My 400 is at my machinest. It has been completly rebuilt and an aggressive and expensive build at that. I was reading on bubbas mblock site and saw that blocks cast before march 2, 1977 at michigan are prone to water jacket cracking. I got my 400 out of a 1978 LTD car. I did check the casting code before we rebuilt it, which was a D7TE-A2B with the reinforced main webs, but i did not check the date on the block. If it came out of a '78, about when would it have been cast? And if by chance it was cast before March 2, 1977, should i be worried? My block has the michigan casting ID on it, so I know it was cast in michigan.

 

The date code I'm told is at the top, back of the block. But I've not been told how to read the code.

 

The fact that it came from a '78 LTD doesn't mean much because the D7TE block you have is a truck block and isn't original to the car. That means someone swapped the engine from a truck into the LTD at some point. The LTDs would have had a D3AE block (I believe) up until '78 when they received a D8AE block.

Knowing this, the block could have been cast anywhere from 1977 to 1980ish. I do not know how early in 1977 the first D7TE blocks were cast. The only way you can answer your question is to look at the cast date. We can't tell you what the date is, but we can tell you whether or not it is possible and I believe it is possible, albeit the window of time being somewhat narrow.

 

If you have the main webs reinforced block that means you have a good block, i am currently runnning a bad-good block jeje, i mean a 73 michigan block that hasnt cracked, ive been looking around and found clevelands and dearborn blocks cracked in the valley area, and the valley area looks identical to mine (almost plain) which could mean that not only old michigan blocks crack.... check your valley area , if walls are almost plain with some wheights into it its a bad block, if you see the walls have some vertical ridges then its the good reinforced block.... this si just empirical stuff ive found out by researching myself and while looking aropund for a new block, so it is just my theory....

 

I can decode the casting date...and there were two sort of...1978 LTD's.

One replaced the Torino in 1977...it's the LTD II...the headlights are square and stacked. The other is just the LTD, side by side round headlights.

That LTD/LTD II crap caused a ton of headaches back then, because the II part was very small, so most ppl overlooked it.

400 casting numbers used 1971/79: D1AE-A & A2C / D1AE-C / D4AE-B2A / D7TE-A2B.

There's no D3AE or D8AE numbers listed.

As stated above, the D7TE block is from a F100/350 or Bronco.

The 1970/72 351C's and 1971/72 400's had a severe case of sand casting holes in the valley area.

Ford send out a "campaign" letter to dealers, telling them to check this area if customers complained about water in the oil.

And...to repair the problem, Ford said to use a metallic plastic sealer...I kid you not!

C6AZ-19554-A .. Metallic Plastic Sealer Kit / Contained one can of metallic resin, one jar of a hardening agent.

 

wow LOL jajajaj i was planing to use metallic plastic sealer as i did succesfully one one of my heads if i ever got the block cracked...

 

Engine build date code are punch behind front cover plate on the block on passenger side. I have a book that engine build code 1K25-oct. 25 1979-stamped on front face of 351c block indicates engine was assembled five days after block was cast. On the block casting date i can see 1K20.

 

1K25 = October (K) 25, 1971 (1)

No 351C engines after 1974.

Decode source: 1965/72 Ford Passenger Car Parts Catalog.

A 1979 October 25th casting date would be: 9K25

 

Thanks for the correction. What is the casting code for the FMX block? Wasn't it only offered in 1973?

 

thats what ive been asking, and as i understand only michigan blocks were cast on 73 with the small block bellhousing making those blocks prone to cracking, i could be wrong though....

 

1973/79 Ford passenger car parts catalog sez...

400: 1973 A (Galaxie/LTD): D3AZ-6010-B .. Block Assy / Use with PHB-AD trans only, block has 351 cid bolt hole pattern for attaching trans.

PHD-AD = FMX trans only used in 1973 on full sized Fords.

I have no casting number info for this one year only block.

 

My FMX block is a D1AE-A2C cast on 9 Mar 73. I know of 10 blocks and of the ones that I've seen casting codes, those were 73 cast, earliest one was Feb 73.....all 10 are D1AE-A2C blocks. Of the ones that were pulled from vehicles, most were out of Rancheros and one was out of a Torino wagon, the rest were FOG.

 

My MCC block is just fine. Like any 30+ year old block, you need to inspect it before you build it. I wouldn't let internet chatter stop me from building a block that inspects good. Mag it and sonic check it. You should be cleaning up the valley for oil drain back and you should take a couple of hours and deburr any block to remove casting flash and to reduce the chances of stress cracks forming.

 

Did you notice that FMX transmission code of PHB-AD?

That FMX trans code was only used in some 1973 "A" cars (Galaxie/LTD's) with the 400's D3AZ-6010-A (< that's the part number, not the casting number) engine block, which was only used with that trans. It's a one year only combo.

It prolly was only used for fleet sales (Taxi-Cabs, Police Cruisers, etc).

All the other FMX's, C6's used (1971/74): D1AZ-6010-A engine block.

Info source: 1973/79 Ford Passenger Car Parts Catalog.

 

My block was found on the ground (FOG) and may have likely came out of one of the Rancheros or Torinos that were in the same yard....not sure and hard to find out now as that blcok was pulled from the yard in 2002. The blocks that I know of that came out of Rancheros were pulled before anyone ever thought to check door tags. So, I have no idea what the tranny code was. I've never seen a FMX pulled from a full-size car. I'm not saying Ford didn't build them. I know of one block that came out of the back of a Ranchero but not sure if that was the original block or just thrown in the back by someone.