A co-worker of mine has a question about his 71 442. He is tying to track down exactly where his engine might have come from.

"I bought a 1971 442 with a reddish orange engine but have no idea where the engine came from. From my knowledge, the 71 442 came with a blue 455. I have also read that the 68 and 69 hursts olds came with a reddish orange 455. Any info would be helpful."

Any ideas?

 

Get the block casting #. It is located across the top of the block behing the water pump.

Larry

 

All that will do it tell him if it's a 455 or not. He can check the machined pad on the block just below #1 spark plug and find out what year the block is and what plant it came out of, but beyond that finding out what kind of car it came out of is next to impossible.

 

if you are referring to the pad that contains the last 6 or 7 digits of the vin, it is blank.

 

What engine came with the 68 - 69 442?

 

a bronze 400..and the casting above the water pump would be 396026.

 

Paint color can be changed, so it's not a particularly useful indicator. Get ALL the casting numbers - block, heads, etc. If the engine has a VIN derivative, that will tell you the year of the block. The casting numbers will let us tell if it's even a 455 or something else. It's not unusual for musclecar engines to have been replaced over the last 40 years.

 

Paint doesn't mean much unless it's never been repainted.

The Olds Wiki says,
"400's were bronze in color, most 425's and early 455's (1968, 1969) were red, while Toronado 425's and later 455's were blue. However, since engine color may have been changed, use this as supporting evidence only".

The Oldsmobile Wiki has the colors and block codes and stuff, double check back to verify findings if you use it because some things have known to be a little off in there.

http://www.oldsmobilewiki.com/index....ategory:Blocks

 

"G" enigine 400 cid

 

A blank pad usually indicates a warranty block that the mechanic that worked on the car never stamped like he was supposed to.

What heads are on it?