Two years ago I bought a 68 350. I was told it was a matching numbers car and that everything was factory that came with the car, accept the paint, intake and the carb (changed to a 4 bbl)
Over the past two years now I have found a few things that are not what they should be. For one, the bench seat is NOT from a 68 firebird. I'm now starting to question everything else about the car. Last week I changed the fuel pump and when it came time to put grease on the push rod to hold it in the "up" position, there wasn't a push rod to hold up. Everything I have read about changing a fuel pump on a 1968 Pontiac 350 says there should be a push rod. That seemed strange to me so I though I'll just check the VIN number on the engine and make sure it matches, Well I don't see any numbers at all where they should be. I believe the engine VIN number should be lower front passenger side of the engine by the timing chain cover. I don’t see a number there at all unless I have to remove the lower radiator hose to see it. Do I need to remove the hose? Any help from anyone?

Here is an example of where the numbers and letters should be:


Sometimes the lettering gets filled in with paint and hard to see. I had to sand some paint off to expose everything. A '68 350 block should show YJ if an automatic, and WC if a manual trans car.

Look to the passenger side, front of block, next to the water pump.

Thanks.

The partial VIN is lower next to the timing cover on passenger side.

http://www.teufert.net/identify/identify.htm

I was able to get the partial vin by "blindly" scraping away the paint with a razor blade on the block behind the lower radiator hose. I used a mirror and flashlight to check my progress. When it looked like I scraped enough paint away, I was able to take a pic by holding and pointing the camera lens in the vicinity of the partial vin (it took me a couple of tries but I finally got a good pic). This method was a PITA. It's definitely easier to remove the lower rad hose, but I would bet you would still need to scrape away some paint to read the partial vin. But at least you won't be doing it without any visibility.

Thanks a lot Bernie. Great idea about using the camera. Thanks also for answering if I need to Remove the lower hose.

Sure thing. And just to give you a little more direction as to where to find it, the location of the partial vin on my 69 is on the area of the block that is very close to the timing cover (i.e. about 1/4 inch from the cover).

let me just ask you one more question is the number facing the front or is it facing to the side?

The number faces the front.

Thank you . Also thanks to all the others that posted replies.