The FE gods have smiled down upon me.

[turbohunter]

HAH you are a brave man Mr. Bird
Kudos
It’s a ‘68 or ‘69 Cobra Jet motor. It may have come out of a Mustang CJ, or a Shelby KR. Maybe even a Torino (?). The man I bought it from said there is a rumor of a Shelby. I told him that was not very likely. I was wrong.
What do you guys say about the dates? To late for a ‘68?
The cool thing about it is that it appears to be almost all there. Obviously the exhaust manifolds are missing. And the carb is gone.
But it’s a darn nice gift to start with.

[thatdarncat]

...What do you guys say about the dates? To late for a ‘68? ...

“8C”, “8D” & “8E1” I’d guess would all still be good for a 1968 model year vehicle. Is there an assembly date stamped on the front ear of the block? I’d still keep an eye out for a partial VIN, check the heads too, many 428 CJ’s were stamped on the heads instead of the block. The stamping can be really faint. Jay & I recently checked a couple ‘68 428 blocks for partial VIN’s and found them, but had to clean the area well with a wire brush.

[turbohunter]

I’ll get after it Kevin.

[jayb]

If you can find that stamped number Marc, you can contact Kevin Marti and find out what car that engine came in.  It would be cool to know that for sure.  Those dates could be right for a GT-500 KR late in the build year...

[Heo]

I fix broken bolts like that by taking a flatbar about 1/8 thick drill a hole in it the bolt diameter.
Countersunk the hole, drill a smal hole in the center of the bolt so it have somewhere to shrink.
Then I put the flatbar over the bolt and weld it to the bolt a good big bead and let it cool a couple
Of minutes. Then I just twist it loose with the flat bar as a tool ,success everytime

[Gregwill16]

The original block to my June 7th Dearborn built CJ is 8E16. The dates on the 68 1/2's and KR's can be close. I would say it was most likely from a May of 68 built 68 1/2 Mustang, Torino, or a KR Shelby. My block is stamped but that seemed to be assembly plant specific detail. No matter what that was a great score and I would definitely do some digging and try to find where and what it came from. The car is most likely long gone but you never know.

[cjshaker]

If you can find that stamped number Marc, you can contact Kevin Marti and find out what car that engine came in.  It would be cool to know that for sure.  Those dates could be right for a GT-500 KR late in the build year...

There's been more than one engine reunited with it's original car that way. But I'd guess, being in California, the car was probably totaled or damaged beyond repair for the engine to be removed. But you never know. A totaled Shelby back in '70 wasn't worth fixing, but add 20-30 years and that 'total' that's been sitting in the weeds would be resurrected almost regardless of cost.

What a great find. It'll be interesting to see its internals, to see just how unmolested it is. Great score, Marc!

[427Fastback]

Very true..My uncle bought a 69 Shelby new...The kid he sold it to wrecked it...I told him even if they find the ashtray....They will rebuild it...
Good score Marc.

[turbohunter]

Here’s the number. It’s on the back of the head.
 I’m hoping that one of you guys with more knowledge of these will be able to decipher them. I can only make out the last few.
It looks to me like _ _ _ T A 7 1 8

[jayb]

The last six digits of that number are all numbers, not letters.  The first two are probably "8*", I was just looking at a block that had that prefix before the six digit number.  The six digit number is the consecutive serial number of the car that the engine came in.  Could it be 214718?   See if you can discern those numbers a little better, maybe some paint on them and then sand off the flat part, see what's left.

I will look in my SAAC registry and see if I can find a number ending in 718.

[gt350hr]

  Jay ,
     The second from the left ( after the obvious would be the plant code. IMHO it looks like T ( where the '68 GT500 KR's were made , and NO 68.5 Mustangs were made) Looking more like a KR engine all the time.
   Randy

[turbohunter]

Here’s a little more cleaning.
I’m scared to rub any harder.
010 T 0718? Or 01010718

[475fetoploader]

If that’s from a KR, what an incredible find! I’d put that in my living room, just so everyone that comes over would get to see American history.

[turbohunter]

Here’s a bit more and better light.

[jayb]

I just looked through the 1997 SAAC registry, which has all the serial numbers listed, and didn't see one ending in 718.  For sure the first digit is 8 because that will indicate the model year.  Randy is probably right that the second is a T, for the Metuchen, NJ plant.  I forgot about the plant code before the star.  The Metuchen plant is where the 68 Shelbys were built.  But, lots of other cars were built there too.  It's unfortunate that so many of these numbers are difficult to read.  Here's an example of one that is readable, from a 68 Cobra Jet block that I just happen to have in stock at the moment.  The number is 8P*177206: