Need help decoding info on Aluminum Buick V8 Block from the 60s i think ?

Just as title says I'm looking for help to decode the aluminum v8 that Buick built back in the 50s or 60s ?,,,,,,,,,,,,Thanks Doug

the original production engine was the 1961-63 215ci. Buick also had an aluminum 215ci in the 1950s, but that was for the 51 Le Sabre concept car and only a couple of examples of those ever got made.

Oldsmobile had their own variant of the 215ci from 1961-63 which had 6 head bolts per cylinder ( Buick has 5 head bolts ) and they mounted a turbo to it for the 1962-63 model years.

in 1964, the first year of Buick 300ci production came with aluminum heads and intake but the block and exhaust manifolds are cast iron.

all Buick engines after that are cast iron, at least until the GM corporate engine era.

there are more modern variants on the Buick aluminum design, but those all come from Land Rover / British Leyland. Leyland bought the plans and tooling from GM and had the Buick v8 in production from 1966 to 2004 in displacements from 3.5L ( the metric equivalent to 215ci ) to 4.6L in common production.

https://www.teambuick.com/reference/...gine_59-62.php

https://www.teambuick.com/reference/...gine_63-75.php

www.AluminumV8.com is a good resource

and the BritishV8 forum is as well.

Thanks for the reply Bob,
I was looking at one of the sites you gave me the link to and it stated the engine code.
My question is where is the code ?
The numbers of the block are H306398 & IHI1558892 ,,,,,,Doug

Doug,
H306398 is the engine production code number.

H = 1961 std compression, 2 bbl, 215 cid Fireball V8, 150 HP, 220 lb-ft torque, 8.8 compression ratio
306398 = engine sequence number - used for warranty claims to factory (useless to us)


IHI1558892 is VIN number of the car the engine came from.
The I's are actually 1's, but that's how Buick frequently stamped them.
The number looks like it has too many characters according to factory data. Likely there's only a single 1 in the middle of the VIN.

First 1 = 4100 Special Deluxe series
H = 1961 model year
Second 1 = built in Flint, MI plant
558892 car sequence number where first '61 Special was 501001.

Thanks, Todd