block identification tagged posts

Block Identification

October 23, 2009 Engine

 

 

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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