need help finding year of manufacture without tag

hey guys and gals, it's time to start building up the 304. i don't know much about it except that it was a running engine that was pulled out of a jeep for a 401 to go in it's  place. i need to find out the year so i can get the right parts for it. or does it really matter? where they all the same for the most part? i'm not doing a full rebuild on this one. freshen all the gaskets, timing chain, and a few other odds and ends.  here's some pics of it so maybe some on can possibly narrow down the time frame.

so basically the ?internals on the heads were the only things that really changed? and i figured the accessory brackets would change from time to time. it's good to know that i can start ordering gasket kits today. yay.  this one is actually going to go in a jeep scrambler. the javelins going to take a little longer to get back together. so it's going to get my other 304. that ones going to get a full rebuild unless i find another really good one for a heck of a deal between now and then. where are all of these running 304's that everyone's always talking about throwing away because they can't give then away? i'm right here baby!!

The 323 first digits on the casting number are a very late number, about 79. At least that is where the intake is from. The head casting number I have for a 79 304 is 3233324, and I think that's the weird high swirl head. Another clue is the distributor, in about 79 they changed to the Motorcraft distributor, which has the hex shape on the vacuum advance. Can't tell from the picture, but assuming this stuff is original it looks to me to be a 79. As stated there is not much changed on these things, so things like gaskets etc are all the same.

The last two digits of the year of manufacture

The oil pump and timing covers have a cast date on them as well.

The little circle under the bolt hole is where the date is.


Edited by SC397 - Jul/21/2016 at 12:29pm