Engine identification

[Mark D]

Last fall I bought a 1940 P10 business coupe. The owner claimed the car had the engine replaced sometime in the past and that the former engine was in the trunk. When I got the car home I removed said engine from the trunk and took these accompanying photos.  These past sat few days I’ve been thinking about beginning my first engine rebuild and thought this block might make a good candidate.

 

A couple questions for you guys in advance:

 

- is this a P10 engine? The third character appears to be a letter I... 

- if this is a P10 201 engine can it be rebuilt as a 230?

 

Thanks - Mark

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

the letter "I" is the number 1 for the old stamping system  the star at the front and end of the sequence number simply prevents altering...

[Andydodge]

Yep, thats a P10 engine............a 230 has a different bore & stroke.......it might be easier to just get a 230.........maybe........andyd

[Mark D]

1 hour ago, Andydodge said:

Yep, thats a P10 engine............a 230 has a different bore & stroke.......it might be easier to just get a 230.........maybe........andyd

 

Right-o bore and stroke are indeed different. But I’m curious as to any reference materials that might be out there explaining the differences in the 201, 218, and 230 blocks.

[Andydodge]

I'd think that the blocks would be the same tho' whether a 201 with its 3& 1/8th bore had enough meat in the block to take an extra 1/8th to bring it up to the 3&1/4 bore that the 230 had I don't know, maybe see if you can find some place/someone who can sonic check it......also contact places like Vintage Power Wagons who may know what, if any differences there are between the 201 and 230...........regards, andyd  

[B-Watson]

4 hours ago, Andydodge said:

I'd think that the blocks would be the same tho' whether a 201 with its 3& 1/8th bore had enough meat in the block to take an extra 1/8th to bring it up to the 3&1/4 bore that the 230 had I don't know, maybe see if you can find some place/someone who can sonic check it......also contact places like Vintage Power Wagons who may know what, if any differences there are between the 201 and 230...........regards, andyd  

 

The 230 engine with its 3.25" bore would be a different casting than the 201 with its 3.125" bore.  The 1/8" (0.125") difference is a little much especially when Chrysler itself offered pistons to a maximum of 60 over. - that's  .060".    60 over on a 3.125" bore would give you 3.185" bore - 0.065" shy of 3.250".   The wall thickness of the cylinders is pretty much the same for all engines, thus the bore size is increased as the bore of the engine is increased.  Resulting in different castings for different bore sizes.

 

 

[40Club]

Main bearing journals are different size

[dpollo]

The mains and rods are smaller in the 201 as noted above.    If you want a 230 it is easiest to start with one however, 230 crank and rods can be used in a 217.

[John Reddie]

When was the 217 first introduced? Was it in the 1942 models?

John R

[Plymouthy Adams]

are you speaking Dodge or Plymouth...Plymouth 1942, Dodge years earlier....

[B-Watson]

Dodge was 1934

[John Reddie]

Thanks guys for the replies. I was mainly interested in the Plymouth's which I thought was 1942 but I didn't realize that Dodge was earlier.

John R

[dpollo]

Plymouth generally received  hand -me-down engines from Dodge.    My first 40 was a Canadian built car, 

the engine was the longer 3 3/8 bore 218.    engine # P10C 1481.   I replaced it with a 251 from a Canadian 57 Dodge Regent.

 That engine's  # began with the letter K.    Great performer in the 40 !