Odd fire/Low port head VS. std 3.8 ID

[MNcarbturbo]

A 3.8 came up for sale local and I was considering picking it up for a spare motor.

Its a carbed 3.8 and 5 speed manual out of a vega supposedly.

How can I ID if it is a standard 78+ high port engine externally? I am afraid if it was in front of a manual in a vega it could date it to before 78 and would mean it had the low port heads and maybe an odd fire.

Is there an easy way to tell if its an even fire std. port head engine?

 

[MNcarbturbo]

Just found this link, can anyone give me an idea where to look for the numbers?

http://nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/BuickV6CastingNumbersandInternalSpecs.pdf

 

[charlief1]

Casting numbers are under the valve covers. You can also find the casting number info over at gnttype.org.

 

[MNcarbturbo]

I knew something was funky with the engine, it was red/orange and had a very small diameter crank pulley.

Turns out I ran the block number and its a 3.2 liter. I'm outta that deal.

If anybody wants a 3.2 and T50 trans let me know.

 

[b4black]

FYI, Odd fire engines are easy to spot. The distributor cap has eight towers, but two are blanks.

Here's a picture I googled.

 

[ek02]

High port heads have freeze plugs in the ends, odd fire heads do not, if I recall right.