Decoding Ford date codes

Engine components with date code castings 3 or 4 digit date codes

Ford 3 or 4 digit date codes on engine castings are very much similar in their composition and by far the most commun types. It always starts with the Year digit then the Month digit followed by 1 or 2 numerical digits for the Day. This type format is valid where the date is set at moment of casting.

This 3 digit sample date code casting number is for a 302 engine block C8OE-6015-A with date

code 9B7.

	9B7	Year 9 = 1969	Numeric
	9B7	Month B = February	A - M     January through December   There is no I , the I is omitted
	9B7	Day 7 = 7th day	Numeric 1 to 31
This engine block was cast on the 7th of February 1969 making this block a correct for 1969 model application.

This 4 digit sample date casting number is from a 351C intake manifold D0AE-9425-L with date

code 0L27.

	0L27	Year 0 = 1970	Numeric
	0L27	Month L = November	A - M   January through December   There is no I , the I is omitted
	0L27	Day 27 = 27th day	Numeric 1 to 31
This intake manifold was cast on the 27th of November 1970 making this intake correct for 1971 model application.

Another 4 digit sample date casting number but this one comes from the tag of an Autolite 4300 carburetor C8ZF-A with date code 8B13.

	8B13	Year 8 = 1968	Numeric
	8B13	Month B = February	A - M   January through December There is no I , the I is omitted
	8B13	Day 13 = 13th day	Numeric 1 to 31
This carburetor was assembled on the 13th of February 1968 making this carburetor correct for 1968 model application.

Below is an example of a different type of date code. This date code is different to the regular 3

digit type and has only 2 components to it(Month, Year). A73 comes from Fan Blade D0ZE-B.

	A73	Month A = January	A - M     January through December There is no I , the I is omitted
	A73	Year 73 = 1973	2 digits Numeric
This Fan Blade was built in January 1973.

Holley Carburetors with date codes

Holley Carburetors with 3 digit Numeric date codes. This sample code is from a 1969 BOSS 302 carburetor with date code 951.

	951	Year 9 = 1969	0 - 9
	951	Month 5 = May	1 - 9 = January through September   0 =October   A =November  B =December
	951	Week 1 = 1st week	0 - 5 Some months contain up to 5 weeks
This carburetor was built during the first week of May 1969

Holley Carburetors 4 digit Numeric date codes. This sample casting number from a 1970 carburetor with date code 0995 .

	0995	Day of the year 099 = 99th day of the year	1 to 365
	0995	Year 5 =5th year. 1975, 1985 or 1995
More then likely this carburetor was built on the 99th day of 1975

Holley Carburetors with 3 digit Alphanumeric date codes

For this exercise the sample date code casting number is 0FB