Tell me about vin numbers?

[DalesCarpentry]

I paid m truck off this week!!!!!!!! I own it now and I really like the fact I own it. My truck has no rust. It really is a good truck. It has 143,000 on it now but you would not know it by driving it. I got to thinking this is a keeper. It is really in to good of shape to trade in and have more payments. I am thinking of looking for a engine and transmission on Craigslist with low miles and buying them when I find one for the right price. I know with the miles I drive it is just a matter of time before I wear them both out. This way I would have a replacement when it happens. I also have a great car guy that I could buy a piece of junk engine and transmission and just have him rebuild them both. Then when I do have a problem we could do the swap for a few hundred dollars. And I would have a new rebuilt engine or transmission in it already. When I look for engines to buy they seem to bring up vin numbers. Should this worry me. Can I buy any 4.3 and put in it. Thanks Dale

[1sourdough]

 What truck for the 4.3L? While it is good to look & get an idea of prices I wouldn't buy ahead of time. What if you hit a deer/bear/elk/horse ect. tomorrow & wrecked your truck? Not to send bad vibes but I'd take care of it the best you can now & leave the rest for later.

[Hairtrigger]

If it is not broke don't fix it or buy parts to replace unbroken ones

[Graybeard]

I'd agree with the others don't waste money today on parts you might or might not need at some future date. Many things can happen that would take that truck from you long before a replacement drive train is needed. Money today has more value than money tomorrow so don't spend current dollars for potential future needs such as this.

Take good care of it, feed it good gas and change oil and filters regularly and pamper it as much as you can to get all the use you can from it. You'd do well to put that money away for a rainy day that definitely will come sooner or later rather than spend it on parts now. That way when/if the day comes you'll have funds on hand to get it fixed or replaced and perhaps enough to rent another to use while yours is being fixed. That's a far wiser use of your money.

Now that it's paid off make payments to yourself and put it in a savings account or stash it away at home if you feel better doing that.

[Hairtrigger]

If I could take my own advise I would not have a bunch of old Hemi parts laying in my man cave. Looks cool but a PIA to work around

[GatCat]

Hairtrigger...not to hijack this thread, but did I hear you say "0ld Hemi Parts" I've got a '56 354 looking for speed parts, when/if you get tired of tripping over that "old stuff", drop me a PM.
A good home..
Mark

[shvlhead.45]

I'm with the rest, don't go getting spares and have to worry about storing and all that.  If you have a tranny or engine that needs replacing, your old one may be rebuilt (cheaper than replace most times) or if replaced the old one will suffice as a core.  The exception might be if you are building (having built) a performance engine or tranny and will replace original component whether or not it is worn out.

Reference your question about VIN numbers.  Your truck is newer than 1996 IIRC so the VIN issue isn't much of an issue.  1995 and older GM trucks had engines with throttle body (TBI) fuel injection and central port injection (CPI, completely in the intake manifold) and one digit in the VIN told you what engine came in your truck.  FYI, the Z code engines were TBI, and the R (IIRC) is the CPI engine.  There were other differences as well; internal balancer, cam, and heads being the main differences.

[Hairtrigger]

Hairtrigger...not to hijack this thread, but did I hear you say "0ld Hemi Parts" I've got a '56 354 looking for speed parts, when/if you get tired of tripping over that "old stuff", drop me a PM.
A good home..
Mark

The 354 is what I run in my "53 pickup. Just sold some parts including an intake with 6 carbs on it.

[Mike in Virginia]

Here's the important part about VINs. Don't alter or remove the "public" number, which is the one in view by anyone. Each vehicle as several hidden numbers that only DMV or a police officer can find.  Matching the up front number to the hidden number is one way to detect stolen vehicles.
The number on the original engine matches the up front number (in part), but changing engines is not illegal. But if you try to put the body (with the main number) onto a different frame (which has hiddenb numbers), they won't match. You'd have to go through DMV to legally do that.

[Hooker]

The Vin is a 17 digit alpha numerical ID code on your vehicle. The 17 digit system was adopted in 1981.
 The first digit identifies the country origin.

1= US
2= Canada
3= Mexico
4&5+ US
J= Japan

The second digit identifies the manufacturer

B= Dodge
C= Chrysler
F= Ford
G= General Motors
J= Jeep

The third thru seventh digits identify body style, trim, and braking system.

The eighth digit on domestic vehicles is the engine code.

The ninth digit is a Check Digit

The tenth digit is the year of manufacture

B= 1981  C= 1982  D= 1983  E= 1984  F= 1985  G= 1986  H= 1987  J= 1988  K= 1989  L= 1990 

M= 1991  N= 1992  P= 1993  R= 1994  S= 1995  T= 1996  V= 1997  W= 1998  X= 1999  Y= 2000

1= 2001  2= 2002  3= 2003  4= 2004  5= 2005  6= 2006  7= 2007  8= 2008  9= 2009

 
The eleventh digit identifies the final assembly plant.

The 12th thru the 17th are the serial number  and are also used to identify options .



Pat