383 Maybe??

[blinkey]

    I have an engine here but dont know what it is maybe a 383   # is  246813012  LL,,,,anyone know what this is or year?  In front of dist. reads     E  383  9  20  2   Should I buy it?  150.00???

[myk]

Do you need/want a 383?

[blinkey]

    hahahahah   No, but if its a good engine why not

[Ghoste]

It is a 383 and that's pretty cheap but still up to you.

[XH29N0G]

I think E is 69, and sept 20, I do not know what the last 2 signifies, but someone else will chime in if it is significant.

[VegasCharger]

It is a 383 and that's pretty cheap but still up to you.

[John_Kunkel]

E is the '69 year code but a September 20 build date is way past the end of '69 production, should have wound up in a '70 model year. The 2 means it was built on the 2nd (day) shift.

[Alaskan_TA]

Actually it would be fairly early in the 1969 model year which ran from Aug 1, 1968 to July 31, 1969.

[Dino]

Unless you need a 383 you're wasting time and money.  Good deals are always to be found but buying a deal you don't need is not a deal, it's an expensive paper weight.

Good engines, thoroughly enjoyed my 383 '68 but in today's world I don't see a real use for them unless you're building a numbers matching car.

[ws23rt]

Unless you need a 383 you're wasting time and money.  Good deals are always to be found but buying a deal you don't need is not a deal, it's an expensive paper weight.

Good engines, thoroughly enjoyed my 383 '68 but in today's world I don't see a real use for them unless you're building a numbers matching car.

This is good advice.    If 440s were not as common as they are than bringing back a 383 could make practical sense. An original car that is brought back to be what it was would be an exception.

If one has a 383 on hand and has to weight the cost?---I get the tough call.

To give this better light. Would one want to rebuild a 318 engine for a non original car project. ---Now a slant 6 may be different and cool as well.

My thinking makes me interested in blending two slant sixes.----Hmm 450 ci V12

[blinkey]

 

[1974dodgecharger]

440 be better..over 383 the 383 is the redheaded step child always has and always will be over the 440.

[blinkey]

   You sayin the 383 is a better engine?,,,didnt know that ,,,why?

[dual fours]

440 be better..over 383 the 383 is the redheaded step child always has and always will be over the 440.

  You sayin the 383 is a better engine?,,,didnt know that ,,,why?

I'm thinking that you might want to read what "Redheaded step child" means.
What do you want to get out of your car/motor combination?

[1974dodgecharger]

I have a 383 myself.....could of built a 440 for same price and great torque output....people say it revs faster....they say it has the same stroke as the hemi 426, but same bore as 440 is it?  So its a combo of both of those, but in reality price vs power the 440 will win over 383 same build same everything.....

[Ghoste]

It has the same bore as the 426 Hemi at 4.25 but a shorter stroke.  The 426 shares the same stroke as the 440 at 3.75.

[John_Kunkel]

440 be better..over 383 the 383 is the redheaded step child always has and always will be over the 440.

The 383 was always a disappointment to me.

[ACUDANUT]

 I purposely built a 383 out of nothing, because I love the motor. 

[blinkey]

   Is it just me,,,,,or,,,,is Craigs list a stupid irritating site. I try to go on there and when I see a car that looks interesting I click on it and the add is expired, SO WHY DONT THEY REMOVE IT,,,,Next, the adds dont start with new adds, the 1st add I look at is March 25, then Feb 5    STUPID

[c00nhunterjoe]

150 bucks is the great foundation for a stroker. 383s make a really nice 438 that has a fraction of the rotational mass of a stock 440 which equates to free hp and longevity.

[1974dodgecharger]

440 be better..over 383 the 383 is the redheaded step child always has and always will be over the 440.

The 383 was always a disappointment to me.

It only disappoints me when a I see a 440 built the same and has more power other than that my 383 puts down to the ground more than some 440s out there, lmao..in fact people assume I have a 440 under the hood after a dyno sessions 

[Ghoste]

Curious.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I have no dyno sheets, but i have video of 105 mph passes in my car on a blown transmission with a cloud of smoke when it let go.....
   And i after people have taken a ride in mine, they never beleive its "just a 383".

Im not trying to say the 383 is the better engine, im just saying that for 150 bucks, i would get it. Its a good foundation for a project

[blinkey]

  How to tell what its from,,,could be from a scamp

[Alaskan_TA]

Scamps were never available with a 383.   

[blinkey]

What cars came with a 383

[blinkey]

  OK for example a ford engine with a vin# that has a Z  would identifiy it as coming from a Mustang,,,,  a    H   would mean its from a Galixie, what about Mopars?

[Ghoste]

Chrysler didn't break engine codes down in that fashion.  The 383 was available in just about everything but saw very limited use in the A-bodies.  Basically A-body Darts and Barracudas could get it factory installed in 68 and 69.

[blinkey]

  So would it be safe to say that if you were looking at a 383 0r 440 that they could have been pulled out of anything mopar, but by looking at the vin your could only tell the year

[Ghoste]

No the Mopar vin will tell you the car it was attached to and what engine was in that car but it breaks down differently than the Ford system.  The Mopar engine block will have its own unique part number that tells you if its a 440 but it will not indicate its a 440 for GTX use or New Yorker use.  When they began to attach the vins to the blocks some of the early ones had the cars full vin stamped on them so those handful you can tell what car it was in.  Prior to 68 Chrysler didn't put the cars vin on the block and partway through 1969 they began to just put the last six digits of the vin in the engine.  So if you have say a 1967 or 1970 440 sitting in front of you, you dont really have any sure way of knowing what car it was in.

[John_Kunkel]

It only disappoints me when a I see a 440 built the same and has more power other than that my 383 puts down to the ground more than some 440s out there, lmao..in fact people assume I have a 440 under the hood after a dyno sessions 

Uh, yeah. 

[Troy]

If you're buying "parts" that will require a full rebuild or you want a "max performance" build then I'd skip it. Unless you need the smaller package due to space issues. If you're buying a running engine that you can drop in something and have fun then I'd definitely do it. I have a 383 sitting in the garage specifically for that purpose but, since I sold a bunch of cars, I also have several spare 440s. When it comes to sticking something in a car I doubt I'll opt for the 383. If 440s weren't relatively cheap to buy AND cost about the same to build it would be a different story.

Troy

[Troy]

  So would it be safe to say that if you were looking at a 383 0r 440 that they could have been pulled out of anything mopar, but by looking at the vin your could only tell the year

As a general rule, the lower in the model lineup a car was the more likely it had a slant six or a small block V8 (Satellite or Belvedere for example). As you "optioned up" the first step was a 383 2bbl and then a 383 4bbl (typically the "performance" badged cars). When you got to the top (R/T, GTX, etc.) you automatically got the 440 with the 426 Hemi being optional. In Charger production the 383 2bbl and 318 were about tied for the largest number produced. Between them it's well over 50% (2nd generation for sure). After that was the 383 4bbl so, in a lot of cases I think the 383 was 1/3 to 1/2 of production. That would change by model of course. Chrysler also put big blocks in a lot of trucks but I have no idea of production breakdown. While they put them in a lot of cars in the model years they were available, the 383 phased out in 1971(2?). That means the 440 was available longer: RB production started in the early 60s (440 specifically in 1966 or 1967) and ran through about 1978.

In many cases you can look at the dates and parts and make a pretty good guess about what the engine came out of. A 383 4bbl especially would have had a short list of years/cars that it was even available in.

Troy