I found the engine serial number on the 72 Stage 1 4 speed car I bought a few months back. It reads " BIE 01189" Talking with Marco he thinks it is a 1971 factory replacement block. Did they restamp the serial number on these blocks to match the car? The serial number does not match the car. I also found numbers stamped on the back of the heads. "DF" "F1" "rs". Anyone know what this means? Thanks
Dwane, That is definately a 71 replacement block, the number "BIE 01189" decodes as, (B) Buick (1) 1971 (E) Engine Plant (01189) Consecutive serial number for replacement blocks I have seen a few of these replacement blocks and none had the Vin# stamped into them, but that's not to say it wasn't done. Duane PS. Were the numbers stamped or cast into the heads?
Hi Duane: Thanks for confirming that, I guess this is prbably as close as you can get to a numbers matching block? The numbers on the back of the heads were stamped. I will take a picture and post it.
This is picture of the back of the head on the drivers side, the passenger side head has the same stampings except it reads DF F2 rs.
I don't know if those are factory markings or not, but I have seen those types of stampings from engine rebuilders. Duane
That makes sense because when I pulled the oil pan off all the rods are shaved, a rear bearing oiling modification was made. It's also a got heavily ported aluminium intake manifold. It looks like a Edelbrock but there are no markings or numbers on it. Another weird modification are these little metal plates that were added to the intake. It does have the correct casting numbers for a 72 Stage one block, heads and distributor. The original carb was gone. Thanks for your help with Duane, every little bit of info helps. Next step will be to fire it up.
I am not up on engine building, by any stretch of the imagination, but I remember hearing something about a Mopar intake that was adapted to a Buick 455 with some spacers. That may be what you have. Duane
That's a B4B, that they milled the names off. The little plate you see over the center of the intake side of the heads, was to cover the big hole the 72 head had for the exhaust crossover. I am assuming those heads are 148's (last three of the casting), which would be correct for 72. The 69 (109) 70 (786) and 71 (661) heads had just two 3/4 inch holes for the crossover. The holes are father down the intake side of the head, and line up with the early B4B, and the early iron manifolds. When using a B4B with the later heads, either the recessed holes down inside that cavity have to be plugged, or the whole cavity has to be plugged, or you will have an exhaust leak. They may or may not have drilled holes in the plate for the crossover, but it's typical that the exhaust heat crossover is eliminated in a performance application. You will also probably find they plugged the A.I.R. holes in the head too, if you get into it. I can take some pictures for you from stock cores in the shop, to illustrate the difference if you like. Hope that helps, JW
Hi Jim: I checked and AIR holes are plugged or should I say welded up. Do you know what this is? There is a tube that has been run down and tapped into the back of the block. Is that more oiling modifications or another place to take an oil pressure reading. Any recommendations on starting up an engine that has sat for 12 years? Thanks
That looks like another place to take oil pressure readings. I think its more accurate of a reading if you take it from the back of the block, not sure why.
In the mid 1970's Kenne-Bell did offer adaptor plates that allowed the installation of a Mopar RB intake to a Buick 455. (similar to what is currently available in a CNC version) They were in his catalog but I never did see any of them. Those are just block-off plates on the 72 motor as Jim pointed out. Dennis
