ANSWERS: 1
  • A Chevy engine is a thing of beauty. Some are swapped from car to car to the point their origins are unknown. A Chevy owner with a replaced engine may think the engine came from a Belair or a truck, because that is where the last owner got it. But that may not be the case, and the engine's origin may not be what you are told it is. Finding the engine's origins, however, can be done in a few simple steps.

    Block Casting

    Older Chevy engines have block castings on the driver's side of the engine where it meets the transmission. For cars older than 1980, the website 73-87.com (see References) will help you decipher which engine it is and where it came from. It will be a simple six- or seven-digit number and will almost always start with a 1, 2 or 3, except for a 350 engine used from 1968 to 1976.

    VIN

    In 1981, vehicle identification numbers, or VINs, were put into cars to identify much about the car. The VIN is usually found at the bottom of the windshield, but if the engine is not the original, the windshield VIN may be incorrect. However, the VIN is also on the engine as a 17-digit code along the engine wall. Decoding that VIN will reveal what engine is in the Chevy. The eighth character of the VIN will tell you the engine code. There are 33 codes for identifying an engine type but once you get the eighth character, go to GM's VIN cards website at gm.com (see References) to go through the process of decoding all of the information in the VIN.

    Source:

    Hemmings.com: Identifying Chevy VIN Numbers

    73-87.com: Small Block Chevy Engine Block Indentification

    Gm.com: VIN Information

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