351 Windsor ID ??

[Phillip]

Hi, well I scooped up a 351 Windsor that happened to be right down the road. It's a 2-barrel intake engine. I don't have a car to put it in yet, but hey that's a minor detail .

Anyway, I got it home and managed to clean all the sludge off of the engine to get the block ID. The guy said it came out of a 1970 Cougar and had 86K original miles and has been sitting for almost 20 years in his shop and has never been apart. He said it was for a customer's project years ago that never happened. I believe the never apart, but who knows about the rest. It does turn over though, so that's a plus.

So, block ID is C90E 6015B 4 and underneath that is what looks like OF26. I'm not having a lot of luck online finding a web site that simply has all the codes.

Can anyone tell me what I have exactly? Thanks.

 

[colin artus]

69 351 Windsor - 2 bolt main, cast on 26 June 1970.

 

[Phillip]

A 1969 engine cast June 26, 1970??

 

[colin artus]

Yes, the 69 (C9) refers to the year the part was introduced , not necessarily when it was cast.
Block

 

[Jac Mac]

If it still has small alloy tags on dist, carb or perhaps alternator with a part # stamped on it that may narrow year of build vs cast date, assuming none of those parts were replaced, but not really a big deal as 351w from that date really had no major changes.

 

[Phillip]

No accessories on the engine. I'll check the distributor for any kind of tag. Where would that be or what would it look like?

And so I'm guessing this is the earlier block with the 9.48 deck height, not 9.503.

 

[colin artus]

Yes, it should be 9.48 if it's as it left the factory.

 

[Jac Mac]

Tag on Dist is usually on one of the screws attaching vac advance can.

 

[Phillip]

Well I poked around the engine. No tag on the distributor. But I did pull all the plugs and get a look inside. Only 1 cylinder has some very mild rust on the walls, so I hit them all with some oil. The tops of the pistons didn't look great, but I guess that's to be expected.

 

[Phillip]

Well I cracked open this engine today to take a look at what I bought. So far so good. No big sludge buildup inside. The drain holes in the head weren't plugged. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the heads off and see how the bores look. But with the plugs out and my cheapie bore scope things looked OK. The one intake port is pretty rusty and I think that matches up with the one bore that had some rust on the cylinder wall.

UPDATE: pulled the heads and 7 of the 8 cylinders look great. The one does have a light rust coating to it. So I sprayed it down with penetrant for now. Engine turns over very easily. So looks like I got a good foundation for a build someday.