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I am currently working on a 1975 Pontiac Ventura that belonged to my baby brother that passed away a month ago. I am starting with the engine and I'm trying to identify it. I was told by the owner before him that it is a number matching car and I would like to verify this. I have found that this car could have came with a olds 260 and the numbers i have found do seem to verify this but would like further verification. The numbers I have been able to find are 550355_5 just below the intake above the timing cover. B20 behind the cam timing gear. 5621730 on the oil fill tube. And 193, and CFO on the back of the block also below the intake. I can take Pictures if that would help and any information on this engine would be appreciated. Also I can provide the vin to the car as well if that would help. Front of block, below intake. Inside timing housing. Oil fill tube Oil fill tube Back of block near distributor. 193, CFO or CFD. Head
Last edited by Venturalove; Aug 1, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
The "CFO" is actually "CFD," for Central Foundry Division. The number on the oil fill tube is a build sequence number of the engine. It has no relation to the VIN or the Fisher Body sequence number. The "193" is the Julian Date Code of the block casting. This would indicate that the engine, and likely car, were late 1975 make, built on or after July 12, 1975, just before factory shutdown for retooling for the 1976 model year production. The fact that the fill tube number starts with a "5" does say it is a 1975 engine.
I'm not familiar with Pontiacs, so the following is an educated guess: Even though it is a Pontiac car, I think there should be a VIN derivative in the Olds location on the engine, which is a smooth surface, ground onto the driver side of engine, near the number 1 cylinder. If Pontiac followed the same coding template, the last six digits of the engine's VIN derivative will match up with the last six digits of the car's VIN.
I'm sure others with more knowledge will chime in with more info and/or corrections to what I've stated.
Best of luck with your car.
Last edited by BackInTheGame; Aug 2, 2020 at 02:42 AM.
Sorry for your loss
take a look at the 403 location & see if your block has anything similar
the block in your car sure looks like a Olds block config Rock auto shows many parts that are shared with the OLDS motors https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...1261987,engine
"Numbers matching" means that the VIN derivative on the block matches the VIN of the car. Specifically, the first character of the VIN derivative will match the first character of the VIN and the last eight of the VIN derivative will match the last eight of the VIN. The VIN derivative stamp on an Olds motor is located as shown below. Also, the fifth character of the VIN will be an "F" if this car came from the factory with an Olds 260.
I appreciate all the replies and input. It has been very helpful and informative. And anyone who is interested I will do my best to post updates as I progress on the car. It sure does mean a lot to me.
You might want to keep the 260 for posterity sake, but I would recommend putting just about any other GM engine in this car if you want to drive and enjoy it. An olds 350 or 403 would be easy to do, or since it is a pontiac, a 400 or 455. Since the X body is a Nova drivative, even an SBC would provide a lot more fun than a 260, no matter how much you do to it. Enjoy your build.
