ID A REAL 440 6 PACK FROM THE 60S

[omglandv]

damn thats a rare find.  nice

[Dodge Don]

HP and HP2 are the same - the 2 denoted 2nd shift. Now if someone showed me an HP3 I would be impressed!

If that's true then where are the HP1 & HP3 blocks, and why would you need to stamp the shift on the pad... every block has a "Shift Clock" on it already? I guess you would need to ask the experts over a 6-Pack / 6 barrel.

See the posts above. The HP or HP2 have nothing to do with whether or not the block was from a factory six pack car. This is one urban legend that just won't die for some reason 

[maxwellwedge]

HP and HP2 are the same - the 2 denoted 2nd shift. Now if someone showed me an HP3 I would be impressed!

If that's true then where are the HP1 & HP3 blocks, and why would you need to stamp the shift on the pad... every block has a "Shift Clock" on it already? I guess you would need to ask the experts over a 6-Pack / 6 barrel.

There is no correlation between the Shift Clock cast on the block and which shift the block machining work was performed.  Often, several months or longer would pass between the casting date and the machining date - and the latter is the reference point for the ID pad stampings.

Oh, and no one that I know of has seen an HP3 stamping (if there is one, it's probably a mistake) - maxwellwedge was being a bit facetious there. 
HP = first shift
HP2 = second shift

This isn't something that we've just made up - there is official Chrysler paperwork to show this very thing.  See the red box highlighted below, taken from my 1969 TSB book:

Facetious? Have you ever known me to be  facetious? 

[Ghoste]

Don that one will likely never die, it goes back to the stone ages of decyphering Chrysler codes.

[Brock Samson]

 I read in MOPAR PERFORMANCE magazine that HP2 meant it was a High Performance SIX-PACK block back in the mid '80s hence my search for a HP-2 Block which i finally found in '96 and is now in my '69 R/T S.E. I didn't know till after joining this (and the old) site - the Blocks themselves were interchangable. 

[69CoronetRT]

HP and HP2 are the same - the 2 denoted 2nd shift. Now if someone showed me an HP3 I would be impressed!

If that's true then where are the HP1 & HP3 blocks, and why would you need to stamp the shift on the pad... every block has a "Shift Clock" on it already? I guess you would need to ask the experts over a 6-Pack / 6 barrel.

There is no correlation between the Shift Clock cast on the block and which shift the block machining work was performed.  Often, several months or longer would pass between the casting date and the machining date - and the latter is the reference point for the ID pad stampings.

Oh, and no one that I know of has seen an HP3 stamping (if there is one, it's probably a mistake) - maxwellwedge was being a bit facetious there. 
HP = first shift
HP2 = second shift

This isn't something that we've just made up - there is official Chrysler paperwork to show this very thing.  See the red box highlighted below, taken from my 1969 TSB book:

You are assuming that if there was a third shift, they assembled HP engines. If a third shift was called for to keep up with production, it was probably because they needed more numerous 318s or 383's. The 440HP assemblies by percentage, would be a small output of total production and it would make sense to assemble the majority of them on one shift.

[Musicman]

You are assuming that if there was a third shift, they assembled HP engines. If a third shift was called for to keep up with production, it was probably because they needed more numerous 318s or 383's. The 440HP assemblies by percentage, would be a small output of total production and it would make sense to assemble the majority of them on one shift.

Now your making assumptions     

Here's another line I found on another info page...

The number 2, which you may find after the HP, (or in the case of  non HP blocks, you may find just a "2" by itself, usually in the lower right hand corner of the ID pad) refers to the shift during which the engine was assembled. In running a factory, one 24 hour day can be divided into three 8 hour shifts. The first shift was considered a "1" however to save time, Chrysler did not stamp a "1", they just left it blank. So an HP2 engine, only means that the engine happened to be assembled on the second shift. There is no advantage to an HP2 block over an HP. we have never seen an HP3, (or just a "3") although Chrysler does allow for it in their documentation, so let me know if you have one or have seen one.

I also took a look around the 6-pack site yesterday and they say the same thing HP2 = 2nd shift 

Well, I think there are enough nails in the coffin now

[hemigeno]

You are assuming that if there was a third shift, they assembled HP engines. If a third shift was called for to keep up with production, it was probably because they needed more numerous 318s or 383's. The 440HP assemblies by percentage, would be a small output of total production and it would make sense to assemble the majority of them on one shift.

Personally, I question (assume?) that there was a third manufacturing/machining shift at all.  It's not uncommon for a manufacturing facility to run two production shifts and a small-staffed third maintenance/repair shift - although I am certainly not stating that's what happened here since I honestly don't know.  Has anyone seen a non-HP engine with just a "3" stamped?  As you correctly pointed out, that would be a more likely find than an HP3 - but again, I've never come across a single example.  I HAVE seen lots of HP engines without a shift designator, so I don't particularly buy into the theory that one shift assembled most of the HP engines. 

That's my FWIW...   

Facetious? Have you ever known me to be  facetious? 

   

[69CoronetRT]

You are assuming that if there was a third shift, they assembled HP engines. If a third shift was called for to keep up with production, it was probably because they needed more numerous 318s or 383's. The 440HP assemblies by percentage, would be a small output of total production and it would make sense to assemble the majority of them on one shift.

Personally, I question (assume?) that there was a third manufacturing/machining shift at all.  It's not uncommon for a manufacturing facility to run two production shifts and a small-staffed third maintenance/repair shift - although I am certainly not stating that's what happened here since I honestly don't know.  Has anyone seen a non-HP engine with just a "3" stamped?  As you correctly pointed out, that would be a more likely find than an HP3 - but again, I've never come across a single example.  I HAVE seen lots of HP engines without a shift designator, so I don't particularly buy into the theory that one shift assembled most of the HP engines. 

Geno, maybe it didn't come out that way but I agree with you. I've never seen or heard evidence of a third assembly shift and I don;t know either if one existed.  My line of thinking is that if a third shift was called for in an emergency basis to keep up with engine demand, I doubt that it was because they needed more HP engines therefore no HP3 stampings. IF third shift engines exists, I would guess they would be small in number and they would be engines that are not usually sought out by hobbyists.

[hemigeno]

Geno, maybe it didn't come out that way but I agree with you. I've never seen or heard evidence of a third assembly shift and I don;t know either if one existed.  My line of thinking is that if a third shift was called for in an emergency basis to keep up with engine demand, I doubt that it was because they needed more HP engines therefore no HP3 stampings. IF third shift engines exists, I would guess they would be small in number and they would be engines that are not usually sought out by hobbyists.

No worries here... although it doesn't hurt to point out that the Trenton Engine Assembly Plant only worked on non-Hemi big block engines, which during the '69 year only included the 383s and 440s.  Those would be the only ones which would follow the same stamping/ID pattern, and that's why they are handled separately in the TSB's.  Maybe there are some 383s with a third shift indicator floating around...   

[69CoronetRT]

Geno, maybe it didn't come out that way but I agree with you. I've never seen or heard evidence of a third assembly shift and I don;t know either if one existed.  My line of thinking is that if a third shift was called for in an emergency basis to keep up with engine demand, I doubt that it was because they needed more HP engines therefore no HP3 stampings. IF third shift engines exists, I would guess they would be small in number and they would be engines that are not usually sought out by hobbyists.

No worries here... although it doesn't hurt to point out that the Trenton Engine Assembly Plant only worked on non-Hemi big block engines, which during the '69 year only included the 383s and 440s.  Those would be the only ones which would follow the same stamping/ID pattern, and that's why they are handled separately in the TSB's.  Maybe there are some 383s with a third shift indicator floating around...   

good point