The Ford VIN decoder options allow you to find out information about the geographical location of the manufacturer. If the first digit is 1, then it is the USA, 2 is Canada. If the car is produced in Mexico, it will have number 3.

Learn to read the ID tag appropriately.

Engine Block Serial Number Lookup Ford

Once you've found the identification tag, you need to know how to read it to get the right information. Luckily, the tags are simple to breakdown. From upper left to bottom right:^[4]

Ford 351 Engine Serial Number Decoder

• Cubic Inch Displacement (CID): The first three numbers, found in the upper left corner, tell you the size of the engine.
• Manufacturing Plant: The single letter to the right of the CID is where the engine was built. 'C' is for Cleveland, 'E' is for Ensite, Canada, and 'W' is for Windsor, Canada.
• Year: The next two numbers are for the year the engine was built. 70, for example, would mean it was made in 1970.
• Month Built: This hyphenated number and letter correspond to the month. The months are in alphabetical order, so A = January and M = December. There is no 'i' so people don't confuse it the number 1. 0-A would mean January 1970, 5-C March 1975, etc. (assuming the year code is for the 70's).
• Engine Code Number: This final 3-digit number is the ID of your particular engine. You can look up this code online to see the specs of your current engine.^[5]