I have been doing a bit of work on an old Rat Rod for a friend of mine. Supposedly the engine is a 350 cubic inch V8. I wanted to verify that for myself just to be sure.

There are a couple different numbers either cast into, or stamped into the engine block. The casting number is found on the drivers side of the block at the back of the engine. In my experience, this number will give you an idea of what you might have, but it isn’t as specific as the second numbers. The numbers we’re really concerned with are at the front of the block, on the passenger side. There is a little tab cast into the block that has some numbers stamped into it. These are not cast into the block, but applied individually to each engine. You might need to get in there with some degreaser to uncover the numbers but once you find them you can begin the research to determine some details of your engine.

To decode the numbers, you will need to search a few websites to learn what the numbers mean. Basically, there will be a letter that tells you where the engine was made. Then its a 2 digit month and day, followed by a series of letters. These letters will tell you the year and vehicle the engine was originally placed in. I usually check several different websites to make sure the results are similar, as I haven’t found an official resource from GM. I’m sure there’s something out there, so I anyone knows where to find this, please let me know.

Knowing what engine you’re working on can be very useful if you need some specific parts for it, or just to let you know what you have. Check out the video below and I’ll show you exactly where to find these numbers. Thanks for stopping by.

Here’s the site I used in the video (not affiliated) – https://www.gregwapling.com/hotrod/monaro-shrine/chev-small-block-v8-engines.html

Be sure to search this on a couple different websites and verify the results.

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