17. Age

There is no sure way to relate your serial number to a particular engine manufacturing date. However, there are certain features that you can use to identify the latest engines: The very late group of engines (circa late 70's) had flat sheet metal flywheel covers. These engines generally had serial numbers starting around 190,000. The very latest engines (circa early 80's) came with electric fuel pumps, and the blocks of these engines were no longer drilled to accommodate the small push/pull rods used to operate mechanical pumps. You would, of course, need to remove the electric fuel pump mounting bracket to determine whether or not your block had this hole drilled into it. The serial numbers of these engines generally started around 200,000.

The only other way to approximate the date of an engine is to check the manufacturing date stamped onto the carburetor side of the block. Unfortunately, this date only applies to the date of the block. In many cases, blocks didn't find their way into an engine for several years. - Updated: November 4, 2003