Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

[George H.]

My ‘73 has the LS4 engine. The block casting date is 6/11, the engine build date is 6/19 and is stamped T0619CWM 13S432231. The Trim Tag is dated 7/6 and the Vehicle Cortication label 7/73. The engine was built in Tonawanda and the car assembled in St. Louis. I believe the engine number was stamped in Tonawanda and the Vehicle Vin number was stamped (added) in St. Louis, not Tonawanda. The Tonawanda plant did not know the vehicle serial number, only that it assembled a LS4 engine that was going to be sold with a manual M21 transmission. Is that correct? Engine block casting and engine assembly date, build sheet for the car, Vin number assignment, Trim Tag, Certification Label, ship date, dealer acceptance new care inspection report, sale of car. An interesting series of events in a car's production cycle.

George Hunt
1973 Coupe, LS4, M21
1973-1974 TM 3rd Edition Team Member.

[Terry M.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

You have the sequence correct. Is there a problem I am missing?

[George H.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

No problem Terry. Your confirming that St. Louis did stamped the Vin Number on the engine pad and Tonawanda stamped the Engine assembly date.

[Michael J.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

I think your terminology is incorrect. Embossing creates raised characters, stamping creates indented ones, the engine pad was stamped, not embossed, but yes the sequence is correct, VIN in St. Louis, the other end stamp of engine plant, assembly date, and suffix at the engine plant.

[Tim G.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

Two separate stamps at two different plants at two different times. That's the beauty of Corvette engine pads.

[George H.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

Thank you for the correction. I'm still learning a lot about my Corvette. I've owned it for the past 43 years and interested in how, where and when component parts were made. Date codes, embossing and stamping tell us a lot. Just need to have them in the right order.

[Owen L.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

I think your terminology is incorrect. Embossing creates raised characters, stamping creates indented ones, the engine pad was stamped, not embossed...

Not to quibble semantics: The correct terminology for the stamp impressions is debossing. Embossed are the all of the casting codes that stand proud of the surrounding material; debossed are the assembly codes and VIN sequence. The Trim and VIN tags are embossed too and if a dealer stamped the DD, it would be debossed. Unless you are looking at the backside of the tags then it's the opposite!

[Michael J.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

Actually, my VIN tag on my '65 has the DD etched by a scroll etching needle. But yes, debossing or stamping produce indented letters and numbers. But, according to the experts: "A quick way to tell the difference between stamping and debossing is to look at the back of the marked nameplate. If that side is flat (no markings) then it is most likely a stamped design.While if the back sports raised markings, it would be debossed."

[Gary B.]

Re: Question, Engine Pad Embossing, who did it?

I, for one, am going to continued to refer to it as the stamp pad. And not the debossed pad.

Gary

[Mark F.]

https://www.metalmarkermfg.com/blog/stamping-vs-debossing-whats-the-difference/

I like the credit card example they use.