Please help me with information on my car and engine. Attached are some pics of the engine numbers and the VIN of the car.

Thank you

 

I think your car is a 69 442 with a 66 or 67 E block 400 engine.

 

There is a raised C on the block at number 1 cylinder

 

1969 Olds 442 convertible built 5th week of April 1969 at the Linden, New Jersey assembly plant. Burgundy Mist body color with white top. Antique Parchment vinyl bucket seats. Rear power antenna.


The VIN is not contained in any of the photos you posted. The VIN is located on the front edge of the upper part of the driver's side of the dash right at the windshield. You read it by standing outside the car by the front end of the driver's door and looking through the window.

This photo shows the VIN for a '69 Chevelle (couldn't find an Olds image online).

 

C heads were used from 67 to 69 BB engines, except W30 and Hurst Olds

 

This is a VIN from a 69 W31. The only real difference is yours should start out 344679



The cowl tag was installed by Fisher Body Works when they built the body shell and installed the interior/trim etc. The car was then sent to the Assembly line for finishing.

 

So the tag tells you it should of had bucket seats? Mine has the bench....this car must have been retro fit at some point in it's life. I it does specify buckets there should probably be mounting brackets in the car already under the bench seat.

 

The VIN is 344679E165959

Any additional information would be great.

 

Having had you post the VIN, now we can tell you that VIN's of that era didn't tell you much that you couldn't figure out just by looking at the car.

3 = Oldsmobile division
44 = 442
67 = convertible
9 = model year (1969)
E = assembly plant (Linden, NJ)
165959 = production sequence number at the Linden plant


It wasn't until later model years that VIN's contained more information like engine type and so forth.

 

That's what my source says. I'm not saying it's 100% infallible. But it would be interesting to know, if your car now has a bench seat, whether or not there are mounting points for buckets under there.

 

Thanks Jaunty75

When you say mounting points do you mean holes or brackets? At this point it really doesn't matter since I just found out I have a 66 or 67 engine instead of the original. I've read that the 65-67 400's were to be a better engine then the 69? I may start looking for a 455 for in it at some point anyway. Kind of bums me out to find this out and having no way to go back and find the original or what happened to it.

 

Does anyone know where to find one of these temp gauge sensors? This one has the spade, all the one's I am seeing have the clip on circular style.

 

I would assume holes. My guess is that any brackets would have been removed when the seat was changed. Otherwise, they might interfere with it.

If the car was recarpeted at any point after the bench seat was installed, the mounting holes might be under the carpet, and you would have to feel around for them if you didn't want to pull up the carpet to look (or look at the underside of the car).

 

That's interesting because when I do a search on any '66 or '67 Olds Cutlass engine (330 or 400), what turns up is a two-blade switch like the one below.

 

To address this from the evidence point of view.
1. No, the cowl tag does NOT tell you the car had bucket seats. What it does tell you is that it's a 442 convertible. Look at the SPECS for 1969 442s and THAT is what tells you the 69 442 came with Strato Bucket seats as a standard feature.

2. Yes, the seat brackets may still be under the seat unless someone took them out to use with the buckets when they sold or transferred them to another vehicle. The brackets were welded to the floor pan, so you might see some evidence of a patch job if the brackets are missing.

 

Is it not possible the car was ordered with a bench seat instead if the buckets. Would that info only be found on a build sheet or bill of sale?

I'm not a numbers guy so I'm just asking.

Depending on what your looking for performance wise I can probably help out with that 455 search.

 

It could have been. According to the 1969 Dealer Specs book, standard equipment was "Strato Bucket" seats. A bench front seat could have been ordered in place of this for a reduction in price of $68.46.

So the OP's car could very well have come from the factor with a bench seat. However, the cowl tag apparently indicates bucket seats, so perhaps the seats were changed out for one reason or another shortly after the car was purchased or at any other point along the way.

In looking at the car's cowl tag, the U75 code indicates power rear antenna, and this code corresponds to the option code for the power antenna in the dealer specs book. The "TR 947" code indicates parchment color of the seats, and the absence of any other code for the seats leads to the conclusion that they were bucket seats as that was standard equipment. If the bench seat was factory-installed, there would be another code on the cowl tag, A52.

 

Actually, it does. The trim codes are different for bench and bucket seats. The "4" in the second digit of the three digit trim code signifies a bench seat. Usually "7" was used in this position for bucket seats. Note that the trim codes varied from year-to-year, so this isn't absolute.

 

Actually, according to my not-necessarily-perfect decoder, the 4 indicates bucket seats as all the 94X codes are for bucket seats.

940 = black vinyl bucket
942 = green vinyl bucket
943 = blue vinyl bucket
944 = gold vinyl bucket
947 = antique parchment vinyl bucket


By the way, if this car's interior color scheme originally was antique parchment, it should have an antique parchment headliner, black carpet, black dashboard, and black seat belts if they were the standard seat belts or antique parchment seat belts if the buyer opted for the deluxe seat belts. But we would know if the car came with deluxe seat belts as there would be yet another code, A39, on the cowl tag. So this car should have black seat belts.

 

Apparently not for the year I was looking at (which I'll admit was NOT 1969), but as I said it varied from year to year. I don't have a 1969 trim code table handy at the office. On the other hand, this thread would suggest that 97x and 93x were bucket seat trim codes for the 1969 model year. In any event, it is imperative that one use the correct trim codes for the year in question.

 

But, back to the good part:

You have a hella rare '67 real 442 "E" block short stroke 400!
Forged crank!