302 blocks over 30 years ago before all the counterfeit craze started, and they all had 386 casting number blocks, not 010.
There were 5 different blocks used in 302 327 and 350 engines used in 1969. In this list, you'll see the numbers...the one ending in 386 is the earliest casting number superceded by the next one down on the list...etc. They were making running changes that caused different casting numbers...small things that dont interfere with interchangeability. There was overlap...in other words at different points in the production year you might have a Z with casting number ending in 618, the next car down the line used an 010 block...then the next one might use a 618. The engine assembly plants at Flint and Tonowanda got these blocks in huge quantities...they might have 100 618 blocks left and a new shipment of 010 blocks comes in. Dont think they used up the 618s first...they just pulled what they felt like using. Eventually in my scenario the 618 blocks are gone and only 010 blocks would be used. That's why there isnt a bright line in the usage of these to blocks as to when they were implemented. Knowledge of these block casting numbers is useful in determining if a Z is a fake or not. If you run across an early production 69 Z and it has an 010 block...its not likely original. Thanks to Camaros.org for the chart...
Stamping is obviously fake. Both 1's and the D all wrong Piston is cast, appears from sheen to be heat treated which is cast hypereutectic....and appears way to short to be a real 302 piston, even for a cheap cast replacement. Thickness of material between oil ring land and piston pin bore looks like just a cheap 350 hyper replacement piston What is the number off the crank?? I'm betting it's 2442, cast 3.48" stroke 305/350 crank.
The flywheel mounting end of the crank should have a half moon cut out in it. I was given a 69 Z-28 engine that was laying on the ground under a rug. It had frozen and cracked the block in the lifter valley. After a month of soaking, I managed to get the pistons out. Welded the block and sold it to a guy with a 69 Z-28 who drove from Chicago to the Grand Canyon to pick it up. We put the block and all the parts in the trunk and he went back to Chicago. The machine shop that I used in Flagstaff told me as soon as I called him and described the crank, he would give me 800 for just the crank. That was in 1987. So it should be pretty valuable today. Chevrolet sold Z-28 replacement long blocks back in the day for $ 580.00 because so many guys raced and blew them up. WE bought one and put in our C/ altered Model A coupe . We changed the cam and installed our Hilborn injection and put our mag in it and ran for the whole season in 1969.
My Uncle used to do the same thing, late 60's to about 1973 in a Sprint car.....every year, sell the old short block, go buy a new crate 302 short block, add the off-road cam, then put their aluminum flywheel, race prepped heads, and injection on the new bullet. I remember him telling they would buy rocker arms 4-5 sets at a time, then painstakingly check them one at a time to find the 16 pieces with the highest ratio, as factory stamped rocker arms were all over the place ratio wise.....then return the "not good enough" sets back to the dealer.
Chevrolet 302 would not have cast pistons, as already mentioned, but those pistons you have look like flat tops. Was the crank number ever posted; that will tell us more than anything about this engine. Any 4 inch block, a bored out 283, a stock bore 327, or a stock 350, can be used to make a "fake" 302. I happen to have an 1178 crank I'm most likely never going to use. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
302 DZ block and pistons from 69 Z28 bought new by Mike Batt Plano, Texas. Rods had a splash of pink paint. Factory stampings were often NOT even. Some were stamped on the oil filter mount also. Piston is a TRW forging with a GM part number (3927172). The 302 was a POOCH in a heavy car with shallow gearing---no torque. PICTURES: factory screw in oil galley plugs, block number, stamping, with windage tray, piston
The Jalopy Journal
