1969 Chevelle Flint & Tonawanda Date/Suffix Stamps

A few things should be mentioned about the 1969 396/402 engines. Towards the end of the model year the 396-cid engine was increased to 402-cid. Rumors abound for the reason of the 402-cid existence. One is that Tonawanda has a lot of bare blocks rusting away and decided to bore them +0.030 to clean them up. GM wouldn't do this. It is believed the increase in bore size was done in preparation of 1970 (when all "396" cid engines were really 402-cid) because engines over 400 cid had lower restrictions on smog regulations.

Whatever the reason the 'new' 402 would become the base engine in the 1970 SS 396 option even though it was the larger 402-cid engine size. This 402-cid engine was also available from 1970-1972 as RPO LS3 and referred to as either a 400-4 or a Turbo-Jet 400 to distinguish it from a newly introduced 400-cid small block V8 referred to as either a 400-2 (as it was only available with a 2-barrel carburetor) or a Turbo-Fire 400. The small block version of the 400-cid engine was only available in full size Chevrolets and the 1970 Monte Carlo.

This was the first year the SS 396 was discontinued as a separate series and became an option just like air conditioning, a radio, a vinyl top, etc. This is also only year that the SS Equipment option could be ordered on anything other than a Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or pickup. The SS Equipment option was also available on the two 300 Deluxe series body styles, the 13427 coupe (2-door post) and the 13437 sport coupe (hardtop).

Not all 396 engines went into RPO Z25 optioned Chevelles. There was also a "police package" that could be ordered with a 396 engine in a 300 Deluxe 4-door sedan body style. It's believed 323 non-SS 396 optioned Chevelles were built. This figure is arrived at by subtracting the number of RPO Z25 (SS 396 Equipment) options sold from the total of the three 396 engine options.
RPO L35 = 59,786
RPO L34 = 17,358
RPO L78 = 9,486
================
Total = 86,630
RPO Z25 = 86,307
================
323 396 engines sold not accounted for via RPO Z25

Many have postulated the 323 'missing' 396 engines were due to the 323 COPO Chevelles that were not SS 396 Chevelles. But, those COPO Chevelles were shipped with the L78 engines according to build sheets so they would most likely be included in the 9,498 L78 engines reported by Tonawanda.

There is another discrepancy in the L78 engine and L89 aluminum head option numbers vs. production numbers. According to Tonawanda numbers 8,876 L78 engines were built and 412 L89 aluminum head options were built. When the L89 option was included the suffix code on the L78 engine changed. The L78 engine totals below indicate only the iron head suffix codes yet documentation from GM indicates 9,486 L78 options were sold - a difference of 610 "missing" engines. Either the Tonawanda engine production totals are wrong or the GM reported L78 sales is wrong. I tend to believe, but cannot prove, the GM reported L78 sales figure is a typographical error and would be 8,486. Subtracting this 8,486 from the Tonawanda reported 8,876 production would leave 390 service engines which is in line with other engines. For now, I suppose we'll never know for sure.

The 1969 model year was also unique in that Yenko Chevrolet worked some GM back-door deals via the Fleet & Special Order department to obtain via Central Office Production Order (COPO) means to get 427 cid engines installed in various Camaros and Chevelles. For that reason RPO L72, the 427/425 from the passenger car line, are included here as well.

These new 402-cid engines can be identified in 1969 by the three letter suffix code. Anyone with good, readable, engine pads with a 3-letter suffix please send it to me for inclusion on this page.

To date, the latest known 1969 396 Chevelle with a 3969854 block casting is assembly date stamped T0703JA and was cast June 30, 1969.

1969 396 V8 Engine Production

RPO	hp	Transmission	Suffix	Production	Notes
L35	325	Manual	JA	32,999	396-cid
L35	325	Manual	CJA	01,528	402-cid
L35/M40	325	TH-400	JK	24,771	396-cid
L35/M40	325	TH-400	CJK	01,386	402-cid
				60,684	Total L35 Engines
				59,786	Total L35 Cars
98.5% of total L35 engine production went into Chevelles in 1969.				00,898	Service Engines

L34	350	Manual	JC	12,454	396-cid
L34	350	Manual	CJC	00,370	402-cid
L34/M40	350	TH-400	JE	05,034	396-cid
L34/M40	350	TH-400	CJE	00,079	402-cid
				17,937	Total L34 Engines
				17,358	Total L34 Cars
96.8% of total L34 engine production went into Chevelles in 1969.				00,579	Service Engines

L78	375	Manual	JD	7,356	396-cid
L78	375	Manual	CJD	0,033	402-cid
L78/M40	375	TH-400	KF	1,471	396-cid
L78/M40	375	TH-400	CKF	0,016	402-cid
				8,876	Total L78 Engines
				9,486	Total L78 Cars
See L78/L89 notes above				-610	More cars than engines

L89	375	Manual	KG	333	396-cid
L89	375	Manual	CKG	012	402-cid
L89/M40	375	TH-400	KH	066	396-cid
L89/M40	375	TH-400	CKH	001	402-cid
				412	Total L89 Engines
				400	Total L89 Cars
97.1% of total L89 engine production went into Chevelles in 1969.				012	Service Engines

L72	425	Manual	MQ	277	427 cid COPO
L72/M40	425	TH-400	MP	096	427 cid COPO
				373	Total COPO 427 Engines
				323	Total COPO 427 Cars
86.6% of total L72 engine production went into Chevelles in 1969.				050	Service Engines

Alternate VIN Locations

Explanation of the 3-letter suffix codes for the 'new' 402-cid engines. Interesting to note that none of the engine codes shown with RPO MA6 (heavy duty clutch) are included in the Tonawanda engine report.

Engine ID Stampings

11/26/2012
T0927HQ - Tonawanda, September 27 350/255hp w/manual transmission.
Suspect this is for a Canadian Pontiac (GM division 7).

© ChevelleWorld
Partial VIN stamping for T1104JK engine above. Note the difficulty often found in reading in this area (344635).

© ChevelleWorld
T0624JK - Tonawanda, June 24 396/325hp w/TH400 transmission.
The leading '0' could be correct as at least one other 1969 Baltimore Chevelle has been found to have this leading '0' as well as one Fremont Chevelle.

Atlanta, Georgia

Baltimore, Maryland

© ChevelleWorld
T0419HC ~ 19B383315. Note on a small block the Tonawanda engine stamp is on the right side of the engine pad while the VIN derivative is on the left.

Framingham, Massachusetts

Fremont, California

Kansas City, Missouri

© ChevelleWorld
Courtesy Dean Call
Ongoing research indicates that the Atlanta & Kansas City plants used this alternate location for 396 engines. Note this particular example was stamped several times.