Help ID Olds 324 Engine?

Hey Gang-

I recently bought a '56 Olds 88 with engine, but the engine is out of the car. According to the previous owner it is the original engine, but upon inspection, I noticed a date code stamped on the upper cast-in bellhousing that reads 1-8-54. I am hoping that this is a '56 engine as it has more power than the '54 - '55 blocks. Other numbers stamped into the upper bellhousing are:

CHG J
F164
568922

Does anyone know how to determine if this is a '56 engine?

Thanks,

Matt
NJ

 

look right by the center exhaust port on the heads, if they are #10, u got a 56 motor (unless someone swapped heads)...

i dont remember casting codes but i have a link at home, im sure someone will chime in before i get home from work to post

 

Thanks for the info! I checked the engine and there is a number 7 stamped on the center exhaust manifold flange of the heads. Any ideas? I ***ume it is not a '56.

Thanks again for the help,

Matt

 

Those sound like '54 heads.

 

i buid these cars for a living 54-56 oldsmobiles and i asked a friend of mine who worked at oldsmobile GM in flint mich in 1956 he said to look at the fire wall on the drivers side by the hump there is a production date month and day and see if you have a p in the shifter indicator if you dont the reason why is when 1956 model came out towards the end of 1955 they were using overstock 324s from 54 and 55 and 4 speed regular hydromatic transmission when gm started producing parts for 1957 thats when they went to jet way