Can someone decode the block number on my motor. It is C8MEA.
Thanks

 

its a 1968 block

 

Not necessarly a 68 block. Only the date code will tell you that. A C8ME could have been cast in 69 or 70 too. My book list's it as a 428CJ block, but these books have been known to be wrong too.

 

1968 428cj block out of a car. atleast thats what the book says

 

they are junk! you should send it to me and i get you a 390 instead!

 

It's either a 428 block, or a 330HD block, or a 361 / 391 FT block. Casting molds were probably made in 1968 for Mercury applications, but it could have been cast later than that for a variety of uses. Since it shares numbers with FT blocks, it's probably a good strong thick cylinder wall block.

 

I know that this is a very old thread but..... can this be safely bored out to a 428 bore without sonic checking?

 

"This"???? If "this" is a 390 block, no, you should sonic check it.

 

I`m referring to specifically a 360 truck block like a C8ME, I know that the 390 blocks need to be checked. Put a different way are all the 360/390 blocks from cars and light trucks all the same for cylinder wall thickness?

 

360 -390 are one and the same block. Both had the same bore size: 4.05 the difference in displacement was in the stroke. C8ME isn't a truck block. It's the std car casting. Be that as it may, cylinder wall thickness is a "hit or miss" deal when it comes to FE blocks. Some got thicker cylinders, some didn't. Core shift plays a big role in determining wall thickness too, you can have a thick walled block, but if any one (or more) of the cores shifted in casting, that in itself can render it with thin walls when adding in an overbore.