VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans 235/261 casting codes

I am confused (a common condition for me) about the locations of various engine casting codes and how to decode them.

Here is a set of photos of a 1960 261 engine that I got out of a school bus in 1972. I have tried to label and decode the block and head codes. However, I am not certain about the location-of and decoding-of the head date casting code.

Also, were the locations of the various codes different in the different "generations" and sizes of 216/235/261 engines (heads & blocks)?

block casting code
block date code
head casting code
head date code
engine serial number (engine ID)

Thanks, Tim

Tim, It looks to me like you have figured out the info on your engine. The block codes are in various places on the fuel pump side of the engines. The casting number on my 261 which I belive to be 54-57 is located in front of the fuel pump down low near the oil pan.

Thanks, Cleon.

The main questions are:

1. Where is the head date code located (I think under the valve cover as in Photos 5 & 7)?

2. What are the codes in Photo 4? Another person has strongly argued that this is the head date code (B 61). It is odd, however, that all his heads start with a "B" (as do mine). February must have been an active month in many years.

Thanks,
Tim

Tim,
This is how I decifer the casting numbers that really mean anything.
block 3969717-casting number for 1959-62 261 blocks
II = 261 engine (captins bars)
F 09030LB
F=engine made in Flint
09=the month
30 a date
L code for 261 engine.
B is some engine related option such as a hydrovac.
Head 3836850- is the casting number for a 261 head.
3836848 is the casting number for a 235 head. For some reason the 848 and 850 numbers appear on those heads.
L=Dec
17 the day
9=year cast.........Dec 17,1959.

Thanks, Gene & Cleon,

You confirm what I had thought. The "B 61" code below, between spark plugs 2 & 3, is what someone (and "anybody he talked to so far") had told me was the head date code (even after I tried to show them the correct code).

Tim