Deciphering an engine block number

[Allans]

Need your help please. I have a 302 that I am swapping into my 57 thunderbird. The previous 302 overheated and is finished. I bought a good running 302 both are from 1978 and 1979 and the swap is going well. All the parts from the previous engine are fitting fine. However the exhaust manifolds are too small Here is the engine block code. D90E-6015-E8A. What I get out of this the new engine is. 1979 out of a fairlane. What does E8A mean. How do you determine the engine size. The valve covers are 6 bolt. Is there another set of numbers on the block that would determine the engine size.

[Alan H. Tast]

Need your help please. I have a 302 that I am swapping into my 57 thunderbird. The previous 302 overheated and is finished. I bought a good running 302 both are from 1978 and 1979 and the swap is going well. All the parts from the previous engine are fitting fine. However the exhaust manifolds are too small Here is the engine block code. D90E-6015-E8A. What I get out of this the new engine is. 1979 out of a fairlane. What does E8A mean. How do you determine the engine size. The valve covers are 6 bolt. Is there another set of numbers on the block that would determine the engine size.

First off, Fairlanes went out of production in 1970 or so; the 'O' by 1979 was used in midsize cars like the Granada/Monarch. 'E8A' is the suffix code that indicates the change level for the engine block casting. If the aluminum ID tag that was bolted to the original intake manifold, or the valve cover's ID label is missing, you're going to be out of luck trying to figure it out until you can physically measure cylinder bore and piston stroke. If you have them, post photos so we can see what you got: I've been compiling engine codes and have ran several articles in the Scoop over the past several years to ID engines, but some people complained about 'too much information' and wanted to see more pretty pictures on the pages.