trying to find if it is a 332 or a 352

[59 roachero]

i just bought a 59 ranchero, at some time the door plate was removed & replaced with a plate from a 59 courier or a "courier sedan" i cannot find the additional stamped vin or "serial" number on the frame, i was told it was on the frame forward of the engine on the passenger side, cannot see anything, am i looking in the wrong place?

[redstangbob]

I found this http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=174711 Good luck, Bob c

[tbird430]

332cid stroke was shorter too.

Someone on here just last week had a great ideal about removing a spark plug and measuring the piston height inside the cylinder at TDC.

They said there was roughly a 0.25" difference between the 352cid & the 332cid- or was it the 390cid??

[simplyconnected]

You're on the right track, the vin number on my 1959 is stamped on the top of the frame, (RH) passenger side near the firewall and again on the #2 crossmember.

FE engines are nearly impossible to ID. The only saving grace is the difference in stroke.

If you put the timing mark on TDC, you can pull #1 and #4 plugs and stick a dowl down the holes. While #1 is at TDC, #4 is at BDC.

Stick the dowel down #1 until it stops and mark it at the valve cover flange (it's a constant). Then, pull it out and stick it down #4 hole marking it at the valve cover flange again. Measure the distance between your marks on the dowel.

332 stroke = 3.30"
352 stroke = 3.50"
390 stroke = 3.78"