i recently bought a rebuilt 350 TPI, the person who rebuilt it was unable to specify the year it was from and said he received the car from a friend after he was involved in an accident and rebuilt the engine as a rainy day project years after receiving the car (he makes a living off rebuilding mainly carb'd motors)

where on the engine (if possible) can i find a spot to determine the year so i can order the appropriate camshaft?
thanks

 

Block casting # in bellhousing area will give a guideline ; could be on either side of block depending on the year

Cam related to engine year is not important ( little difference in the spec)
more important is whether it is flat tappet or roller style cam

 

The block casting number is not necessarily going to tell you what year the engine is. What you need to find is the casting date on the block. What you're looking for is a 4-5 digit code, starting with a letter, which designates the month (A=January, B=February, etc.). The next digit(s) will be the day of that month, and the last digit will be the last digit of the year it was produced (but not necessarily the year model of the car if it was built in, say, November). Sometimes they will put the last two digits of the year instead (example: 87).

Decoded Examples

F178 = June 17, 1988
C54 = March 5, 1984 (may also be cast as "C054")

 

but a guideline as to identifying if it was a flat tappet or roller cam block from the factory
Having been rebuilt only way of confirming is to open engine up because anything could have been done to engine in the past
Plenty on here have installed flat tappet cams in roller blocks to save $$$

 

thanks guys!

i already know its a roller cam, i wasnt sure if there were any subtleties that may have changed during the manufacturing of the tuned port motors that would relate to different cams other than flat tappet or roller.

next time i'm in the shed i'll have to look up the number on it!