Shannon, I feel your frustrations... I'm going thru the very same thing. Bill's right that you can get most of what you need with your current id but it's better to know exactly.
First go here with the casting number:
http://www.inliners.org >click on Casting #'s
That shold give you a year spread to narrow it down.
But then find the stamped id number that Bill referenced... I found a seven alpha/numeric code on mine (F0301BE) and took that number and went to
http://www.americanclassic.com/paint_test.asp and punched it in under Engine Code and was able to use the "BE" letter code to narrow it down further... I THINK I have a 1960 car engine but I'm still confirming.
See if any of this works.
