302 date

[Simon]

I’m dismantling the old engine from my car. It was built in 1990 and (I think) the engine was originally sold to the builder as a new engine. He updated it within the first couple of years of the car’s life but I understand he kept the original block. Just wonder if someone can give me a manufacturing date from these pics? (Or have I missed numbers in another area?)
Thanks in advance.
simon

 

[Simon]

There is this, which seems to be unreadable!

 

[Mike Pass]

The date code is in raised letters on the ledge above the starter motor. It can be seen from below,

Engine block codes
The Ford casting number always starts with the 'Decade' character. Ford started using this structure in the late 50's with the first letter being 'B' . In the 60's the letter changed to 'C' and 'D' for the 70's and so on. The Decade digit is always followed by the 'Year' number. The combination of Decade and Year indicate the actual model year the part was originally designed for.

First character (a letter)
B= 50's C= 60's D= 70's E= 80's

Second character (a number)
Year of decade
e.g. C9is 1969

Third character
Car model
E,g.
A – full size Ford
D – Falcon, Maverick
E – Truck
L – Lincoln
M – Mercury
O – Fairlane, Torino
S – Thunderbird
Z – Mustang
W - Cougar

Fourth character
Engineered component
E = engine

The second group of characters refers to the part of the car. In this case the engine.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Randy V]

See Mike’s post above.
As I recall, the E7T blocks and heads were in use from 1987-1992...

 

[Simon]

Thanks gents, I think maybe 87-92 is the closest I will get ( probably 87-89 as the car was built with this engine in 89-90)
Simon