Paint marking on C3 882 head

[Rick M.]

Guy at the shop that rebuilt my heads made the comment that they still have the factory 'X' painted on the ends. He claims the X was put on to differentiate the 2.02 intake heads from the smaller valve versions of the 882 castings at the engine plant. That sound right to you? Engine is a 74 L82.
IMG_3287.jpg

[Mark F.]

Guy at the shop that rebuilt my heads made the comment that they still have the factory 'X' painted on the ends. He claims the X was put on to differentiate the 2.02 intake heads from the smaller valve versions of the 882 castings at the engine plant. That sound right to you? Engine is a 74 L82.

Rick,

I don't know anything about '74 engines, but your casting looks bare to me (no paint except the "X").
Were your heads painted when you took them to his shop ?
Did he sand/or media blast them before this pic was taken ?
How many L82s were made w/ 2.02 intake valves ?

[Rick M.]

They were painted and a bit greasy when I took the heads in for rebuild. Pic is engine when I got it. I don't know what they used to clean them. Few shops have hot tanks these days and he didn't media blast them. Had them clean the cast iron intake also and it looks the same as heads. Requested they not paint the heads or intake as I would.
My understanding is all L82's had 2.02 intake valves.
Engines were painted after assembled so the painted X would not usually be seen.

[Mark F.]

They were painted and a bit greasy when I took the heads in for rebuild. Was the "X" visible when you took them there ; or was it on the back side of the head ? Pic is engine when I got it. I don't know what they used to clean them...My understanding is all L82's had 2.02 intake valves. Engines were painted after assembled agreed...so the painted X would not usually be seen.

Surely, if all L82's were 2.02" valves, why the need for the "X" ?
The engine plant would have known what was coming down the line to be assembled was an L82 2.02" head (broadcast sheet; build sheet; whatever the engine plant equivalent was back then)...

According to the web, 6,690 1974 L82s were made...(not sure that's right, but probably close, eh?)
It's not like it's a rare engine or a rare combination even with whatever engine options might have been available at the time...

Most engine plants I was in would do "runs" or "batches" of the same castings - blocks/heads/intakes to avoid problems with parts staging along side the line and associated potential confusion during assembly...

So, I have no answer for you, but I'll be interested if others come in with their knowledge, too...

[Duke W.]

Yes, all L-82s have the 2.02/1.60" valve set. Since both '74 base engine and L-82 heads were processed from the same ...882 casting - just different machining for the different valve sizes - once the heads were fully assembled they would be impossible to ID unless looking at the bottom side, and even then the two valve sets are easy to confuse for an untrained eye.

So there must have been an easier way to ID them once assembled.

Back in the C2 drum brake era the J-65 metallic brake option used slightly different front drums. The casting number was the same for both base and J-65 brakes, but the steel web that was installed into the mold prior to pouring the cast iron was slightly thicker for J-65 front drums. There would be no way to ID the different finished castings without measuring web thickness, so the thicker webs were stamped with an "X" to ID them for the finer 40-microinch J-65 friction surface finish.

So it's plausible to me that the painted "X" could be to differentiate L-82 from base engine heads, but we may never know for sure.

As previously stated engines were built in batches based on final assembly plant orders, but workers would need to have an easy way to ID similar looking parts or assemblies to properly stage the parts for the specific engine configuration batch to be built. Recall that beginning sometime in the seventies engines had a two letter production code sticker on one of the rear head faces and this code was called out on the built sheet to tell the line which engine to install on each job.

Is the "X" painted on both end surfaces or just one?

Duke

P. S. The edit function is active for this post.

[Rick M.]

Is the "X" painted on both end surfaces or just one?

One of heads on both ends. Other head I saw on just 1 end.
So, the guys story about the X may have some truth to it? Thanks for giving your thoughts.

[Mark F.]

Yes, all L-82s have the 2.02/1.60" valve set. Since both '74 base engine and L-82 heads were processed from the same...882 casting - just different machining for the different valve sizes - once the heads were fully assembled they would be impossible to ID unless looking at the bottom side, and even then the two valve sets are easy to confuse for an untrained eye....So it's plausible to me that the painted "X" could be to differentiate L-82 from base engine heads, but we may never know for sure....Duke

I did not know we were talking the same casting number for base and L-82s...hence my confusion for needing an "X"... Now that Duke has weighed-in (see Rick, I told you someone out there would know ) I understand the need to differentiate the two somehow after machining, but prior to painting...

As Duke points out for J-56 brakes, stamped / or debossed / or embossed permanent IDs are better IMHO than paint for future reference and IDing that then gets painted over...but who cares what I think , eh?

[Owen L.]

I don't know about L-82 heads, but my '72 LS-5 engine block had "CSS" handwritten on it; CSS was the engine code for '72 LS-5s. This engine had never been rebuilt before, so this is an engine plant notation. I guess what I'm saying is that a handwritten X coincides with my handwritten CSS.

[Owen L.]

(For some reason, the forum wouldn't let me upload the pic from my comment above.)

[Rick M.]

A bit more info on 882 casting heads, if anyone is interested. My understanding is they came in 3 intake valve sizes. The small 1.7something(6?), 1.94 and 2.02. The 2.02 version had additional machining for screw in rocker studs and pushrod guideplates.