mystery motor
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Joined: Aug 2007
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From: north east alabama
mystery motor
Hey guys I'm new around here and hoping for some help. I have inherited a 1971 f-100 that I have bigs plans of restoring/customizing. My first question is about my engine. The truck originally came with a 302, but now has a 351windsor. Is their a casting # or anything on the engine to tell me what year it is and if so where is it located? Thanks in advance for the help. Jason
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 3,613
Likes: 6
From: Coal country
Jason, welcome to FTE! This is a great truck stop on the information highway, and you will not find any better.
I suggest you also post your questions in the engine fourm, as they can probably best give you the details to help you out.
There are engine forums for all the Ford engine families.
(By the way, "big block" is not a Ford term, it is a GM one. Ford uses the term "family" to separate the various types of engines out from each other. Even though they have become colloquial usage, the terms "big block" and "small block" are misleading.)
Here is the link to the Windsor forum:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum55/
And, here is a link to a Windsor forum question just like yours:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...fferences.html
Good luck, and have fun here!
I suggest you also post your questions in the engine fourm, as they can probably best give you the details to help you out.
There are engine forums for all the Ford engine families.
(By the way, "big block" is not a Ford term, it is a GM one. Ford uses the term "family" to separate the various types of engines out from each other. Even though they have become colloquial usage, the terms "big block" and "small block" are misleading.)
Here is the link to the Windsor forum:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum55/
And, here is a link to a Windsor forum question just like yours:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...fferences.html
Good luck, and have fun here!
Last edited by banjopicker66; Aug 12, 2007 at 07:23 AM.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 12,170
Likes: 5
From: The hills of No. Calif.
Hi Jason, and welcome to the site!
As it happens, I'm moderator of the Windsor forum as well as this one so I'll be happy to answer your question right here.
First of all, the casting number is located on the block just above the starter. It's frequently neccessary to remove the starter in order to see the number clearly. It'll be a number something like XXXE-6015-XX The digits in place of the first two Xs I used would be the decade and the year of the original block casting design, the first digit will be a letter. C is for the decade of the '60s, D for the '70s, E for the '80s etc. I would guess it'll be either a C or a D.
The next digit is the year within that decade. '68 was the first year of production of the 351W so a casting number beginning with C8 would be a '68. The letter in the third position of the casting number denotes the car line that the casting was originally desigened for (but this doesn't mean that your engine actually came in that particular car) and the last digit, letter E, is for the Engine department of Ford engineering. The next group, 6015, denotes that the casting is an engine block and the last digit(s) denote the change level of that particular block design.
There will also be a date code, a smaller 3 or 4 digit code that tells you the actual date the block was cast. It might be something like 9D14 which would break down like this: 9 would be the year (you would already know the decade from the casting number) D, being the forth letter of the alphabet would be April, the forth month (the letter I was not used so H is August while J is Sept.) and the last digit(s) are the actual day, the 14th in the above example.
Here's a link to decoding casting and part numbers if I haven't explained it well enough:
http://www.classicmustang.com/decoding_part_numbers.htm
As it happens, I'm moderator of the Windsor forum as well as this one so I'll be happy to answer your question right here.
First of all, the casting number is located on the block just above the starter. It's frequently neccessary to remove the starter in order to see the number clearly. It'll be a number something like XXXE-6015-XX The digits in place of the first two Xs I used would be the decade and the year of the original block casting design, the first digit will be a letter. C is for the decade of the '60s, D for the '70s, E for the '80s etc. I would guess it'll be either a C or a D.
The next digit is the year within that decade. '68 was the first year of production of the 351W so a casting number beginning with C8 would be a '68. The letter in the third position of the casting number denotes the car line that the casting was originally desigened for (but this doesn't mean that your engine actually came in that particular car) and the last digit, letter E, is for the Engine department of Ford engineering. The next group, 6015, denotes that the casting is an engine block and the last digit(s) denote the change level of that particular block design.
There will also be a date code, a smaller 3 or 4 digit code that tells you the actual date the block was cast. It might be something like 9D14 which would break down like this: 9 would be the year (you would already know the decade from the casting number) D, being the forth letter of the alphabet would be April, the forth month (the letter I was not used so H is August while J is Sept.) and the last digit(s) are the actual day, the 14th in the above example.
Here's a link to decoding casting and part numbers if I haven't explained it well enough:
http://www.classicmustang.com/decoding_part_numbers.htm
