Q: Engine Date Code for 1967
I have confirmed that the engine number on my 1967 is: 415371 is the motor unit number, YT is the engine code: 400 AT with AIR, and the number on the distributor pad, is actually 9786133 and denotes a 1967 400 cid block.
What I am curious about is if there is any sort of build date number located anywhere on the block or encoded in the motor unit number itself. The reason I am interested is that I would like to find another 1967 YT motor for my car. The build date on my car is 03 B, which translates into the second week of March. Since GM didn’t start stamping the engine blocks with the car’s VIN until 1968, all I need to do is locate a 1967 YT block which has a build date of prior to the second week in March, providing the blocks have/had any build dates associated with them in the first place.
So, if I am going to go through the hassle and expense of finding another YT block, I need make sure that the block I do find would actually be date correct for my car.
A: I got the following email reply to a simliliar post I did to rec.autos.antique. It explains where the date code is, and how to decode it. I checked on my motor and sure enough, my date code is B157, which is a build date of 2/15/67. Which makes perfect sense if the build date of the car was the second week of March. So, I thought I would share the information with the list:
You probably saw the build date code and just didn’t recognize it. On the top surface around the distributor hole you will find a code that starts with a letter and has 3 digits. The letter indicates the month, the next two digits are the day, the last digit is the last digit of the year. In your case a correct date code might be B077. This would read “B” = February, “07” = 7th day of the month, “7” = 1967.
The only time this gets fuzzy is with the use of the letter “i”. Some factories skipped the letter so that it would not be confused with a “1”. However this is not a perfect rule, some factories did use it but not all. The other problem you will have is that since your vehicle was built early in 1967 there are a lot fewer motors to choose from as Pontiac just moved from the 389 to the 400 in ’67. To be totally authentic you need a date code within about three months of your build date. Engines weren’t left laying around any longer than that and a judge in the really picky levels of competition will count off for anything outside of that.
A: Check out the date code near the distributor. It’s 4 digits, starts with a letter and 3 numbers. The letter is the month A=Jan, B=Feb…the last digit is the year. Starting in sometime in Sept the engine would be for the next model year. If you have any questions, post the code.
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Content last modified: January 24, 2014 at 9:43 pm
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