Numbers under the timing cover or inside the bell housing area at the rear that show 010 or 020 indicate the alloy of tin and or nickel with the iron. This is not a fact in every case, but a good indicator.Click to expand.Confusion between the indicators for the casting alloy and the casting number. If there are, these are for an oil cooler and there is a good possibility that the engine is a 4-bolt main block. This is a replacement engine from the dealer.Ĥ) Look at the oil filter mounting surface and see if there are two plugs at the top of the mount on the block. A 'C' for a car engine, a 'T' for truck, or a 'CE' which stands for crate engine. Somewhere on the flat there should be 1 to 3 letters by themselves.

This is how to find out if the engine is the original engine that came with the vehicle. The first number, 1 denotes a Chevy, the 8 is for the year, in this case 68, the V is for the vehicle assembly plant where all the parts came together, and the last 6 numbers are the last 6 of the serial number of the vehicle. F for the Flint motor plant, K for the McKinnon plant, M for GM of Mexico, T for the Tonawanda engine plant, S for the Signow service plant, V for the Flint engine plant.ģ) Read the eight numbers close to the first set of numbers and do not end with a suffix.

In some cases this designation will be on the front of the block.Ģ) Look for the first letter of the identification and use this code's description for the plant that the engine was produced. On the flat there will be a BBC for big block Chevy. The F identifies the motor plant or division, the 01 is the month made, 14 is the day and the MB is the motor designation as to size. There will be seven numbers and letters closest to the head. It has a vertical oil filter on the driver's side rear of the engine and the starter on the passenger side.ġ) Read the serial numbers on the passenger-side front of the cylinder head on the flat section of the head. Its huge wide smooth valve covers and a distributor directly in the rear of the engine are a dead giveaway. A big block Chevy engine is not similar to any other engine in appearance. The engines started with the 409ci engine followed by the 396ci, and then the 427ci engines. Hope this helps.īig block Chevy engines have been produced since 1963. That's what I did when I bought my truck. When you find the serial number goggle something like 'identify chevy engine serial number'. I found this on the internet and copied and pasted it.

Gm block numbers