Technical 230 250 Chev 6 cyl identification

Does anyone have a way to tell externally if a chev 6 is a 230 or 250. I've just picked one up. The casting numbers fot both the block and head say it could be either one. There is no stamping in the build pad. Shirt oy pulling the head or oil.pan, is there any other way to tell?

 

230 pistons are flat top and 250 are dished, you might be able to pull a spark plug and be able to see .

 

Did the 194's use the same block casting numbers as the 230 and 250 engines?

 

It doesn't matter until you take it apart to work on it, does it?

but the casting date might shed some light, or it might not. What is the cast date, and the casting number?

 

Pistons and crank are the go to.

 

Squirrel you are right, but inquiring minds want to know. As much as I can see looking through the spark plug hole, the pistons appear to be dished. Casting dates all say it's probably 1966 or 67. I dont have the casting numbers in front of me right now but they support that time line.

 

Block casting # 3877178. Head is3885052.

 

If it does 0-60 in under 20 seconds, it's a 250. If it does it over 20 seconds, it's a 230.

 

Best comment of December so far.........

 

So you're thinking the Checker is a sub 20 second car?

 

In that era, it could be either. The 250 debuted in '66.

 

Only if I hold the Dual Range BW automatic in Low range for a while!

 

The 250 has a longer stroke, 230 3.25" stroke, 250 3.53" stroke. Stick a wooden dowel rod down the cylinder and see if you can measure the stroke while turning it over.

 

The spark plugs go in at an angle, so getting a dowel to go straight down the bore isn't so easy.

 

Use a big zip tie. Works pretty good. It can be made to do better than sub 20 sec lol

 

Thanks to all who responded. May be a moot point now since I'm suppossed to be getting a 292 today. BTW, my 261 will do a sub 15 second run on a good day.