Engine Tag Of Tom's - scumdog

[YellowRose]

Tom ~ scumdog sent me this pic of a tag off his 1966 Tbird engine. Here is what he had to say about it.

"this pic of the tag is off the motor out of my Thunderbird. Dave Dare or others might be able to decipher it."

I told him most of what it decodes as, but there are several numbers or letters I am not sure of. So Dave, or jopizz, please decode it for Tom. We know it is a tag from his 1966 Tbird, that has a 390ci engine in it. I don't know what the 6 by itself means, or the 5 J and the 357. I am assuming the letter S=Thunderbird. Here is that pic.

[Yadkin]

Here's mine. I'm embarrassed it's in such bad shape.

The first two numbers are easy- displacement and year. The others will require Dave's expertise.

[Yadkin]

Found this:

http://www.fordification.com/tech/engineIDtags.htm

[YellowRose]

Engine Tag Of Tom's - scumdog

Thanks to the link that Steve posted to the 65-72 Ford Car Engine ID Tag Codes, I was able to figure this much out. We already know the engine is a 390, the model year of the car was a 1966. The Change Level (apparently) is a 6. The Engine Code # is 357 which = a 390 w/F-4=Ford 4-bbl carb. The 5 J=a 1965 build of the carb in September. The letter "I" was not used because it could be confused with the number 1. So an A would be January, a J would be September, skipping the letter I. I made the assumption that the letter S at the very end indicates that it was for a Ford Thunderbird, but that could be the Code for the Engine Plant Code, but I do not know if there was a Plant with a Code S. Maybe someone else does. I see that on Steve's tag, the Engine Plant Code came after the Engine C.I.D. # and before the Model Year, but not on Tom's tag... It blank in that space.

[scumdog]

Thanks guys - it all makes sense.

It's nice to have the original tag on the motor, it doesn't make it go any better - it's just nice!

And I have the original carb tag on it too.

[YellowRose]

Engine Tag Of Tom's - scumdog

Tom has been working on cleaning up his engine. Here is what he had to say and a Before and After picture.

"Hi Texans,
I thought I'd shoot you these two photos, it has taken me a LOT of time (and $$$!) to make this change - a shame the lower half of the motor is still a bit grungy! Now to add the vital fluids to it and see if it still runs...

Love from us in Aotearoa, Tom"

[scumdog]

Thanks for that Ray!

I started off just fixing the end gasket leaks on the intake manifold and while it was off decided to tidy things up, I got a paint shop to make up two 'rattle can' tins of paint and one plain tin of paintI.
I brush painted the intake and and used the rattle cans on the expansion tank and valve covers.
Then I decided the carb needed a full rebuild so sent it off to Dynamic Industries in Fort Worth.
And found the diaphragm in the vacuum advance was shot so had to buy another one of THEM!
Oh, and noticed brake fluid on the brake proportioning valve so got THAT rebuilt.
And a whole myriad of othe little things needed sorted...but they're all done now!

[Dan Leavens]

Tom she is sure looking nice with the work you have done so far. The lower half of the motor will come in time.