Need Help Decoding Engine! And some advice...

[Mopar440+6]

Ok I used the manuals and the Y.O. cat and searched all over the engine from my charger and I still cant figure out if its numbers matching or even a year match. The two pics are the only sets of numbers I have been able to find on the block and I degreased the whole dang thing. Is there a reason I cant find the serial number/VIN or am I just looking in the wrong place. The Charger is XP29G8B****** and thus the engine should be a late 67-68 cast 383. Please help me figure out if its the numbers motor or not. I just wanna know so I can start looking for a 440 if it isnt, or should I just keep the 383? Im planning on putting a Keisler 5 or 6 spd in the car. How much difference will I notice between a 383 and a 440? Of course theres always the stroked 383 option. Thanks guys...

[ChgrSteve67]

The first picture is your block casting translates to 383, 1959-71.
The number below your casting number is the casting date of the block january 22, 1966.

They did not put VIN stamps on the blocks until 1968.
On the front of the block buy the Distributer and just below the head you should see a stamp of B383 for 1966, C383 for a 1967.
Below this stamp you may have some other numbers, these would be option codes for the engine. Bore, crank, ect.

The second picture is the shift that casted your block and the time it was cast.
D stands for Day Shift - N stands for Night Shift, the clock is the hour it was cast.

I have not been able to figure out for sure what the number following the casting number is, my engine has the number 11.
And I have not been able to figure out what the LL means. Some people in the Internet seem to think it is the performance level of the block.
HP for High performance - L for low compression - LL = ??
My engne also has an LL

As for the VIN you provided
XP29G8B******
X = Dodge Charger
P = Premium
29 = 2 Door Sports Hardtop
G = 383 290HP 1-2BBL 8 CYL
8 = 1968
B = Dodge Main, Hamtramck, MI, USA
****** = Sequence Number 100001 = 1st Vehicle down assembly line

What Gen is your charger?

Looking at your VIN and Engine Date I would say this is not your Original motor.
If you have a 1968 Charger the VIN code of your car should be stamped in the Block just above the oil pan line.

Hope this helps

I'm crapy with advice so I will leave it to someone else.
I'm rebuilding my 383, just droped it off at the machine shop this morning.

[MoparYoungGun]

What ChgrSteve67 said is correct, this is not your original block.

Personally, if money allows, I would get a 440 and build a stroker. Nothing like 600ft lbs of tq !

[hemigeno]

ChgrSteve & MYG are probably correct, this is almost certainly not the original engine for your car.

However, you can't use the lack of a stamping on the block as evidence of that fact.  In 1968 they only stamped HP blocks.  This car's VIN (G engine code) shows it to be a 2bbl 383 version, which is not considered an HP motor.  As such, the original motor for this car would not have had a stamping either.  A 1968 H-code 383 (4bbl carb) would have been stamped though.

There is a VERY remote chance that this block is the original motor, but it would be highly unusual for a block to sit around for approximately 2 years before being used.  That happened occasionally with Hemi motors, but not too much with a common engine like 383's.  One constant with Mopar is that you can never say never - but then again, even that statement has its occasional exceptions...   

1968 ID stampings were on the bellhousing flange on the back side of the motor, near the oil pressure sending unit.  There was a matching stamp put on the transmission flange at that point as well.  I think Dan (8wheeler) has some good pics of this stamp.

As far as the 2468130 - 3 stamping goes, the "- 3" part means that the particular casting mold used for this block had been built/rebuilt 3 times.  This was just another quality-control mechanism for Chrysler.  If there was a defect in the casting, they could pinpoint which blocks were likely to have that casting problem (whatever it might be).  Doesn't mean too much for us now though.  If a block had a casting defect in it, you could probably find it somewhere as a buoy/dock anchor somewhere.

John Kunkel or some other guys might know what the "LL" stamping means, but I do not think it meant Low Compression, etc.  All of the non-HP blocks are absolutely identical to the HP variants.  The differences are in the internal and external components bolted to the block, not in the castings or machining work done to the block.  A block is designated as an HP or non-HP motor only when the motor is assembled, not when the block is cast. 

[John_Kunkel]

There is more info stamped in the data pad adjacent to the distributor at the front of the block.