Engine stamping

Vin stamping

hello. I recently bought a Camaro that i beleive to be a real 1968 L89 car. Any experts out there?

 

I believe, the VIN stamp shows from a full size vs. Camaro - 18x vs 12x

 

I'm no expert, but this is what the Lime Book lists the engine code as. Does the partial VIN match the car? If so, that would be indication the engine came in that car. Another good source of reference would be this CRG website page on drivetrains.

 

Everett, I always thought the partial VIN broke down like this. "1" stood for Chevrolet Motor Div, "8" was the production year, "N" was for the Norwood Assembly plant and the last six digits were the sequence production number of the VIN from the model line. Is that how you understand it? I got this impression from information I found on a Chevelle website and assumed it to be accurate, but it may not be. This is a copy and paste of what was posted there:
"Before a federal mandate that all engine blocks be stamped with a partial VIN, generally, only the 396 engines from 1965, 1966 & 1967 Chevelles along with the L79 engine blocks from 1965 & 1967 Chevelles were stamped with a partial VIN. These were done by hand and by individual character often resulting in some very strange looking engine pads. The partial VIN consisted of a single number representing the model year, a letter for the final assembly plant, and followed by the six-digit sequence number of the vehicle."Before a federal mandate that all engine blocks be stamped with a partial VIN, generally, only the 396 engines from 1965, 1966 & 1967 Chevelles along with the L79 engine blocks from 1965 & 1967 Chevelles were stamped with a partial VIN. These were done by hand and by individual character often resulting in some very strange looking engine pads. The partial VIN consisted of a single number representing the model year, a letter for the final assembly plant, and followed by the six-digit sequence number of the vehicle.

Beginning January 1, 1968, by federal mandate, all engine blocks would be stamped with a partial VIN consisting of a single number for the General Motors division (Chevrolet's number is "1"), followed by the same information as before; the model year, plant, and sequence number. General Motors standardized this procedure by using what's called a "gang stamp" as shown in the photo above. Each individual stamped character was placed in a holder and secured before the engine block was struck by the employee responsible for doing this task. This holder allowed for consistency in the particular characters used and assured the partial VIN stamp was uniformly done from car to car. Even though some plants elected to stamp partial VINs on other locations beside the engine pad (such as the rough cast area by the oil filter boss or on the bellhousing flange), most plants for most years did stamp the partial VIN on the engine pad next to the Flint or Tonawanda engine assembly date and ID letters".

 

Are those the original aluminum heads? My info notes that BB MT suffix came only in '68 Camaros. Chevelle had EG, Chevy II MQ or MR

 

The "Lime Book" (the green pages shown above) is also saying the MT code was only used in the 1968 Camaro. In the equipment abbreviations for this code, aluminum heads are shown. On the CRG website, the L78 and L89 engines are shown as having an aluminum head option. The OP didn't mention aluminum heads, so I not sure he has the original heads or not.

 

Looks like an aluminum head from the photo which has the engine stamp on it. casting number would be 3919840 or 3919842

If this is in fact an L89 car, only 272 were made.How many with the convertible is anyone's guess. I had the very fortunate experience of riding in one of these cars back in 68. A friend of mine's uncle purchased the car from Baldwin Chevrolet, LI. Red with vinyl roof , 4 speed. Rated 375 HP was laughable.

 

I focused on the block pad and never noticed the heads were on the block. Nice catch. Yes, I would agree if it's original to the convertible, there won't be to many others like it.

 

Peter, I've edumacated Thank you

Everett, I always thought the partial VIN broke down like this. "1" stood for Chevrolet Motor Div, "8" was the production year, "N" was for the Norwood Assembly plant and the last six digits were the sequence production number of the VIN from the model line. Is that how you understand it? I got this impression from information I found on a Chevelle website and assumed it to be accurate, but it may not be. This is a copy and paste of what was posted there: