Thread: Help ID my early small block!

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I have a 51 ford that someone put in a chevy small block in back in the 60's. Supposidly it's a vette 283 (circa '57). It's got the staggered bolt aluminum corvette valve covers. Original chevy orange paint, never been apart as far as I can tell, definatly never machined. I am getting to the point where I'm going to either rebuild or replace the motor, and I want to know if it's anything worth saving, or selling. Can someone tell me where I can decode the casting numbers and stampings? I searced but I can't find any sites that have my motor's numbers. The staming on the front of the block starts with "TI..." Can someone tell me where I can find info for this? I don't think I can get to the casting numbers on the block to read them. Thanks!

rightttttttt here ~~> http://www.nastyz28.com/sbchevy/sblock.html ...joe

Here's another site just to double check.......
http://www.73-87.com/chevy_ids/scmenu2.htm

Niether of those sites have my engine listed. There is no way to see the casting number on the back of the block with it in the car. I can only see the stamping on front of the left head, which starts with "TI" and I don't see that prefix listed on any sites. Also what do the digets that follow mean?

Staggered vc bolts means '55-58. Look at the sides of the block. If there aren't any bosses for the side engine mounts then the block would be '55-57. It may or may not be a 283 at that point. It could be a 265. It's going to take some number searching to find the rest. Let you know if something turns up. Here is a listing of cylinder head casting numbers, you can get that by taking off the valve cover. http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/randysr...Headguide.html

You should make the effort to get the casting number on the block, that will be your best bet. An early block and heads can have some value to the die hard collectors, but you need to verify application. If this is important to you you need to figure a way to get that block casting number.

The T usually stands for the Tonawanda production plant. The numbers and letters that follow tell when it was manufactured. Make sure to look carefully so that you distinguish between the letter I and the number 1.

Thanks, I'm about 99% sure it's an "I" not a "1", You can still read them clear as day. The back of the motor is very close to the firewall, so I can't tell those numbers right now. It dosn't matter what motor it is until I pull it anyway, because that is when I'll decide what to do with it. I know it may have some value, especially if it's the vette motor it's supposed to be. It's got adapters for the motor mounts to the stock frame mounts, they go straight into the sides of the block close to the front. Looks like a fuel pump block off on the passanger side, got an electric pump on the frame. I doubt the engine's ever been apart, will the numbers on the intake tell me anything?

check this site out http://www.novaresource.org/codes.htm
This will show you what each letter and number means , for instance the first letter is for the engine assaembly plant t = tonawanda,n y

I was pretty sure there are staggered bolt 283's. I'll see if I can find the numbers under the #2 plug tonight.

I know it has the firing order on front of the intake, but there is also a casting number at the rear of it, that is what I was reffering to.

Most of these linked sites don't go back to the 50's.

I got the complete number off the front of the block, it's TI 223 D

Just came out of the garage. I was going to get those head numbers but it's way too cold out there right now. I got the intake numbers if they help. On front it has the firing order, on back it has "GM N01" and what looks like "3746829"

I know these are just the intake numbers, but probably original, maybe it will help.

Maybe I'll get those head numbers later today.

3746829 283 57-61 Cast Iron, 4-bbl
3746829 283 58-61 230HP, Corvette, Cast Iron

Not to take away from anyone's fun, but to help you learn.........
I got this info by typing your casting number only into the Google search bar. This was the first hit.

If your manifold is original to the heads then it's a '57 or 8. And to fine tune that, go back to my motor mount boss comment.

Thanks for the tip. Good to hear we havn't proven it isn't a vette motor yet.

Anyplace else I can look for numbers? Couldn't find any on the heads, but I was looking around with a mirror below the spark plugs.

I tried looking across the back of the block, near the bellhousing, I can barely see back there, but I didn't see any numbers cast there either, I guess I'm not looking in the right spots.

the head numbers are under the valve covers. i'm assuming that's where you checked. i hope that's where you were looking..........

I havn't pulled the valve covers yet. I was just looking to see if there were any more stampings on the outside.

I figured at least there'd be a casting at the top of the bellhousing, but I didn't see any.

Now I'm getting somewhere! Um, I think, anyway.

I got the number off the back of the block. Does 3756519 mean anything to you? I did a quick yahoo search and came up with 58-61 283. Another site said 59-61, and another yet said 59-62.

Any other things I can look at to determine this motor's original aplications? Thanks!

Nick,
Looks like a consistent pattern here. The most frequent repeatability you're having, considering the valve cover bolt layout you described earlier, is that it's a '58. Some of your comments indicate you're trying to verify if it's a Vette engine. Only problem with that is that the base engines for the Vette were also optioned in the regular passenger cars, so.......