Topic: build dates of HiPo engine

[evantugby]

Question:  If a GT350 had a scheduled build date of 1 Oct 65, what appx date code would the original 289 engine be?  Does the HiPo engine proceed the build date by weeks or months? 

[J_Speegle]

Since the scheduled build dates can be off as much as a month it makes making guesses much more difficult that in the years were we can find out or know the real build date.

With that said I would be likely be looking at a Sept 65 cast K code engine for a car built the first week of Oct at San Jose if they built any that week.

[evantugby]

Thanks for your reply Jeff.

Doing some follow-up research I found this article from Brant at Virginia Classic Mustang.  To sum up the article he references a 1965 GT350 with the following dates:  HiPo Heads 4 Dec 1964.  Block 27 Jan 65.  Assembly Date stamped on block is 9 Feb 1965.  Scheduled build date of the GT350 was 25 March 1965. 

Therefore it appears an block date can be close to two months preceding the scheduled build date of the car. 

Link here:  http://blog.virginiaclassicmustang.com/2011/12/just-details289-engine-date-codes.html

[J_Speegle]

Therefore it appears an block date can be close to two months preceding the scheduled build date of the car. 

Don't understand your conclusion. First of all your comparing dates from a 65 when you asked about a 66 and from a different time of year which may have affected production and transportation across the country. In general you will find the standard belief out on the internet that it "can be up to 3 months" but that is a general statement.  You asked about a specific production period, year and plant. If you had wanted the boiler plate standard answer it would have save me time not having to look up San Jose K codes I have records of from that particular time period 

Also to Brant's article he is simply stating what he found on one example not multiples

[evantugby]

Jeff,
I am sorry my phrasing of the question may have upset you.  I merely was just using the 66 GT350 as an example to use in a question for clarity.   With the additional information I later found in Brant's article I offered it in conjunction with your response. 

The point of my inquiry was to find out how close to a HiPo kar's scheduled build date would one expect to see engine assembly date stamps in comparison to engine block dates.  I was specifically focused on the HiPo kars to see if the variance of these dated components ranged more widely than standard 289 engines, since standard 289 engines were used more frequently.  I guess that is a lot of words to simply ask:  Did Ford produce, date stamp and assemble HiPo engines in every month of 1965 and 1966?  Or were HiPo engines produced, dated stamped and assembled in batches a couple times a year in 1965 and 1966?

If you have additional information to the standard acceptances of date ranges as it relates to a HiPo kar's scheduled build date with HiPo engine assembly date stamps with HiPo engine block dates AS IT CORRELATES with what you mentioned matters as to the specific times of year at specific plants--please share all. 

[J_Speegle]

Jeff,
I am sorry my phrasing of the question may have upset you.  I merely was just using the 66 GT350 as an example to use in a question for clarity.   With the additional information I later found in Brant's article I offered it in conjunction with your response. 

Long day and your request was specific so I researched and responded accordingly "If a GT350 had a scheduled build date of 1 Oct 65, what appx date code would the original 289 engine be?...."

Brant's information (given your question) did not relate to your question as you posted it so it appears to be unrelated and a distraction from your stated focus.  We can only read and respond to what you post

As mentioned you will find tons of responses of "the dates could be as much as 90 days prior" if asking about all K code production for 64-67 production. Not sure why we would limit a discussion to only 65-66 since for 67 we have much more solid data since we know when the cars were built.

Nothing I've seen nor have workers at the engine plants stated that I'm aware of suggest that the engines were built in batches and stored at the engine plants and the car plants didn't have extra storage areas. Its most likely IMHO that K codes were built at the same time as A and C codes just at a lesser rate. If you notice in the picture of the loading dock at the engine plant from 65 posted in that section of the site you can get an idea of the ratio of all the engine and transmission combination was on that day as they were preparing to load a bunch to be sent to one of the car assembly plants. 


"Did Ford produce, date stamp and assemble HiPo engines in every month of 1965 and 1966?" Looking just through my records for 66 I found engines cast during every month except I don't have examples from June or July but expect that they are out there. You might want to run a survey over on the K code site and through all the threads as well as the  for sale ads to collect and compare dates

If we instead (sorry for getting in the weeds but this is all about the details) "how long before the car was finished were the engines cast or built" that would likely lead to focusing on a specific time period (year and month) and examples built during that time period discussed. Data appears to suggest that weather, time of year, rail company issues, Ford workers union issues and many other things could affect the span