Ive got what I very highly suspect to be a 261 date code j-6-5 but it has no captains bars just a raised round circle and on the drivers side the same round mark. The block number is 3733950 and the head is 3836850. Ive got this for sale on Ebay and I just want to really be sure it is what it is. It is a running engine that I dont want to pull the head to measure the piston bore. Has anyone else seen a 261 with these round cast marks? Help please.
There isnt one, it is bare smooth no indication of anything ever being put there. It is a 6 volt set up distributor and coil. with the old style water pump. I dont have a pic of the bare edge. So its making it hard to verify. How did the crate replacement engines come? Could this be the case with this engine?
The casting no. is for a '54-'55 261 and your date code shows it to be a '55. Seems like there's always an exception to every rule, especially where these old Stovebolts are concerned - don't know why yours doesn't have the Captain's bars but it is a 261.
I don't know about the crate engines back then, I think they were still putting real serial numbers on the engines in 1955, instead of just the plant, date, and suffix. Later crate engines had the normal plant, date and suffix stamp on them. Since the 261 was pretty new at that time, the lack of bars doesn't surprise me.
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