> GM started putting one color on all their brands engines in 1977. As new car buyers didn't like finding Chevy orange engines in their Buicks or
> Olds. GM ended up in court over this as I recall. So to solve this issue. GM went to corporate blue for all brands. Amazing how simple that this
> issue was solved. Change to black in, I think 1981? 455 Olds engines were a metallic blue in our GMC's for 73,74, 75, and 1976. The engine in my 73
> that I want to sell. Is corporate blue. It was put in a building in about 1984. And never driven till I bought it 3 years ago. So some time between
> 1977to 1980. The 455 was rebuilt. Or had a GM engine put in under warranty from 1977 to 1980. Where are GM replacement engines stamped? And what ID
> code. Bob
The real reason that GM started "sharing" engines among divisions was due to 2 factors;
1) sales success of Oldsmobile. In '76, '77 & '78 the Olds Cutlass was the #1 selling car in the US. Think about it, the Cutlass was the "Camry" of
the 70s. Anyway Olds was selling over a million cars a year and they only had the Lansing engine plant. They could not build enough Olds engines to
meet demand. Chevrolet had multiple engine plants (Flint, Tonawanda, St Catharines) and had a surplus of capacity. So the '77 Delta 88 was
designated as the recipient of a lot of Chevy 350s
2) emissions regs we're getting tougher every year in the 70s, and the Olds engine was cleaner than the comparable Pontiac v8. As a result there were
a number of car lines that were certified with the Olds v8 in California, for example you could get several Pontiac models with an Olds v8 in
California in '77.
Downsizing also forced a lot of "planned swaps". All divisions except Chevy truck were phasing out their larger v8s in this era. Pontiac ended all
v8s larger than 301 after '77. As a result the very popular Trans Am received Olds 403s in all 50 states in '79.
GM was on a path of consolidation. It just didn't make sense to make and certify 5 distinct v8 engines any longer.
As far as service, every year a small number of engines were designated for service, but they came off the production line just like any other engine.
They were typically incomplete and unpainted, but were in many cases coded uniquely. In this era engines had a two letter identifier to call out any
unique content for a particular application. This would let workers know what components to assemble. For example intake and exhaust manifolds and
oil pans were unique to the Toronado vs the rear drive versions. I think service engines were coded distinctly, and they made different levels of
content for service. A "fitted block" was just a bare block with pistons. A "short block" had pistons con rods and crank. A "long block" was a
short block with cyl heads and camshaft. As the long block was the most common service engine it did not need to be uniquely identified between
models. I have some old Olds parts books. I'll have to look up the Olds engine codes for this era.
--
Chris Geils - Twin Cities / W Wa
1978 26' Kingsley w/ very few mods; Headers, PD9040, aux trans cooler, one repaint in stock colors, R134a, Al rad, Alcoas, 53k mi
