Picked up another 6 today the owner didn't know what it was. The block casting #s say it can be either 230 or 250. So I got these of the distributor pad f1024ta. Anyone know what that means?

The fastest way to tell the difference between the 230's and 250's is to look inside one of the spark plug holes at the piston tops. 230's will have a flat top and 250's will have a dished piston. Those #'s on the distributor pad may or may not point you in the right direction, but in just a few minutes, the piston will give you a better clue.

Better yet, overhaul the engine, guess that it's a 250 and buy new pistons. Ignore that the pistons don't reach the deck, put it together anyways and see if it runs like crap and has awful compression. If it does, then you'll know it's a 230. Not as fast as looking at the top of the pistons, though. :-)

Think I will pass on that method! Is that how you found out? Lol!

It's not a problem. If you get a big enough blower you can still stuff the cylinders full. Remove all doubt and buy a 250 crank for the build.

A 230 with 250 pistons would be a neat twin turbo engine.

It would not be so neat. It would not have any guench.

U PUT A 250 PISTON IN A 230-*WILL STICK UP .104 IN OUT OF BLOCK

http://dayton.craigslist.org/pts/5664712888.html

Well, I didn't do this personally, but it's what I discovered. But hey, it got me to convert to a 250, bump up the compression, port the head and increase intake size, and put in a bigger CAM. It's a whole lot more engine now than it used to be. In the picture you can see how low the carbon rings are.

Anybody need a leftover 250 short block? Well, it comes with a 230 crankshaft.

Yikes 3:1 compression!

I conquer. That is why I stated they 250 Pistons with a 230 crank will not have any quench. Meaning the Pistons will be down the hole at TDC

I know, I was joking. lol Hence the big smilie face.

That was not directed to you, the other guy states a 250 piston with a 230 crank will come out above the deck in a few posts.

DUDE

WRONG AGAIN------THATS WHERE THE TOP RING STOPS--NOT PISTON TOP

BRING PISTON TO TDC -PUT STRAIGHT EDGE ACROSS --USE FEELER GAUGE

GO HERE SEND EMAIL

http://dayton.craigslist.org/pts/5664712888.html

Not to belabor the point, but I will. Piston #1 is at TDC in the picture. I just got lucky with that photo because I was checking out whether or not the cam was installed a notch or two off and left it at TDC. CAM was fine. We measured at TDC with a feeler gauge just under 0.025", maybe more like 0.0237 or something like that. The stock piston sits below the deck a tad.

I'm sure somebody could do the math, but I use it for entertainment purpose, as I intended in this posting. It makes for a good ice breaker too when you meet another car guy. "You wouldn't believe what this mechanic did to the car. blah blah blah". We all love to commiserate about awful machine shop experiences. Just like ghost stories around a campfire. :-)

My engine is now built nicely, able to deliver well above the 130HP or 140HP that was original. How sweet it is.

Mark