I am in the process of fixing some minor problems on my engine, so I have it out of the car and has taken off the oil pan. I found the engine very clean inside, and it appears to have been rebored and the crank seems to have been reground. I found som text written on the crank: RR R10 M10
I guess R10 means rod bearings are reground .010" and M10 must mean that the mains are reground .010", but what can RR mean? Is it the engine rebuilders signature? Could it be an abbreviation for something?
I'm trying to think of what it can mean, but since english isn't my first language, I'm turning to this forum hoping that somebody can help me guess.
I noticed that it's drilled for 4-bolt mains which should make it a RAM AIR 3 block.
I'm fairly new to Pontiacs, so I could be wrong, but I think the same blocks were used for R/A and non R/A engines, at least in 1970, where this block originates from. Different bearing caps (2- or 4-bolt) were obviously used.
You might be right, most 400 blocks are drill only for 2 bolt mains, the RAM IV used 4-bolt caps and most RAM AIR III I've seen used 2-bolt caps with the block being drill for 4-bolts. I don't have a lot of experience with the 70 blocks. Your enigine should have 13 heads on it from the GTO. Either way it's a great block to have. And you can buy 4-bolt caps for it.
Restoring a 1968 400 4spd, numbers matching Firebird Coupe, Verdoro Green. Larry My old 68. Wish I had her back.