Serial number on 351W?

Skymarshal · Aug 16, 2005

Where is the VIN/serial number stamped on the 351W engine block? I'm curious if I have a "numbers matching" car.

zm830101 · Aug 16, 2005

same as other ford small blocks. it is located just off of the oil pan rail right behind the starter. removing the starter is prolly the only good way to see it clearly. :damnit:

rbohm · Aug 17, 2005

actually there is no serial/vin number on any ford small block, or any ford engine that i know of for that matter. you will find engineering numbers, casting numbers and part numbers as well as a date code, but that is as close as you get.

jbuening · Aug 17, 2005

Depending on which plant it came from and how lazy the VIN guy on the assembly line was, you may have a VIN stamped on the back top of the block. There is a flat spot on the back top of the block that often had the VIN stamped on it. The stamping wasn't normally very deep so it may be hard to see, if it is even there.
A pic of the stamping:

RFMustangGT · Aug 17, 2005

yeah ford didn't start number matching till late 70s I think. I was told that as long as your motor and parts were no mor ethan one month built pior to your cars build date that it was "correct" sorda makes fords easier to make correct. so if your block takes acrap on ya you can find one pretty close to the date and it could still be deemed as all orginal. just make sure it no more than one month prior. plus another thing, never trust a ford casting number. I've seen 427 blocks that have the 352 mark inside. you just have to know what to look for on ford stuff.

RFMustangGT · Aug 17, 2005

oh yeah, the only thing number match is stuff like body parts. forgot to put that in.

jbuening · Aug 17, 2005

RFMustangGT said:
yeah ford didn't start number matching till late 70s I think. I was told that as long as your motor and parts were no mor ethan one month built pior to your cars build date that it was "correct" sorda makes fords easier to make correct. so if your block takes acrap on ya you can find one pretty close to the date and it could still be deemed as all orginal. just make sure it no more than one month prior. plus another thing, never trust a ford casting number. I've seen 427 blocks that have the 352 mark inside. you just have to know what to look for on ford stuff.

My VIN number is stamped on my 70 mach. Not sure when they started stamping the VINs on the block but it had to be as early as 70. I won't even start on the FE blocks and their castings. Bore and stroke for the most part is the only way to tell what FE you have.

RFMustangGT · Aug 18, 2005

jbuening said:
My VIN number is stamped on my 70 mach.

got a picture of this? i've never heard of a 70 mustang having it's motor with a VIN number that matched the car. or ar eyou talking about the VIN stamped through out the car?

94CobraPace · Aug 18, 2005

The 69 Mach I I'm working on has the VIN number stamped on the rear of the block also. I also found the VIN number stamped on the FMX tranny case.
I'll have to look for the pics & scan them. I'll try & post pics tomorrow.

94CobraPace · Aug 18, 2005

OK, here is pics of the motor & tranny VIN on a '69 Mach I I'm restoring. The car is a 2 owner car, current owner has owned since '72. The car is all stock with 129k miles. She bought the car for $2200. Don't we all wish we would have done something like this? Here you go:

The tranny number is on the lower right just in front of the vacuum modulator.
Both numbers match the VIN of the car. If you save the pic & enlarge it you can read the numbers. Also notice that the 3 number on the motor is a "1" & it is upside down, hard to see, but it is there upside down.
Ford did start putting VIN numbers on cars at least in '69.

RFMustangGT · Aug 18, 2005

thanks for posting that. I've learned something new today! thats really cool.

mr-fixit · Aug 29, 2005

Guys,
I checked my '69 351W block, I pulled this engine out of a '69 Shelby back in the early eighties, and it had these numbers:

9F1 81907
the numbers 81907 are on a diagonal angle, kind of like going up steps.
Can anyone decipher this?
Thanks, Rick

Stangnutguy · Sep 13, 2010

mr-fixit said:
Guys,
I checked my '69 351W block, I pulled this engine out of a '69 Shelby back in the early eighties, and it had these numbers:

9F1 81907
the numbers 81907 are on a diagonal angle, kind of like going up steps.
Can anyone decipher this?
Thanks, Rick

I have a 69 also and was possibly known to be out of one also. I have the same thing on the back of my block going up like stepped steel stamped numbers/letters 9R502544 . Im looking into deciphering the meaning, Ill get back to you on anything I find thats good info. Any info from anyone is appreciated!

69gmachine · Sep 17, 2010

The first 3 digits are the date the engine was assembled, 9F1 would be June 1, 1969. The last 5 digits are the consecutive unit number found on the VIN. They skipped the letter I, so September is J, October is K etc.

My best guess for the 9R5 date code is that either it's really a H or a K and it was poorly stamped, is worn or scratched and just looks like an R or they used an alternate letter month relationship. I have heard of them repeating the months for some reason where N would be January and so on, although I don't remember the reason why they might have done that. If that's the case, then R would be April, because they would skip O for the same reason they skipped I, to avoid confusion with the numbers 1 and 0.

Both 9H and 9K would be going into a '70 model car as they switched over to 70 model year production by August (H).

69MC · Dec 6, 2016

94CobraPace said:
OK, here is pics of the motor & tranny VIN on a '69 Mach I I'm restoring. The car is a 2 owner car, current owner has owned since '72. The car is all stock with 129k miles. She bought the car for $2200. Don't we all wish we would have done something like this? Here you go:

The tranny number is on the lower right just in front of the vacuum modulator.
Both numbers match the VIN of the car. If you save the pic & enlarge it you can read the numbers. Also notice that the 3 number on the motor is a "1" & it is upside down, hard to see, but it is there upside down.
Ford did start putting VIN numbers on cars at least in '69.

Can you repost these two pics please?

horse sence · Dec 6, 2016

If you are looking for the vin on your engine block ,it is at the back of the intake on the block on the flat area ,but only on 67s and newer and not all 67 s .The 4 speed has it on the top edge of the mounting flange where it bolts to the bell housing , on an automatic C4 it is on the top, back by the tail housing where it bolts to the main body .

69MC · Dec 6, 2016

horse sence said:
If you are looking for the vin on your engine block ,it is at the back of the intake on the block on the flat area ,but only on 67s and newer and not all 67 s .The 4 speed has it on the top edge of the mounting flange where it bolts to the bell housing , on an automatic C4 it is on the top, back by the tail housing where it bolts to the main body .

Is that on the drivers side? I have a '69 so it should be there, but I'm not sure if I can reach it / see it, when it's still in the car. Thanks for the reply!!

horse sence · Dec 7, 2016

Back of the intake at the top of the block ,it is usually just the last five numbers of the vin .It may be painted over and hard to read ,they are usually stamped very light .

69MC · Dec 7, 2016

I found this number stamped on the driver's side back of the block, but it doesn't make sense. 9R119670. Has anyone seen a serial number with an R code in it? Its a correct 351w for my car, but the numbers don't match my vin. Could it be from another Ford vehicle, which stamps with an R code? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

horse sence · Dec 7, 2016

The R would be San Jose California .Check your vin to see if the remaining numbers match your vin .

Serial number on 351W?

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