383 Maybe??

[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