Block Identification #'s

[Guest]

What is the deliniation for the suffix WER on the serial number on the engine block (455 cu. in.)? I checked the Buick site and it has several W's but no WER's. The heads are 1972 (I have to assume the block is also.

[Smartin]

Where did you look on the engine to fine the WER code?

And what information are you trying to find about the engine?

There should be a 2 letter code on the block deck just to the right of the dipstick tube. That will tell you the year and model/build of engine.

[Guest]

The numbers are on the left side of the block (front) just below the head. The W codes seem to state that the engine is a 1972. I am trying to verify the year of the engine. I have to rebuild the motor to the Stage 1 specs.; so I want to make sure I am starting with the correct block.

I will check out next to the dipstick; thanks for your help.

Len

[Smartin]

The 2 letter code should be on the machined block surface (deck) that the heads rest on. I have attached a picture of the location that the code is on.

The picture consists of 2 spark plugs. If you look between the spark plugs, the actual surface of the block shows. It's dead center in the picture. This is where the code is.

[Guest]

Thanks. Is this consistent for all years?

[Guest]

There is three numbers on the block between the spark plugs 040, I did not see any other numbers and/or letters in this area.

[Guest John Chapman]

See if this info from buicks.net is of help.

Left side engine picture:

Text:

"400, 430, 455 inch, 1968 on

The engine serial number is between the two front spark plugs and the left exhaust manifold, and the production code number is between the two rear plugs and the exhaust manifold, also on the left."

1972 Stage I code should be 'WS'

JMC

[Guest]

There is a F 040 on the rear of the block (between the two rear plugs)

There is no number between the two front plugs.

The id # at the front of the block below the head is 106124 WER with a floating G at the edge of the block (about an inch from the serial number).

The Buick Engine Identification site does not have an deliniation for WER.

[BUICK RACER]

The '71-2 455 info is on the front block where you found it. W= '72 and if the 106124 is not the last 6 digits of the VIN, then it's not the orginal block. The G could be part of the VIN meaning the car the engine came from was built in Framingham, MA. Are you sure it's not a WF, which would make sense, and the R may mean a replacement engine. What's your name anyway??

[Guest]

It is definately not WF it is WER. I know it is not the original engine; since, I blew that one up 20+ years ago when I first had this car. My name is Lenny Gallo.

[BUICK RACER]

Hi Lenny, I may have some more info at home, will look up later tonight. Where are you? You are lucky to still have the car for that long, lots of people wish they had kept theirs!

[Guest]

You don't know the half of it; I just recently got it back. I kicked myself in the ... for many years for selling it; I was a stupid kid at the time (now I am a stupid adult). So, now I have to restore it for the second time. I am located in Harrisburg, PA.

[BUICK RACER]

Lenny, way cool you got it back, I didn't have a chance to look up too much info, my book from the Flint Engine plant has all the casting numbers for '72, but nothing on repair engines, I'll have to look some more. There's a Buick Race at Cecil County, MD on October 10 and 11th, you might want to go and see what the guys there are doing, there will be at least 3 of my Michigan buds there, as well as alot of other very knowledgable BB Buick guys, More later, having computer issues here with my ISP.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info.

[NTX5467]

I perceive there are some concerns about the "correct" block so, do these concerns also include having one with an appropriate date code or is there some significant difference in the block you have and what the production block was? For example, would the original block casting have been the same as the Stage1 casting, but with some different machining operations that would have generated a different block ID number for the Stage1 block than for the block from a regular Electra or similar?

As for the date code casting, and you might have to adapt what I'm going to mention regarding Chevrolets to what Buick did back then (which Roberta might add something to also), the date code for the block on a '70s Chevy V-8 is on the rear mounting flange for the transmission, just below where the distributor is on a pretty much horizontal surface. From the ones I've seen, the whole deal is about 3/8" long and 1/4" high, with a little casting flash around the perimeter edge. The format is: Letter (starting with A=January), two numbers (the day of the month the block was cast), and another single number (the last number of the year it was cast). For example, January 15, 1972 would be A152. Similarly, January 15, 1962 and January 15, 1982 would be the same, but most engines didn't use the same castings for that long of a time without some changes that would specify the decade years significantly.

The reason I mention the "machining labor operation" issue is that many times, the same block casting or head casting was used for the regular performanc engines as for the high performance engines--except that the high perf applications had some different things done to the base casting the regular engines didn't. Key example would be some of the small block Chevy cylinder heads that were one particular casting number for the normal 4bbl motors. When those same heads were upgraded to LT-1 Corvette status, these same castings got different valve sizes, screw in studs and guideplates, PLUS a radius cut to unshroud the larger intake valves.

Similarly, a 4.00" bore small block casting could just as easily be a 302 Z-28 motor as a 327 or 350 V-8 (depending on the year). When that famous Z-28 spec ID stamping was removed from the front of the Z-28 block when the block was decked during a blueprint or rebuild operation, it suddenly became just "another" Chevy V-8 block that just happened to use a 4.00" bore size. It was what went into the block that made it what it was, which was reflected in the block designation stampings. Of course, the date code would put a time frame for when the block was cast, so that might help a little in verifying what it was.

In some cases, the casting date of the block could precede the actual machining of the block by 6 months or more. But I suspect it would not predate the actual machining for a production vehicle by less than a few weeks or so, but the engine people might able to nail those things down better as this could be a somewhat varialbe situation.

I suspect that some of what I've mentioned might crossover from Chevy to Buick or the other GM divisions, but I don't know just how much of it might. I'll leave those determinations to Roberta and her contacts up there.

I did run across a book several months ago that had casting numbers of most every V-8 engine built in the USA since the early 1950s until about the 1980s. Seems like it had block casting numbers plus head and intake numbers too laid out in a year by year format. Looked like one heck of a resource for engine stuff!

Hope this helps,

NTX5467