Hello again, i recently picked up two 455s, one is a J headed motor, i ran the numbers on the intake it seems to be a 73', the other is a C headed motor and i was told it was a 68'. Im trying to find out exactly when it was manufactured, the year and when in the year, can anyone tell me how to check this? Here is more on the motor:

Block code matches for 455
2-barrel intake/carb
Motor painted red
C heads
TH400 still attatched
H code intake

I believe that is all i have found so far, im interested because i believe it might have a forged crank, obviously i dont know yet since the transmission is still on it, and i know i wont know until i can get a look at the crank itself. Any help would be appreciated

 

There is a number right behind the water pump next to the oil filler, that should help ID it.

 

Would that be the 6-digit block number? Ive run that one, it checks out as a 455 but doesnt give info on time of manufacture unfortunatly

 

Check on www.wildaboutcars.com. If you haven't joined that site, it's free to do so. They have a mountain of info on Olds engines of all years. I might be wrong on this but, as I understand, the Olds engine blocks of that era are dated coded differently that what we usually see. For instance, I found the numbers "304" cast into the 400 block of my '68 4-4-2 in the manner that a date code would normally be cast. At first, I took this to mean a julian date - the 304th day of the year (would have to be 1967) which would be quite early for the early-April 1968 build date of my car. I forget the term they use, but the "304" numbers I found cast into the block are indeed the date code, but the numbers mean March (3) fourth (04). That would mean the block is dated March 4, 1968, which would be more consistent with the car's early-April 1968 build date.

Again, I would go to wildaboutcars to get a better explanation, as well as specific info on the location of this number.

Randy C.

 

The pad at #1 cylinder on the block in the picture will tell the year, second digit is year "8" for 1968 for example. First digit is "3" for Olds. Rest are serial number that matches car.

Julian date next distributor hole.

Forge crank #400943 also "L" shape cutout at the end. Left crank in picture.

It's midnight hopefully I got most correct.

 

Thank you both very much, i used that info and here is what i got for the three 455s i have now

1st: Ga headed motor, 72' block, #6 code block, 334 date
2nd: J headed motor, 76' block, #9 code block, 142 date
3rd: C headed motor, 68' block, #2 code block, 60 date

Im excited about the C-head motor as i believe it very likely contains a forged 455 crank. Its an early build 68' motor with a 2-barrel, was told it came out of a Delmont police car, still has the long-tail TH400 attatched and everything is together. i'll be disecting it soon to find out for sure but for now i can only hope i stumbled upon a rare find :-) thanks again for the info guys!

 

Btw, wheres the "L" shape? Im sorry im just not sure where i should be looking

 

look in the third pic, of the crank flanges, the one on the left has a L shaped cut on the flange at about 5 oclock, pull off the trans and look at crank flange

 

Ah okay i see, the forged crank has the check mark looking cut and the cast crank has the rectangular looking cut yes?

A little more info, i just compared the two other cranks i have, turns out the 76' crank is setup for a manual transmission, so thats a plus. Now if this last one turns out to be forged i'll have quite an assortment to choose from haha. Started pulling stuff off the 68' this morning, got the passenger side head off, small valve C-heads as expected, and low compression pistons. I tried to get the tranny off but no luck, the motor is resting precariously on a tire and id feel a lot more comfortable yanking on it with a 2nd pair of hands there to save the day if something goes wrong. I'll keep you posted

 

I bet it is forged. Mine was in a low comp, small valve headed engine. Chances are good anyway.

 

As 67Olds442X2 says, the easiest way to get the year of a 455 is by the VIN derivative that is stamped on that small #1 cyl pad.
Bear in mind that the year stamped there is the *model* year. Thus the '68 motor with the "60" date would be a Feb 1968 date, past the midpoint of the production year, and not an early motor.
I need to update the engine information on Wild About Cars. The single digit number by the distributor (#6, #9, and #2) on Vega's blocks) is a "mold number". It identifies the foundry pattern number to identify what pattern was used to cast the block. Thus it has nothing directly to do with the date.

 

Thanks for the clarification, Kurt. That's one thing that still confuses me a bit.

Randy