C4AE-A 390 Police?!?

[harrisoncarroll]

I am looking at buying a short block that a guy is claiming is a 390 police block. The casting number on the block is C4AE-A and the crank is C4AE-B. The block has the bosses for cross drilling and the reinforced ribs. The block has been drilled for hydralic lifters. A non 427 C4AE-A in my books shows up as a 352 or a 391 truck block that "was molded from a 427 cast".

Has anyone ever heard of a C4AE-A Police block? If the block was not drilled for hydralic lifters than I would know for sure that it is a high performance block.

Thanks,
Josh

[Ron61]

Josh,

My books show pretty much the same as what you stated except they show the C4AE-A truck engine as a HD 330 C.I. only.
Mine show the C4AE-A from 64-78 as being in 359, 361,389, & 391 cubic inch. Both have bosses for cross bolted mains partial cast from 427 molds. My records show the crankshaft C4AE-A as a stock 352 cubic inch crank. I show C4AE- C&D as the crankshaft numbers for a 1964 390 cubic inch P.I. engine. Also all 390 P. I. engines that my stuff shows were solid lifetr engines.

Ron

[FFR428]

As stated the block is either a 352 or a 389/391 series. The crank C4AE-B comes up a cast 427 crank in my book. What is the date code on the block? This will give you a better idea what year/block your lookig at. G.

[cobra427mnsi]

According to Steve Christ's book, if I am reading it correctly, the C4AE-B block can be either (1) a 352 with a bore of 4.00" or (2) a 427 CO with a bore of 4.23" or (3) a 389,391 with a bore of4.05".

I quess you would have to measure the bore (if it is still a standard bore).

The crank C4AE-B is listed as a 427 center oiler cast iron crank.

Paul

[cobra427mnsi]

Sorry, I meant to say the block C4AE-A not C4AE-B block

Paul

[Ron61]

Josh,

Look at the year/month/day code as suggested above. It is in that format Y/M/D. Example 9M21 This is the 9th year or 1969 if it is a 1960s engine, M is the Month, or December of that year, They don't use ( i because of confusion with 1), and the last digits are the day of the month. So the example of 9M21 was built in 1969, December 21st.

The month goes A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,J,K,L,M

A=Jan
B=Feb
C=March & etc.

This same year/month/day code should be on the heads inside the valve covers about the middle of them.

Ron

[FFR428]

also block code will have a :1 a :2 or a :3. at the end. This will tell you what shift the block was cast. FWIW. G.