Topic: Hipo 289 build date vs car build date

[ChrisV289]

I thought it was discussed that the stamping near the water pump was the short block assembly date and not the whole motor itself as the engine tag codes sometimes have a later date than the assembly date....

[sgl66]

What confuses me is why fake a hipo by stamping the vin onto a block that is out of the sensible range. 

It’s an easy way to make it appear as if the engine came with the car and ask for more money. I’ve seen more than one faked HiPo VIN stamp on blocks transmissions and inner fenders for different reasons. Not saying the car/engine you're looking at is or isn’t original but without documentation going back to day 1, there is a ton of due diligence needed to be confident in what you’re buying. Some VIN stamps are obvious fakes, some are less obvious and usually it’s the font of some of the characters that is not right

[jwc66k]

I thought it was discussed that the stamping near the water pump was the short block assembly date and not the whole motor itself as the engine tag codes sometimes have a later date than the assembly date....

No. What is still in limbo is the stamping on a boss near the distributor the "assembler's" ID or the "inspector's" ID. The inspector is in the lead.
Jim

[J_Speegle]

The stamped date on the oil pan mating surface is the date the block was machined. Sometimes that date matches other dates found on the block

I thought it was discussed that the stamping near the water pump was the short block assembly date and not the whole motor itself as the engine tag codes sometimes have a later date than the assembly date....

Not to get too far off the OP's needs and focus

Yes a theory that is still being researched and tested - Should start a new thread just for flushing out the subject

http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=21849.msg136996#msg136996

[J_Speegle]

So this is what I've got so far.

The car/engine in question

VIN - 5F625xxx
Scheduled build date - Feb 10 1965
Stamped engine assemble date - 4H25 - Approx 6 months earlier

------------------------------------------
Looking at other examples with engine block casting dates in Aug 64 (Happen to have a few in the records from around that time)

4H31 - 5F238xxx -
4G?   - 5F250xxx -
4G16 - 5F250xxx -
5H20 - 5F282xxx -
4J7   - 5F289xxx -
4J11 - 5F293xxx -
4H14 - 5F303xxx -
4G24 - 5F307xxx -

Hope this helps in you drawing your own conclusion

[Jack65K]

My HIPO had a scheduled build date of January 11, 1965 and is a Dearborn car.  The engine assembly date is January 14, 1965, which goes along with the theory that HIPO engines were built very close in time to the cars scheduled build date (which the actual build date was a few days behind the scheduled build date) and were not left sitting around waiting to be used in a later build.
Scheduled Build = A11
Engine Assembly = 5A14B
Intake Manifold Tag = 5A8
Engine Cast = 5A5 (my 17th birthday)
Heads Cast (both) 4M17

Jack

[J_Speegle]

Intake Manifold Tag = 5A8

Thanks Jack

Question - is the line above the date from the intake or from the aluminum engine tag attached to the intake? Pattern is more like the intake cast date rather than the other

[Jack65K]

Yes it’s the casting date.