VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc Searchin… for them dang Engine SN & Casting codes?

Ok, I give up! I’ve been looking since sun up for the engine serial number codes and casting number codes. I know they are somewhere in the pile but taint havin’ any luck finding them and even less in my over crowded Favorites folder.
Any body got a link handy??
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

casting numbers, Haywood

Inliners block casting Numbers

Great Mack, just what I needed, this time I saved the links and printed the charts out and put them in a place where I won’t loose them.
This is a 3836233 block which, if I can rely on the charts, is a 1955 2nd series power glide block and it has the xxxx848 head on it.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/114722673/large
Here is the reason I was scratching my head over what year the engine was.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/114722206/original Now how in the world could anyone figure out what all that means and why in the world would anyone do that to a block.
Thanks for the help Mack.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, That mess isn't a surprise. Here in Texas back before we had VINs our cars and trucks were titled by the engine number which is what is stamped into the block on the place where you showed in the picture, That was a mess because if you put a used, rebuilt engine in your vehicle the engine number was supposed to be stamped in the slot, that was ok if you bought a NEW replacement block from Chevrolet, the mechanic at the Chevrolet shop would stamp the old engine number onto the new block. It was an art to "remove" the engine number off of a used block and stamp the car's original engine number in place. I suspect that your block has been in several cars and had the car title's engine number stamped over the privious number. It was a crime in Texas to grind off an old number and stamp in the new number, but it could be done if you knew the right artistic mechanic! I guess your block was stamped by a not-so-artistic mechanic a couple of times! There was also a problem when you bought a NEW short block and put it into your car and left the engine number slot BLANK, like my 53.

That is a good reason to ID a block's year of Manf. by the factory casting numbers.

Thanks Mack, that's sort of what I suspected since I had heard before that some states titled by the engine number. I didn't know the particulars because here in Illinois they would have jailed you for changing an engine number because of the chop shop practices of changing numbers. If I ever get around to using this block I think I may just throw it up in the mill and clean it up then re-stamp it correctly or as close to correct as I can guess.
I was looking at a couple of 235’s the other day that had very clear one shot numbers stamped on them. It was obvious that they were the original factory numbers. One of them was stamped F607H which does not break down in any of my references but my guess would be that it’s a 1960 made at Flint in July and I have no idea what the H suffix would be for.
The second one was stamped 035047956Z and my interpretation would be a 7 digit serial number made in 1956 and was a standard 235, I see no prefix for the plant that it was made at.
So the only conclusion I can draw is that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to engine serial numbers. So going by the block casting number I can really narrow down my block to a 1955 2nd series 235 Powerglide and chances are it was made at Flint. Of course the serial number would be up for grabs but I think something like (XXXXXXX F255Z) would have been correct for this engine.
Thanks for the help.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL