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Hey all. I have an older (supposedly 1970) F100 with a 302. I do not have a title, the door and fender tag is missing. I read where the VIN is stamped into the frame, right (passenger) side front around the motor mount area, sure enough I found it “F10GLH94073” but unable to find much detail searching for it. I pulled the engine from the truck, I found the engine VIN “1A100852” and cannot locate any information with it. Can anyone assist on this. My next move is to clean the front drivers side of the engine up to see if I can locate a casting number.
So F10 is 2wd F100, G is the engine code which in trucks is a 302, L is the plant code so this truck was built at the Michigan truck plant. The rest are its unit number. This one was built Apr of 1970 so it is a m.y. 1970 ( H90,000 through J09,999). The number on the engine appears to just be a casting or serial number. You'll want to look for a number that should be a C0TE-6015-B. C being 1970's 0 being the year in the 70's 0-9 which is 70-79. T is truck and if its different means it came from a car or something else. E is the engine division of Ford. 6015 is the block base number and the final is just a part revision indicator. That one doesnt mean a whole lot unless theres a specific revision thats popular but the engine in this truck will just be your basic 302.
The number stamped on the engine block is the partial vin from the car it was put into originally. 1 = 1971, A = Atlanta assembly plant, 100852 is the consecutive unit number, meaning it was a really early 1971 model of something built in Atlanta, somewhere around August or maybe September of 1970, depending on when they did their model year changeover. It's definitely not the original engine to the truck.
Casting numbers on the block will tell you nothing except for the division responsible for the engineering, full size, intermediate, Mercury or Lincoln, etc. Any of those such marked engine parts will be found in any model car or truck. I would expect a 71 302 block to be cast with an O in the 3rd space. Trucks didn't get their own block. Plus, with this being an Atlanta assembled donor, it's going to be a car engine, anyway. IIRC, full size and intermediates were built there, then.
Thanks for the information everyone. The only other number so far I found on the block is a “544” on the front, right upper side. I cleaned all along the right side of the block and cannot find any numbers or letter/number combination. What I’m wondering about is the difference in the early 302s and later 302s. I’m kind of sure it is an early 302 because of the dip stick in the front not on the left side, and yawl confirmed that by decoding that is was built in Atlanta in 1971. Are gasket sets, and things like manifolds, water pump, etc. etc. the same on all year models?
Last edited by Gumbo154; Feb 14, 2025 at 06:05 PM.
Reason: Adding picture
I'm not familiar with the 544 stamping, I don't believe that's a factory mark. It may be a rebuilder code if the engine was commercially remanufactured at some point.
Casting identifiers on a 60's-70's 302 would be found near the starter on the side of the block. They would be on a web near the starter on 80's and newer engines. There should also be numbers on the heads (under the valve covers), intake and exhaust manifolds. You're looking for something that looks like this.
Also post any engineering numbers off the vibration damper pulley, dizzy (distributor), carb tag, spark plug socket size, etc. Just in case it was rebuilt with later model heads. 1971 should have the big 13/16" not the 5/8" peanut plugs.
I’m kind of sure it is an early 302 because of the dip stick in the front not on the left side, and yawl confirmed that by decoding that is was built in Atlanta in 1971.
The year did not dictate dipstick location back then, A 2wd truck, or passenger car got a "front sump" pan and the dipstick in the front cover. Capacity was generally listed as 5qts.
A 4wd truck got a rear-sump pan, the dipstick was in the side of the pan and was listed at 6qts.
Later pans may have "double-sump" designs that looked more like rear sumps, but still had the 5qt capacity. Also may, or may not have had the dipstick in the pan. Sometimes the driver's side of the pan, but later blocks often (or always after a certain year?) got a slip-fit dipstick into the side of the block's pan-rail area on the driver's side.
Bronco pans (289 and 302) got pan-mounted dipsticks and 6qts all the way back to '66. Of course, the 302 didn't happen until the '68/'69 model years, but the V8 pan still had the dipstick (and leaks!) all the way back to the first year.
The casting date will tell you exactly when it was built.
