1969 l89

[Joseph A.]

I have a 1969 L89 Corvette, the block is a 270 cast in Sept 1968, the motor was built in October and the car was assembled the 22nd of January, the carbs are dated 8B3. I have 2 questions 1 is on the back of the block under the casting number is a T sideways is that valid as I have 2 other big blocks and they have a P there. The second question do the carbs seem right, I was told by someone that the carbs were added when the motor was being placed in the car so for a January 69 car Dec 68 carbs were OK even thought the motor was built in October.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1969 l89

I have a 1969 L89 Corvette, the block is a 270 cast in Sept 1968, the motor was built in October and the car was assembled the 22nd of January, the carbs are dated 8B3. I have 2 questions 1 is on the back of the block under the casting number is a T sideways is that valid as I have 2 other big blocks and they have a P there. The second question do the carbs seem right, I was told by someone that the carbs were added when the motor was being placed in the car so for a January 69 car Dec 68 carbs were OK even thought the motor was built in October.

Joe,
The T is indicative or Tonawanda Foundry -- where the cylinder case was cast.
I wish I knew what the P indicated, but it is what it is. When I had access to the old folks at Tonawanda I was too busy having fun with them by suggesting the T stood for Truck. They would get all teed off and we would all have some more adult beverages. Now that they are gone I regret not asking about the P. Of course I have a number of other regrets, but so it goes.

The carburetors (ALL of them for many years) were indeed installed at St Louis, and their date is indexed by the build date of the car and not the build date of the engine. There are, however, many more features than just the date that go into guessing if these components are original to the car.