Interchange question,ID# question Little plastic block on the dist? and 2 weird tips

[ricko1966]

Do all the festy crankshafts and cylinder heads interchange from year to year?Do the engine ID numbers match or somehow tie to the VIN#?When I was doing my engine swap a wire broke off of a little plastic block on the side of the dist,the block is about 1/2 inch square held down by a single phillips screw. My 5spd injected car does not have this block my 88 carby car does and the 89 auto did untill it broke.I assume it is for radio suppresion but do not want to find out the hard way that I was wrong.The reason for my interchange/ID questions is My parts car came crashed with no title I do not want to install the engine in another car and end up having my car seized if the car was stolen/never paid off etc. So I have a 88 carby engine that needs a crank I could repair it using the 91 engine for parts if neccesary.Also I just finished my auto to manual engine/tranny swap I did swap the column as suggested on one of the posts I will tell you I could see no difference in the columns and next time would not swap the column until last and only if neccesary. Now for the tips I was changing rear wheel brgs in 0 degree weather was worried about trying to drive a 0 degree race in in 0degree weather fearing it would shatter. as I was washing my drums out with gasoline a strange thought came over me. I threw a match into the drum waited for it to burn out and my new races practically installed themselves p.s. I use the old cones and common sense with the hammer to seat the races. Other tip prewash your hands with baby oil then wash them with soap of your choice while they are still covered in baby oil. They will be cleaner than any hand cleaner I have used.

[Dragonhealer]

Good tips!
I have not found a B3 tied to the VIN
Everything in the bottom will swap, but the pulley and hub go with the crank (small nose/big nose)
You can swap engines freely, no one is going to have a cow over that.
the little part is a radio noise suppressor, 2.2 micro farred?

[nonamekid]

The tranny has the last digits of the VIN stamped on it but I don't know that the engine does. I thought California was the only state that required proof of where the engine came from if it is not OE? Alot of guys on here have engine swaps and don't have proof of legal right to use of the engine.

[WmWatt]

Re washing hands tip - I use cooking oil as there are no babies here. Works fine.

[bravekozak]

ricko, the black plastic block is for AM noise suppression.
If you only listen to FM, then remove the 4mm screw and throw it away.

[ricko1966]

Kansas requires a VIN verification on out of state titles being brought in to kansas. The car I am building has a missouri title. On the VIN verification they check the dash VIN,the underhood VIN and the engine number to try to stop chop shops. I didn't even think about it when I bought the parts car with no title, if they crashed it and owed money to a buy here pay here lot that would explain the missing title. If the engine number isn't tied to the VIN I'm going to install it as is.. Thanks everybody