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engine stats

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Cougrrcj 
#1 ·
Hey, all ,,,,I was wondering if someone could guide me to the location of my numbers for my 351 cleveland I would like to find out the year, what it came out of and I just don't know where to look for numbers..... same thing for the rear end I found some numbers on the top close to the u joint sid, I think it had a couple of letters in it ....Any one can help it would be appreciated. One more thing if I do find them can you tell me where to find the stats.....
 
#3 ·
Clevelands by the numbers

The engine serial number is located on a milled pad on the rear of the block, just below the driver's side head. It will have the year, assembly plant, and then the sequential number. AlphaCat's reads 3F529520. (1973, Dearborn, ser # 529520. That number is not real pretty, meaning it isn't straight. I think they were lucky to get a number on the pad! You really don't know what kind of car the engine was put in, just that it was built in Dearborn (Detroit) and since the first digit of the serial is 5 or greater, you know it was a Mercury. A 'regular' Ford would be 1 thru 4.

The date stamp is on the front face of the block, just outside of the timing cover plate on the passenger side. It will have the year digit, the month letter, then the date, and lastly the shift. Mine reads 2L29C = 1972, November 29th, third shift. (the letter 'I' is not used in Ford date codings.)

The block will have a casting number and date code on the right side of the block, just above the starter. Mine reads D2AE-CA and the date code is 2L25 (1972, November 25)

If you put the date code of the block together with the assembly date, you'll see that the engine was assembled just four days after the block was cast! That's pretty typical.
 
#4 · (Edited)
this is what I found......?an unknown first number which I fell to be the most important of all and then this....F555460.... It seems that with the specs I have gotten out of cougars unlimited the 351 fell short after 1970/....I sure wish I could read that first number///////this number came off the front near the timing cover.....3c22c I think all this means is that I have a 73 cleveland with 8 : 1 compression and only a measly 168 horses@4000rpm......Sound right to you guys.,,,,,maybe I'm wrong but with my luck I'm right on the money........ thanks
Lance
 
#6 ·
It sounds as though you have a late production 73. Remember what I said about the assembly date code? With your assembly code of 3C22C, yours was assembled 1973, March 22nd, third shift. From your serial number on the back of the block, (?)F555460, we can determine that the car this engine came out of was built at the Dearborn assembly plant (that's the 'F'), and it came from a Mercury something-or-other since the first digit of the sequntial is a five or greater. Now, as to what it really came out of, you have to research what kind of cars were made in Dearborn back in that era. You know its a Mercury, and my guess would be a 73 Cougar since that's what I know to be built there.

Yes, it is 'just' a 168hp 351C if it is a 2-barrel, but 245hp if it is a 4-barrel. Starting with the 72 model year, the horsepower ratings switched to NET horsepower instead of GROSS horsepower. Gross horsepower is what the engine itself is capable of producing. The net rating is what it put to the ground in that particular chassis with all of the parasitic horsepower robbers like power steering, a/c, automatic transmission loss, alternator drag, water pump drag, cooling fan drag, etc.

Does this help you?
 
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