289 block identification

[John Shand]

Hi all have purchhased a 289 and was wondering what it was, year etc
block nos are C6AE-6015-c and has 289 WF 4 in the vally and 97531 in a circle as well,
any info would be great

thanks

[speed220mph]

John: That's a standard 289 with a 6-bolt bell-housing pattern. Look also for the build date. It's stamped on a machined flat extending forward from the top of the left deck surface. As an example, if it is 9A12S, 9 is the year (1969) and A is the month. Letters go from A to M with I left out. This information is from the book "How to Rebuild Your Small-Block Ford.

[rekab69]

I need to find out the year of my engine too and found the following, hope this helps..

Ford Engine Numbers

Small block Fords have a four digit code followed by the base number for the system cast in where the starter motor bolts to the Bell housing, the code follows a basic format and can easily be deciphered. The fist letter gives the decade the following number gives the year of the decade the next letter gives the carline and the last letter the engineering department number which would normally be Engine engineering.

So for example a number such as C5ZE- 6015 would be broken down like this.

C= Decade of 1960, 5= year of decade i.e.1965,, Z = Mustang car line E = Engine engineering this is followed by the base number for the system 6015 for base engine this is followed by a suffix which gives further information if the part has been changed.

So this is the breakdown.
Decade of Manufacture
A=1940
B=1950
C=1960
D=1970
E=1980
F=1990

The year of decade is simple the number represents the year so D9 =1979
The car line that is not really important to us for SVA information but may be of interest is made up as follows

A= Galaxie, D= Falcon, F= outside USA, G= Comet, J= Industrial, M=Mercury, O=Fairlane P= Autolite/Motorcraft, R=Rotunda, S= Thunderbird, T= Truck, V= Lincon, Z=Mustang.

The only Engineering departments of interest would be E=Engine Engineering and Perhaps X= Muscle parts and Z= Ford service parts.

Casting can also have a number that breaks down to actual casting date e.g. 6c06 would break down to 6 the year of the decade 6 for the sixth year C for the letter of the month and 06 would be the day of the month.

Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
Oct
Nov
Dec

A
C
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M

[Ian Anderson]

I wish it was that easy for engines from the Rover / Range Rover group

The data is not available outside the company (mostly now disolved) and if you wnat confirmationsend £15 for a certificate for one engine number only.

Crazy but I just paid to get proof for SVA!

Ian

[Jac Mac]

Hi John, Thats a 1966 Block Casting (C=60thru69. 6=6) The C6 block could have been used in 67 /68 also, check around the rest of the motor for later casting no's or tag's ,ie C7--- or C8-- to help pin down the exact year. Hi Po 289 had beefier main caps (Fully machined F/R faces---- Raised area around Valve spring seat area.)
Jac Mac

[speed220mph]

Keep in mind that a casting can be machined differently, so a block or head can have more than one part number depending on differences in how it is machined. The worst example I know of this is--pardon if I use the word--one four-bolt SB Chevy block. It was cast with bosses for the outboard bolts, but not all blocks were machined for the ourboard bolts. Lastly, the suffix in a number denotes the latest change in the casting or how a part was machined such as -B, -C, etc. Any little change moved the suffix up one in the alphabet. The base number is 6015 as indicated for Ford blocks, 6090 for heads and 6303 for cranks. Sometimes the base number is left out, such as DOZE-B for a 1970 Boss 302 block.