I have a buick skylark 1977 going to rebuild and restore it has a 231 6 cylynder engine in it thought i would beef it up and bought a 350 buick engine to put in it, did not know the year of the engine or the car that it came out of but had the vin # the casting # and the production # thought surley with those 3 someone could tell me something after a month of searching calling buick searching every possible buick page on the net and endless phone calls seems to me no one can help??????..wow! guess my next step is to buy a 350 chevy engine and hopefully have better luck ..just hard to buy parts for an engine when not even the manufactors of the engine are not sure of the year.

Ron,

Did you try this
(http://www.buicks.net/shop/reference/engine_ident_where.html) or these (http://www.buicks.net/shop/engine_ident.html).

How about posting a picture??? Where is the distributor located, front or rear??? Then for sure it can be ID'ed. If in fact it is a Buick 350 it will be just about a bolt-in swap.

Tom Telesco

first of all thank you for your help ...the distributer cap is located on the driver side front looking straight at the engine . the production # between the 1st and 2nd plug is 562 there is a # 240 below that on the block there is a # 46b11675 front other side of block # back by transmission is 1241748 the # behind the carb is 1249169-3 with a dy under it any help would be appreciated.

How about posting a picture??? Where is the distributor located, front or rear??? Then for sure it can be ID'ed. If in fact it is a Buick 350 it will be just about a bolt-in swap.

Tom Telesco
first of all thank you for your help ...the distributer cap is located on the driver side front looking straight at the engine . the production # between the 1st and 2nd plug is 562 there is a # 240 below that on the block there is a # 46b11675 front other side of block # back by transmission is 1241748 the # behind the carb is 1249169-3 with a dy under it any help would be appreciated.

what's the 2 digit engine code or the VIN #?

i presume its' got 5 bolt valve covers? it's a buick engine, specifically the 350 if so.

have you found the two digit letter code? this would provide specific year and power output. i'm not coding a 'DY' for anything. unless it's a 1980, i have no idea what that is (my books don't cover 1980).

you say you have the VIN but you haven't posted it. the VIN would tell us the make and year and if 72 or up would tell us the specific application of the motor. if you actually have the EIN instead of the VIN, there should be 6 digits after the letter and those digits would correspond to the last 6 digits of the VIN.

'46b11675' looks like it might be an EIN but if so you're one character short. i think it would decode as
4 = buick
6 = 1976
b = baltimore, md?
11675? = sequential production # of car

almost all buick casting numbers are 7 digit, so most of your casting numbers aren't helping out much. on the other hand, we have almost no casting #'s for the 350 either ... don't know what to tell you about that.

I have a buick skylark 1977 going to rebuild and restore it has a 231 6 cylynder engine in it thought i would beef it up and bought a 350 buick engine to put in it, did not know the year of the engine or the car that it came out of but had the vin # the casting # and the production # thought surley with those 3 someone could tell me something after a month of searching calling buick searching every possible buick page on the net and endless phone calls seems to me no one can help??????..wow! guess my next step is to buy a 350 chevy engine and hopefully have better luck ..just hard to buy parts for an engine when not even the manufactors of the engine are not sure of the year.

Why is it so important to know the year? What color is the engine?? Color helps to decide what era it is.. SMOG or presmog.

i presume its' got 5 bolt valve covers? it's a buick engine, specifically the 350 if so.

have you found the two digit letter code? this would provide specific year and power output. i'm not coding a 'DY' for anything. unless it's a 1980, i have no idea what that is (my books don't cover 1980).

you say you have the VIN but you haven't posted it. the VIN would tell us the make and year and if 72 or up would tell us the specific application of the motor. if you actually have the EIN instead of the VIN, there should be 6 digits after the letter and those digits would correspond to the last 6 digits of the VIN.

'46b11675' looks like it might be an EIN but if so you're one character short. i think it would decode as
4 = buick
6 = 1976
b = baltimore, md?
11675? = sequential production # of car

almost all buick casting numbers are 7 digit, so most of your casting numbers aren't helping out much. on the other hand, we have almost no casting #'s for the 350 either ... don't know what to tell you about that.


the casting number is 46b116775 sorry about that . it is a 5 bolt pattern on the valve covers i. i have not found a two digit letter code i thought i was going to be in front of the production number i found between the 1st and 2nd plugs but it was just 562 with no letters before it and the 240 i found below on the block that did not have any letter either.

what's the 2 digit engine code or the VIN #?

first of all thank you for your help ...the distributer cap is located on the driver side front looking straight at the engine . the production # between the 1st and 2nd plug is 562 there is a # 240 below that on the block there is a # 46b116775 front other side of block # back by transmission is 1241748 the # behind the carb is 1249169-3 with a dy under it any help would be appreciated.
i have not been able to find a two digit engine code.