Dating Ford castings & parts.

[SuperMag]

FAQ Material:

Q: Some guy gave me a free 300, and I want to rebuild it and put it in my Bronco. But I want to be sure I order the right parts, how do I figure out what year the motor is?
A: Find the casting # on the passenger side of the block. It would be something like C5TE or D7TE or E1TE. The first letter is the decade.
C=60's
D=70's
E=80's
F=90's
The second digit is the year. C5TE = 1965...
Note: Some casting #'s were used in more then the one year but they will tell you what age the engine is. Also... All 67-86 engine rebuild kits are interchangeable and then all 87-96 are also interchangeable.

[chebbykiller]

Just a question on interchangabilty - I'm rebuilding an '85 block, and when looking for cam bearings there are two part numbers, one for engines built prior to 06/04/1985, and one after. Is there actually a difference, and how do I determine the month it was cast? EDIT - Just got home to check numbers, and turns out its a '75 block. Who knew?

[THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER]

YES, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN THE CAM BEARINGS. Prior to that date the engine plant loaded all cam bearings through the front of the block, and the shell sizes were stepped accordingly. After that date the rear two bearings were loaded into the rear of the block and the front two still were loaded into the front. The shell ODs are different as a result.

[American Thunder]

On a related note, the 3rd character in the code is the type of vehicle the part was made for. I'll try to recall some from memory

T = light truck
H = heavy truck?
P = police
Z = mustang
V = Lincoln
A = full size car (I think?)