I hear allot of people talk about all the numbers on the car match. What are they refering to? How can you tell if the engine is the original block? As you can tell, I have caught the restoration bug and I need some education. This will be my first.
What is the 5th letter in your VIN? What kind of engine is currently in the car? Once you answer these two questions, we can move on to finding the partial VIN that should be stamped in the block.
Tells us it's a factory 302 car. Look to the rear of your intake, where it meets up with the block. There is a flat pad there which is the top of the block itself, which should have the partial VIN stamped in it. It should be a number followed by a letter and then six more numbers. The first two digits and last 6 digits should match the first two and last 6 of your VIN on your dash. The area I am talking about is at the bottom of the block in the middle in this picture: http://www.fawbush.org/images/2007_11_9_306/block_small.JPG It is possible that the full VIN may be stamped there, which of course should match your car's VIN if it's the original block. But it's much more common to see the partial VIN.
That's the only place that would have the VIN stamped on the engine block. The only other way to get a good idea if the engine is original or not, is to check the build date code that is stamped in the front of the block. If you look at this pic again, look towards the very front of the block (top in that picture) at the deck surface. You see that one little rectangular area of the machined deck surface that extends out to where the timing cover bolts up. Assuming the block has never had the deck surface machined during a rebuild, there will be a 4 digit code there, it will be a number followed by a letter and then two more numbers, like 2K20 for example. Those numbers tell down to the exact day that the engine was originally assembled at the factory. It should correspond fairly close with the build date code on the door sticker of your car. Get us both the door sticker date and that code on the block, and we'll help you decode it.
Not all vehicles are stamped with the partial VIN IDs. Not all Transmissions are stamped either. There really is no way on a Ford to know if the engine has been replaced unless there is a number there and it doesn't match ....
Check out this link. I would like to add your Sprint to the registry. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=17962&highlight=sprint+registry
Which is why I said "should have" in my first post. Not all do, but many do. My '72 Grabber has the partial VIN stamped in the engine and trans. In fact, all my Mavericks do.
my car was made in canada...so much for american LMAO!!! sorry...i know its american i just think its funny
