Thanks Brad the numbers match tag on firewall but dive off to miss the bracket. I will just send pic when I get one. Thanks
Sorry to bring this back to life, but I have looked at all the threads on this board and others and still cannot find what I'm looking for. I'm thinking of selling my 1972 Skylark Convertible, 350 2bbl. I am the 3rd family that has owned this car (4th owner) and am told that it has the original drive-train. It looks to be but I want to confirm. I cannot find the vin number on the engine block. I found the 2 digit engine code followed by 087 (is that day of year?) on the left side. I looked on the left head. Took of the alternator bracket to look at the rt head, but still cannot find it. There seems to be a lot of information where to find the number up to 1971, but I'm looking for 1972. Can someone tell me where to find the vin on a 1972 Buick 350? Thanks Tom Milwaukee area
I know the 455 has the VIN stamped on the Front Passenger side of the BLOCK below the head behind the Alternator.Not sure about the 350. The 400 Trans has the VIN stamped on the drivers side of trans right above the Pan. Can't say where on a 350. A shop manual shows the areas where the #'s are.
70-73 are the same. The engine code should be the 5th character of the VIN, an H. The VIN derivative should be stamped into the block on the front face of the left bank of cylinders, under the power steering pump and bracket.
Thanks Larry, I can see the entire left side behind the power steering pump. I have cleaned it to bare metal and cannot see anything. Unless it is right on the edge and I'm missing it. Interesting that a guy in the post form a year ago said it was on the right side next to the timing cover. Tom
Don't discount a factory screw up. Everything you can imagine potentially can happen. You should be able to see WC on the deck surface between the #1 and #3 spark plugs. The 087 would be the 87th day of the year I believe. Should be close to the actual production date on the cowl tag maybe?
Yup, the WC is there along with the 087. 087 is Monday, March 27th in 1972. Maybe that is the issue. It was a Monday! I did not pull the P/S bracket because I have a pretty good look at the front of the engine. Maybe I'll do that just to make sure that I'm not missing it. I was hoping someone found it somewhere else on their 72. Tom
It was under the bracket on my 72 350 if I remember correctly, definitely worth the effort to make sure. What is the production date on the cowl tag. Should be a number (month) and letter (week) under the TR code. Yup, Mondays and Fridays:laugh:
Note sure exactly what I'm look at on the cowl tag but I have a TR 135. Under that a 09E A65. So 09= September and E= 5th Week?
http://datatagdecoder.com/_beta/form.html XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ST 72 - 44H37 H 123456 BODY TR 135 PAINT 09 E ACC xxxxxxxxxxxx Data Tag Decoder Results Year 1972 Make Buick Model Skylark Custom 2-Door Coupe Hardtop Assembly Date Fifth week of September Assembly Plant Flint, MI Fisher Body Sequence 123456 Lower Color Upper Color/Conv Top Interior Option White Vinyl Bucket or White Vinyl 60/40 Accessory Codes Extra 1 Extra 2
My 71 is on the drivers side, front of the block just below the head mounting surface stamped vertically. It is possible to be on the passenger front side of the block just below the head surface. I included a pict of the engine code on the deck of the head mounting surface. Also I should add you likely have to remove the paint, grim, etc. Stampings are lightly hit into the steel.
Very interesting as my 67 has a similar history that I just pleasantly found out. I bought the car 2 years ago and was told it had a 68 400 block in there, as seen by the block casting number of 1383790. It also has intake casting of 1383448-1, which is found for a 68 Electra or LeSabre with date of June 24. Finally, the engine was pulled and has head casting numbers of 1368985 , which decodes to 68 430 block, with date codes of May 08 and June 20. But to my pleasant surprise, the engine shows an NR code and most importantly, matching numbers! The transmission, which is original, shows a production date of June 21, 1967. So the theory is that the 67s were notorious for cracking around the valve spring seats and that Buick may have seen enough of this by the time the car was being built in June, which was late for a 67 model, that they put some second generation parts on it. I can't find any literature to confirm this but at least your experience helps me to believe in this narrative!
