383 Casting Date/ Build date

[moparhound]

Hi
I am replacing the engine in my 66 Charger. How close can/should the casting date of the engine be to the build date of the car?
I want it to be as original as possible.

Thanks

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Generally the rule of thumb is no more than 3 months prior to the build date of the vehicle for engine blocks

[hemigeno]

Generally the rule of thumb is no more than 3 months prior to the build date of the vehicle for engine blocks

  , although the casting dates can be way more than 3 months prior and sometimes as close as one month prior.  A much more telling piece of information than the casting date on an engine block is the Engine Assembly Date, which is stamped on the ID pad - below the distributor on a 383.  That date indicates when the Engine Plant did the machining work to the block and installed all the internal components to make it a longblock assembly.  These assemblies were then transferred to the main Assembly Plant, where the final components (carburetors, distributors, alternators, etc.) were added shortly before being installed in their chassis.

An EAD should be approximately 2-4 weeks prior to the Scheduled Production Date (what we commonly refer to as the Build Date).  Even that is just a guess, as there are timeperiods when Chrysler's schedule was running way behind and some cars were built weeks after they were scheduled to be built - so their EAD's would actually be after the Build Date.

There's some good information on this topic here:

http://www.mmcdetroit.com/Production_Date_Code/

[moparhound]

Thanks for the info !