Engine Serial Number decoding

[dmulhall]

Hey guys,

I'm in the minst of buying a bunch of parts off a guy..

He has a '51 engine and he e-mailed me what he thinks is the

engine serial number..I asked for the casting number, but I guess it is still frozen in the ground.

The serial number is:

P23 1 4958C

can anyone decode this number and let me know what the

engine size is, and exactly what it came out of?

Thanks

Dave

[Merle Coggins]

I believe the P23 would indicate that it came out of a Plymouth car. Beyond that I don't know. You may want to ask the guys over on the car side.

Merle

[Reg Evans]

Im pretty sure the P23 engine is for a 51 and a 52 Plymouth. 218 cubes.

[dmulhall]

Thanks Merle and Reg

you guys are always a big help

Much appreciated

[Young Ed]

Not that you can see the number in the picture but this is a p23 engine in my pickup. This one is a 52 per the casting date but p23 was used in 51-52 as reg said.

[dmulhall]

Thanks Ed,

and thats a 218 in yours, right?

[Young Ed]

Sure is. Just noticed you are in Canada. If you are looking for something specific it might pay to make sure its the proper length block. I think one stamped p23 should only be a short 23" block but im not 100% on that

[Tony WestOZ]

There were Canadian engines used in Australia in 51-52 that carried the prefix P23 in the engine number. Also had the suffux C. They are 218.06, 25" long blokes.

I assume they carried the same stampings in Canada.

[Young Ed]

Ah I seem to remember hearing that now too. I think the longer engines would say P23Cxxxxxx.