A 302 Ford is easily identified by the serial figure on the engine block.
Most famously used in the Boss 302 Mustang, the Ford 302 was a accepted small-block engine manufactured from 1968 to 1985. A member of the Fairlane or 90-degree "V" 8-cylinder engine family, it is closely related to the Ford 289; some of the aboriginal 302s were absolutely stamped as 289s.1. Find the serial number. As with all engines in the 90-degree family, it is on the right-hand side of the engine block just above the starter.
Identification is apparent and the surest disposition is using the serial quantity on the engine block. Using the cylinder head serial number can be misleading, as it may have been switched with 289 or 351 cylinder heads.
Instructions
Identify a Ford 302
Some cleaning or scraping may be needed, but it should be easily read.2. Write the number down. It will be a combination of 12 letters and numbers separated by 3 dashes, for example: C5AE-6015-AA-10. The first four characters are the most important and will tell you if it is a 302 and what year it was manufactured.
3. Decode the serial number. Ford has a standard code structure for all its engines. According to Mustang Tek, the first letter refers to the decade, with C being the 1960s, D being the 1970s, and so forth. The number following the decade letter refers to the year and the following two letters refer to the model design and the engineered component. C8AE would decode as: 1960s, 8th year, full-sized Ford engine.
4. Decipher the remaining components of the code knowing that the next 4 digits stand for the basic part number and the rest for engineering versions. The 4 digits on the engine block will refer to the block itself and the last characters stand for the engineering version of this part.
