Can you match engine serial number with the VIN?

[Shelly Harris]

My Ignitor project is on hold because I got the wrong one... more on that later in that thread.... That happened because my '56 Mark has a Distributor model supposedly installed only on 1957s. Now the history of my car is an unknown quantity... years ago someone may have replaced the original distributor... but can I be sure I don't have an entirely different engine? Could this car have an entire engine from a '57?

So the question I'd like to know is whether there is a data bank source that can tell me the engine number installed in my car by the VIN? How do you know your engine is really the original?

[Barry Wolk]

The Pertronix is different because the distributor is different than a Lincoln. They have a tach drive built into the shaft. The Continental engine has it's own part number.

Stamped on the top rear of the engine block is a number. I believe they coincide with the Production Order number. That's true of the early cars, but I'll bet that mistakes made that change over time.

My Production Order number matches my engine number 137, while mine is the 126th production vehicle. The earlier engines were used in prototypes. If your engine number is even close to your serial number I'd say it's original. I wonder if your car was built on the cusp of model changeover.

Which carburetor do you have? The tall teapot or the normal looking 4 barrel? The '56 engine had an oil bath filter while the '57 has a paper air filter. The '56 has a cartridge oil filter while the '57 has a spin-on, although many were converted to spin-on.

The '56 has a dual pot distributor while the '57 has a single vacuum chamber. The '57 air cleaner has a flat portion while the '56 is completely round.

Anybody know any other differences?

[Shelly Harris]

I have a 57 distributor and air filter. The oil filter is cartridge. Which year had which carb? Looked for the engine number but couldn't see it.

[Nick DeSpirito]

Shelly,

'56 had the Holley4000. AKA "The Towering Inferno" Like Barry said, it has a covered top and resembles a tea pot. This one in the picture is not correct for the Mark II because as you can see, the air intake doors are rounded on the bottom whereas on the Mark II carbs, they were flat. The one in the picture is likely for a Thunderbird.

http://www.ponycarburetors.com/images/tpot.jpg

The '57 uses a carter carb which has an open top.

I have seen many '56's with '57 air cleaners, which means that they must have carbs other than the original Holley, because you can't get a '57 air cleaner on a Holley 4000. Why did they do this? The oil bath filter is kind of messy to deal with and maybe they were trying to get away from that. Also, I heard that the Holley 4000 wasn't too reliable.

I purchased a rebuilt Holley from Pony Carbs in Tx. last year. Mine was leaking gas from the big flat screw in the back. Pony claims that they rebuild them better than new because they correct the faults they originally had. This is a picture of the back side of a Mark II Holley. Notice the large flat screw on the top. That's where mine was leaking. I tried to tighten it and it got worse. So not to take any chances, I opted to just get a rebuilt.

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~showpic~Z5Z5Z50000129a~Z5Z5Z5AAAPF~Z5 Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5



This picture is of a '56 double diaphragm vacuum advance. If yours has a single, then I guess like Barry said, you have a '57 distributor on your car too.http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~showpic~Z5Z5Z50000129a~Z5Z5Z5AAAJK~Z5 Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z5

[Barry Wolk]

The dual pot distributor had one chamber for spark advance and one for spark retard. I believe the spark retard was designed to prevent backfire on deceleration. Both vacuum lines came off of the teapot carb. The distributor didn't need to be changed but one of the vacuum ports would have to be left open to atmosphere if unused. Capping the second line would keep the other from working properly.

If your car has the cartridge filter it is most likely a '56 engine block with an updated carb. By the serial number of your car it was too early for model changeover.

[Shelly Harris]

I an certain that the Distributor in my car is the one Ford switched over to in "57. In addition to having a single vacuum chamber there are two other differences from the prior one. The rotator shaft is much bigger, 5/8" and the pull lever arm that rotates the points/condensor mounting plate is a flat piece of metal. Also the mounting plate lacks the two small springs visible on the '56. This weekend I'll be able to look at the carb, I'm wondering what I have there.