Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Engine ID help

I have a 51 half ton pickup. The 216 has been replaced. The motor does not have the center bolts in the valve cover. It has a stamping behind the distributor that is LAQ 4269I9. There is a Captain bar above the starter (I don't know about on e on the other side, I haven't found one. It has a large cast GM in front of and below the fuel pump. Above the GM is a 3. On the center passenger side of the head is a B36 913 and below the 913 is 241 and below the 241 is a 570 all cast numbers. These numbers are hard to make out, I am soaking them with Gunk overnight. I just don't know where else to remove grease. I haven't found a good engine casting number. I think it should be in front and below the distributor somewhere. Is it on the very bottom boss just before the oil pan?

LAQ would be a'53 powerglide car motor made at the Tonawanda plant. The 4 bolt valve cover would mean it has a '54 or newer head on it. B36 should mean Feb. 3, 1956.

The casting number for the head is on the drivers side next to the valve cover. You can't miss it.
The block casting number is below and forward of the distributor.

I noticed that the engine has a two hole boss in the casting between the distributor and the fule pump. There is another 2 hole boss on the driver's side as well. Would this have been for side mounts? If so, when did Chevy start putting side mounts on?

I found the casting number on the head. It is 3835913 GM 20

According to Hollander, that head was used from 54-55, but apparently it was used well into 1956 (to use up stock) before they came out with the "848" head.

Actually, its a 3 bolt mount. The third one is directly below those 2. Remember, this is a '53 car motor which used side mounts. In order to use it in your truck, they drilled 2 holes in the front motor plate to use the truck mount.

Wow. That's one oily motor...

I had heard that they used the captains bars on '54 car powerglide 235's, but I wasn't aware of it being done in '53. Apparently it's a very late '53, or perhaps they were still using LAQ into early '54?? A date code and casting number from the block would be interesting...

I am still trying to locate the casting number. I believe that it is about a 7 digit number probably starting with 37. I have started with Gunk. There is somthing on the block that is behind the starter. I saw a picture of an engine on another forum that looked like it had some casting numbers in that location. I have begun to clean the area, but haven't gotten to the readable stage yet. However, what I thought I saw didn't look like a nice evenly spaced run of numbers. It seemed like there were a couple of digits followed by a space then a couple more. I thought the second group might be H3. That is just a guess right now. I have been spending all my daylight hours putting brick on teh front of my garage, I work a little on the truck after dinner when it is getting dark and cold. Are there any other possible locations for casting marks? Anything possible on the driver's side?