Hey guys, pleasure is all mine today. With your permission I'm gonna blow this whole thing wide open over the next few days or even weeks with your help so stayed glued to your seats everyone... I own a '70 Barracuda BH27N0B. It has a 330hp 383 4bbl N code, its automatic, engine color is blue, has a/c and is a non ECS non Cal emmisions. Flat hood, 383 four barrel emblems under the Barracuda script. I do share the common interest in this exact topic & sniffin' around & just caught wind of it.
There were three versions of 383 intended for the U.S. market in '70. Replacement short block 383's exported to Canada had a unique part numbers & appear to have had a lower compression ratio. There was the 1) L Code E61-290hp 2bbl - 2) N Code E63-330hp 4bbl and 3) the N Code E63-335hp 4bbl HP. Having either an L or an N in the 5th digit of the VIN for the dash pad, door label, engine VIN pad, trans pad, cowl, rad support, etc. to match all other documents that remain with that car are how these E Bodys can be documented & examinedd for levels of authenticity.
E61 (2bbl) and E63 (4bbl) were merely the 'sales codes' mainly designated to Mopar dealership owners & their salesmen there at the dealer to order their E Body customers a 383 in either a 2 or 4bbl. One of these two sales codes will be found on 1) the original bill of sale from the dealer/factory invoice/window sticker 2) the fender tag and 3) the bcs. Challenger6pack, what's up brother,
there may be no such thing as an E62 330hp 4bbl from where my searches had taken me till now & may be safe to take it off your list above.
Consider that Supercuda is not the original owner of the L code 4bbl he mentioned that may easily have had its original 2bbl intake manifold swapped to a 4bbl some time after it left the factory. No offense Supercuda.
I'd like to hear more. His engine was also painted blue you said and remember that there were no orange 2bbls, 2bbl's were all blue. I know of one Barracuda L code in a j-yard right now. The blue 383 2bbl block and heads are still there preserved, but oddly or not it does have a 4bbl intake on top. Whatever 4bbl carb it once had is MIA, it's been in that j-yard for sale the past 20 years. I checked and the intake is not the correct '70 666 intake and the date on it is a 1969 part number. The final proof are the 2bbl part numbers cast plain as day into the side of the block. Easy to see how it was simply a performance swap done for the instant hp gains when racing against Chevy's & Ford's back in the day. Keep reading and you'll see how you could have verified exactly what it is your friend had. I'll have to check if there is a cast crank mark stamped into the pad to further document it as being a 2bbl L code and no more than that. This car simply had 383 emblems directly beneath the Barracuda fender scripts. Not 383 four barrel scripts like you would expect to find on a 4bbl car. The factory drilled emblem mounting holes in the 2 barrel fenders are different dimensions/locations than the holes drilled for four barrel fenders because the emblems do not share the same stud placements on the rear. Did your friend's car have 383 emblems on the fenders. Could be a clue.
All three versions of the 383 mentioned above could be ordered in a Barracuda (not a 'Cuda) & in a Challenger V8 (not an R/T.) I can tell you this, what you guys are missing is very valuable if you are to ever learn the truth here. While the E61 & E63 codes and the L & N codes are easy to quickly find - there are one set of numbers, 3 to be exact, and you'll only find those 3 numbers in one place. You guessed it. The bcs. And I'm gonna give you those bcs codes right now, given kindly to me courtesy of my mentors on another site.
084 = 383/4, manual, a/c, painted blue, 330hp
085 = 383/4, auto, no a/c, blue, 330 hp
086 = 383/4, auto, a/c, blue, 330 hp
087 = 383/4, manual, no a/c, orange, 335 hp
088 = 383/4, auto, no a/c, orange, 335 hp
089 = 383/4, auto a/c, orange, 335 hp
These were the assembly line codes for, you guessed it, the assembly line workers in charge of putting the predetermined engines into these cars, we see there were six possibilities. In some documented cases, these 3 engine bcs numbers were found to be written on a valve cover by a worker to quickly help them better visually distinguish from all the others.
If you have a F series/1970 bcs the 3 engine numbers are found on line 4 - in the engine box. The 3 numbers between the 2 vac fitting numbers and the 2 carb numbers. Or commonly there are cases where '70's were printed on left over E series/1969 bcs's. In that case you can still go to line four on a '69 sheet and find the numbers - they still follow where the first 2 vac fitting numbers would be on a '70 bcs.
If, and only if there is an original bcs with these 3 numbers still legible, only then can you use the breakdowns above. Consider that some cars didn't get a BCS (L.A. bcs 's are uncommon but do exist) that some are missing, that some that do remain are torn/tatered & missing pieces, while others even came with one that was not for that same car. The more original bcs's that are deciphered, the more that any one particular pattern can start to emerge. The more we'll learn. I have 2 original bcs's for my car. The engine code for my BH27NOB is 086. We see that an 086 code 383/4 is not an HP & was painted blue just like the chart states and just as Barry's chart from earlier explains. Now then, my block does not have an HP stamp on the pad near distributor, no HP stamp anywhere. This offers more evidence of why I believe it to be a 330hp version. A block that has an HP stamp somewhere on it should in most all cases be accepted as being painted orange.
The next thing to discuss would be carbs. See list below. The 330hp blue engines I've researched the past few months had a Carter, while the 335hp orange engines all have a Holley. These were documented by bcs deciphering and not here say from someone's memory of one back in the day. What you guys as members here that own any of the N codes and L codes will have to start is to produce some documentation and pics for the rest of us. My research is on going and all is up for debate in a forum such as this is. I'll close for now with this carb list created by a highly knowledgable friend - file it with the engine codes guys 'cause its basically gold and my present to the forum here. Happy holidays everyone!
383 manual - E & B-body - with ECS (N95).......... orange HP engine 335hp
---------- Holley R4217-A ----------part number 3418 537 on b'cast 37
383 manual - E & B-body - w/o ECS................... orange HP engine 335hp engine on b'cast 084 wA/C & 087---------------- Holley R4367-A ----------part number 3418 536 on b'cast 36
383 Manual - E & B-body - w/o ECS & with "fresh air" (N96). orange HP engine 335hp
---------- Holley R4736-1A ----------part number 3512 964 on b'cast 64
383 Manual - E & B-body - with ECS (N95) & with "fresh air" (N96). orange HP engine 335hp-------------------------- Holley R4738-1A ----------part number 3512 974 on b'cast 74
383 automatic - E, C & B-body - w/o A/C & w/o ECS............. blue engine 330hp
---------- Carter 4736S ----------part number 3418 538 on b'cast 38
383 automatic - E, C & B-body - with A/C (H51) & w/o ECS..... blue engine 330hp
---------- Carter 4732S ----------part number 3418 540 on b'cast 40
383 automatic - E, C & B-body - with ECS (N95)................... blue engine 330hp
---------- Carter 4734S ----------part number 3418 541 on b'cast 41
383 automatic - E & B-body - w/o A/C & w/o ECS............... orange HP engine 335hp engine on b'cast 088----------- Holley R4368-A ----------part number 3418 542 on b'cast 42
383 automatic - E & B-body - w/o A/C & with "fresh air" (N96). orange HP engine 335hp engine on b'cast 088---------- Holley R4737-1A ----------part number 3512 965 on b'cast 65
383 automatic - E & B-body - with ECS (N95)..................... orange HP engine 335hp
---------- Holley R4218-A ----------part number 3418 543 on b'cast 43
383 automatic - E & B-body - with A/C (H51) & w/o ECS....... orange HP engine 335hp engine on b'cast 089-- Holley R4369-A --part number 3418 562 on b'cast 62
383 Automatic - E & B-body - with ECS (N95) & with "fresh air" (N96). orange HP engine 335hp------ Holley R4739-1A ----------part number 3512 975 on b'cast 75
