Paint and Month of Production

[Guest 1927Buick]

I am working engine of a 27 Buick 27-20 Standard six. I need to know the month it was made. It makes a difference in the tolerance on the motor bearings.

Motor # 1746155

Number on frame - 1688963

I am about to send the motor to the machine shop. It appears to be painted green. It is hard to describe. It looks like a 50-50 mix between army green and avacodo green. Before the machine shop cooks it off I would like to identify it? Any other paint infor you have let me know

Thanks Glen

[unimogjohn]

Glen, cannot help you with the engine tolerances, but the correct paint is available from Bill Hirsch and Bob's Automobilia. Both have sites on the WWW. Here is a pic of my 23s engine with the Bob's paint.

[Bill Stoneberg]

Send David Corbin thoose numbers and he can give you excellent information on when it was built. Search for him in the forums and you will find his address.

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear Glen:

The frame number of 1688963 and engine number 1746155 match as being original to each other, so you're working with the right engine for that frame number.

As to when exactly it was built, all I can tell you for sure is that the car is about the 8468th model 20 built in 1927. Buick built 31390 model 20's plus 870 model 20's for export use that model year, so yours is about 1/4th of the way thru the run. Based on that, I would estimate a production date around December 1, 1926 looking at Buick's usual practice of starting around August 1.

Since you have the engine number, you should be able to tell from the appropriate parts book if your engine is before or after the engineering change you mention.

If you don't have a parts book, post the exact description of the engineering change and what parts were affected that you think occurred and I'll see what I can find in my books.

Regards, Dave Corbin