block identification tagged posts
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Block Identification
October 23, 2009
Engine
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Pontiac blocks are easy to identify if you know what to look for. It is simple, for example, to visually categorize all 1959-and-later blocks into 389/400 or non-389/400. All displacements other than 389/400 possess a "transfer lug" (found at the rear of the block shaped like a "mountian" or "pyramid"). There are only two exceptions: the 1961-62 421 SD (the same blank casting as the 389) and the 1973 SD-455. All V8 blocks cast prior to 1959 (287, 316, 347, and 370) were "standard" displacement and did not have a transfer lug. In addition, these 1955-58 blocks did not use side-mounted motor mounts as did all blocks from 1959 forward. All blocks through model year 1963 have a production number cast into the passenger side of the block. The
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