Finding a 455 cid engine number

[Dynaflash8]

So far, all efforts to locate the engine number on my 1971 455 cid Buick have been fruitless. I'm wondering, just in case somebody put in a different year 455 engine if the serial number is in a different place on some 1970-1976 engines. I only have a 1971 Shop Manual.

[BUICK RACER]

Look on the front of the block under the power steering pump, for some reason, I have seen the # stamped there on 1971s.

[Matt Harwood]

On many Buick engines, the engine number was stamped into the deck surface on a pad between the middle cylinders and is usually visible from above by looking between the exhaust ports. Sadly, this means that if the block has been decked by someone who wasn't being careful about preserving the numbers, they may have been wiped out. Once they're gone, there's not much else that can be done to verify a matching-numbers block--at that point, you're relegated to checking date codes to determine whether those line up with the date of the vehicle's production (typically 3-6 months earlier than the car's build date).

Hope this helps.

[Brad Conley]

On many Buick engines, the engine number was stamped into the deck surface on a pad between the middle cylinders and is usually visible from above by looking between the exhaust ports. Sadly, this means that if the block has been decked by someone who wasn't being careful about preserving the numbers, they may have been wiped out. Once they're gone, there's not much else that can be done to verify a matching-numbers block--at that point, you're relegated to checking date codes to determine whether those line up with the date of the vehicle's production (typically 3-6 months earlier than the car's build date).

Hope this helps.

While true of 1969 and 1970 engines, the serial number for 1971-1974 Buick V8's is on the front of the block, thus: