How to read vin numbers on ward bus

[heath692]

Hi guys and gals havent been here in awhile. but i have a question I was told when i bought my bus a 1985 gmc ward. that it had a 454 in it. well while working on the bus changing belts, oil, tune up exc: i happen to look on the air cleaner tag and it said 7.0 which is the 427 well i cant see the block numbers with out pulling the motor. so i figued i go to the vin number but cant find anywere to tell me what each space means. and what one is for the engine code. thanks ahead of time.

[the_experience03]

The 8th digit of the 17 digit VIN will be the engine code. I can't help you with what means what on that application though.

The 427 would be a tall deck motor. The 454 truck motor did not have this tall deck construction to the best of my knowledge. At least not in the years you are talking about. You can use that as an indicator. Alternatively you could pull a valve cover and get the casting number of the heads. Unfortunately, there is a good chance that the casting number won't tell you much because the truck motors often used the same heads on the 366, 427, and 454. Still, there is a chance that you could get heads that are unique to a 454.

Are you just trying to figure out if it is a 454 versus a 427 or what?

[heath692]

Yes thats what im tring to do is find out if its the 427 or 454